I think the bean counters looked at the average playtime of a MMO subber based on their extensive databases of previous subscribers and charged double that for a lifetime sub.
Theoretically I believe there is no cut off number.
If demand is very high they will re-introduce it at a higher price, if demand has been very low, they will re-introduce it at a lower price.
I suspect the price will go down as beta and release time are the maximum hype times. The time in which they can charge the highest sum of money. I don't feel this is particularly related to the actual cost of offering the sub. More to the highest possible figure people will be willing to pay.
I completed COH in one month, I can't imagine anyone still playing it after the 15 months required to cost the same as paying monthly.
How you sell out of something that should have a unlimited... tho time based supply?
Cryptic gets considerably more money from regular monthly subscribers. So it makes perfect business sense for them to limit the amount of lifetime and/or extended subs. Marketing ploy or not, they now how to maximize their profit.
This game can go is so many directions now, it is just ridiculous. The engine is solid, and it runs wonderfully on most PC's it seems. I was tempted to get lifetime, but only opted for 6. This game rocks, and I can't wait until Thursday.
Yea I know, but still they said it would be available until Sept 1, no where on the page does it say it's limited... Is kinda what I was getting at.
I got the 6 month sub myself.. so don't really matter to me... the lifetime sub wasn't worth it.
I tested CO in closed and beta as well as preordered long time ago. I really like the game since its something new and flashy. BUT i would never buy a lifetime sub. Spending 200 on a game that we really dont know how well it will do is clearly a sigh of addiction (ever send 200 to poor and starving kids in africa or even gave 200 to anyone in your family for no reason?).
The only + i see is the ST cb access but then again betting on a horse that has not been even born yet is a bad bad bad choice.
Game Over man! The WoW Killer has arrived!! The first slash was the subs going sold out which means we got 1.5 million already signed up for Lifetime and 3 million signed up for 6 months!
Looks like people who thought CO was going to be a flash in the pan lost the war! See you Aug 28th! 3 day headstart!!!!!!!
Originally posted by Daxamar Originally posted by lornphoenix um... How you sell out of something that should have a unlimited... tho time based supply?
I think they have a GREAT PR department, thats what I think. They actually made some people, numbers unknown, part with $200. That, Sir, is marketing genius!
Even if they only sold 5k lifetime subs, GENIUS.
BY the way, i like the game and im subbing to it. BUT $200 for a LIFETIME. LOL.
This is impressive to my mind, depending on what the number of subs is. At any rate, good on them for accomplishing that.
Daxamar, I think you really don't understand the potential financial gain for the player here. Remember, if you play a traditional 15 a month game for 14 months, you have passed 200 dollars. Not enough will change from open beta to release that if you are certain you are going to be playing for over a year that you will change your minds. At the very least, odds are very low that this would happen. For example, say you love LotRO. If you bought the lifetime subscription, you are pretty happy now because you said a bucket of money.
"There are two great powers, and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."
John Parry, to his son Will; "The Subtle Knife," by Phillip Pullman
selling out of a lifetime subscription is pretty low actually. LOTRO still offers them at certain times. and the discounted 6 month subscription.... i hope if you still pay for 6 months, you still get a deal right? if there's no discount for a multi-month subscription, that would be pathetic. though, as there is still no fix for the odd performance problem myself, and few others were having, i can't bring myself to buy this.... hoping they offer a free trail later, so i can see if the issue is resolved
Game Over man! The WoW Killer has arrived!! The first slash was the subs going sold out which means we got 1.5 million already signed up for Lifetime and 3 million signed up for 6 months! Looks like people who thought CO was going to be a flash in the pan lost the war! See you Aug 28th! 3 day headstart!!!!!!!
I doubt they are sold out considering, I'm pretty sure CO would have this on the front page of their website since they also posted that the 6month and life subs were almost gone.
lol, so they just sold $250,000,000 worth of subscriptions and star trek is going to be one hella overpopulated beta
This game won't make $250,000,000 in the course of 25 years, if any the sales were so weak they pulled item off market as the enormous chargebacks they were receiving after the pathetic game was detailed in open beta
But dont worry "suckers", ill sell you mines if you really want in this crap.. please hit me up.. mine is for sale, i will never install my pre-order...
Part of the reason for limited number of sub - specials was to limit the number of people that would be garaunteed beta access to STO.
Why is everyone on the MMORPG forums so negative lately. It seems like everyone hates everything. OMG this game SUCKS anyone who plays it is a complete loser......blah blah blah.
I remember joining these forums a few years back and really enjoying coming here for info on my prefered style of gaming....MMO's. Over the past few months maybe a year it seems like everyone here either has an agenda because THEY are playing the best game and all others suck , or because only THEY know what the best games are going to be and the rest of us are clueless.
Can these people really be that angry at the world? Did someone cut off their meds?
Why can't we come here and discuss intelligently the pros and cons of different games. Let's get these forums back to what they were intended to do. Help shape a community and hopefully have a small impact on what gaming companies think and consider when designing their next game.
Part of the reason for limited number of sub - specials was to limit the number of people that would be garaunteed beta access to STO. Why is everyone on the MMORPG forums so negative lately. It seems like everyone hates everything. OMG this game SUCKS anyone who plays it is a complete loser......blah blah blah. I remember joining these forums a few years back and really enjoying coming here for info on my prefered style of gaming....MMO's. Over the past few months maybe a year it seems like everyone here either has an agenda because THEY are playing the best game and all others suck , or because only THEY know what the best games are going to be and the rest of us are clueless. Can these people really be that angry at the world? Did someone cut off their meds? Why can't we come here and discuss intelligently the pros and cons of different games. Let's get these forums back to what they were intended to do. Help shape a community and hopefully have a small impact on what gaming companies think and consider when designing their next game. Flame away.
I mean I don't think it's anything against the people playing. It's against shady marketing tactics. It may work in some people's favor, but for others, we just don't like the smell of it and are picking other games.
I've tested CO on and off since early alpha and honestly, I just do not see the lasting power of this game to warrant a lifetime subscription.
The progression is extremely linear and there is no end game. The level cap can be reached in about a week or so. The PvP is an instanced joke and almost every one is a tankmage. So besides the character creator, which is great btw, what else is there to do?
I'm not even going to get into how Cryptic handles changes to their games. Those who are familiar with CoH will know what I'm talking about.
That's just my personal opinion though, if you enjoy the game and feel that it has lasting potential, I hope that you have fun.
I cannot even begin to express in words how BAD OF AN IDEA it is to buy a lifetime subscription on a game that ISN'T EVEN RELEASED YET. Maybe you played beta and enjoyed it there. But a LOT of things can change between beta and release (and a LOT usually do). Not all of those things are simple bug fixes. And I would also wait a few months after release anyway just to see what direction the devs decide to head in with their updates. They might have a different vision for CO than you do.
Edit: I plan on trying CO when it does come out, and from what I can tell right now, it doesn't look like a bad game. But the point is, I can't tell much right now. Mostly because a lot of things can change with an updatable MMO in the short-term as well as the long-term. Play the game. Observe the short-term changes and see if you can find a pattern, so you have a good idea of where the devs are heading with it. Don't throw all your money at a company just because they might potentially maybe have a chance at having an amazing game when they're done.
So your gonna pay for my account right? Otherwise your bad idea to tell other people about a good idea.
EDIT (After reading more idiots post not exactly meaning this to the quoted poster)
Wow, and you wonder why MMO posters are considered the bottem of the barrel. WOW just WOW. Get a life people.
I cant understand how anyone can buy a lifetime sub to a game like CO without even knowing whats going to be in the MT store and how the launch will be...
And this is nothing like what LotrOs lifetime offer was at launch! (and that one wasnt "sold out")... In LotrO you could at any time after launch decide to change your sub to lifetime as long as you stayed a "founder" (played at launch).. So for me, I played LotrO 45 days after launch before deciding if I wanted to get Lifetime. They later also offered LT for non-Founders.
If WoW = The Beatles and WAR = Led Zeppelin Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
I cant understand how anyone can buy a lifetime sub to a game like CO without even knowing whats going to be in the MT store and how the launch will be... And this is nothing like what LotrOs lifetime offer was at launch! (and that one wasnt "sold out")... In LotrO you could at any time after launch decide to change your sub to lifetime as long as you stayed a "founder" (played at launch).. So for me, I played LotrO 45 days after launch before deciding if I wanted to get Lifetime. They later also offered LT for non-Founders.
The only thing that's "sold out" is the limited time offer PRICING.
I'm sure they will continue to be offered after launch at a higher price.
I'm not predicting this game's doom but at the same time this doesn't prove anything either "sold out" by what amount? I don't think they ever announced how many they would sell it could be 10,500,1000 who knows? And let's be honest a game that was about to be a million seller would brag about it so we can easliy assume that it didn't sell a million lifetime subs, point is we don't know what's going to happen with this game yet wether it will succeed or fail but for now I'm leaning on the side of they have things to fix from what I've been hearing about the game.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
I cant understand how anyone can buy a lifetime sub to a game like CO without even knowing whats going to be in the MT store and how the launch will be... And this is nothing like what LotrOs lifetime offer was at launch! (and that one wasnt "sold out")... In LotrO you could at any time after launch decide to change your sub to lifetime as long as you stayed a "founder" (played at launch).. So for me, I played LotrO 45 days after launch before deciding if I wanted to get Lifetime. They later also offered LT for non-Founders.
The only thing that's "sold out" is the limited time offer PRICING.
I'm sure they will continue to be offered after launch at a higher price.
This is true. A life-time sub can still be bought after launch for 300$.
It's the 200$ offer that was limited, not the life-time offer in itself.
I cant understand how anyone can buy a lifetime sub to a game like CO without even knowing whats going to be in the MT store and how the launch will be... And this is nothing like what LotrOs lifetime offer was at launch! (and that one wasnt "sold out")... In LotrO you could at any time after launch decide to change your sub to lifetime as long as you stayed a "founder" (played at launch).. So for me, I played LotrO 45 days after launch before deciding if I wanted to get Lifetime. They later also offered LT for non-Founders.
The only thing that's "sold out" is the limited time offer PRICING.
I'm sure they will continue to be offered after launch at a higher price.
This is true. A life-time sub can still be bought after launch for 300$.
It's the 200$ offer that was limited, not the life-time offer in itself.
Oh so they sold out the Lifetime for $200 but the Lifetime for $300 is still in stock?
Damn Cryptic makes Funcom look good... First the MT and now this...
If WoW = The Beatles and WAR = Led Zeppelin Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
I cant understand how anyone can buy a lifetime sub to a game like CO without even knowing whats going to be in the MT store and how the launch will be... And this is nothing like what LotrOs lifetime offer was at launch! (and that one wasnt "sold out")... In LotrO you could at any time after launch decide to change your sub to lifetime as long as you stayed a "founder" (played at launch).. So for me, I played LotrO 45 days after launch before deciding if I wanted to get Lifetime. They later also offered LT for non-Founders.
The only thing that's "sold out" is the limited time offer PRICING.
I'm sure they will continue to be offered after launch at a higher price.
This is true. A life-time sub can still be bought after launch for 300$.
It's the 200$ offer that was limited, not the life-time offer in itself.
Oh so they sold out the Lifetime for $200 but the Lifetime for $300 is still in stock?
Damn Cryptic makes Funcom look good... First the MT and now this...
I have tried to find a link to the 299$ offer, but I can't find it. I think I am just going by the OB forums and inside the game, where people were talking about the 199$ deal compared to the 299$ deal.
But since I can't find any links, I am now being in doubt how true it is. I do apologise, I guess I was merely so sure of the 299$ sub, since I heard it from so many different people.
Again, I apologise if it's not true. I am unsure myself now and figured I should mention it.
Comments
I think the bean counters looked at the average playtime of a MMO subber based on their extensive databases of previous subscribers and charged double that for a lifetime sub.
Theoretically I believe there is no cut off number.
If demand is very high they will re-introduce it at a higher price, if demand has been very low, they will re-introduce it at a lower price.
I suspect the price will go down as beta and release time are the maximum hype times. The time in which they can charge the highest sum of money. I don't feel this is particularly related to the actual cost of offering the sub. More to the highest possible figure people will be willing to pay.
I completed COH in one month, I can't imagine anyone still playing it after the 15 months required to cost the same as paying monthly.
The only statement they have made saying it wasn't time-based was made yesterday. Good for them.
Cryptic gets considerably more money from regular monthly subscribers. So it makes perfect business sense for them to limit the amount of lifetime and/or extended subs. Marketing ploy or not, they now how to maximize their profit.
This game can go is so many directions now, it is just ridiculous. The engine is solid, and it runs wonderfully on most PC's it seems. I was tempted to get lifetime, but only opted for 6. This game rocks, and I can't wait until Thursday.
Yea I know, but still they said it would be available until Sept 1, no where on the page does it say it's limited... Is kinda what I was getting at.
I got the 6 month sub myself.. so don't really matter to me... the lifetime sub wasn't worth it.
I tested CO in closed and beta as well as preordered long time ago. I really like the game since its something new and flashy. BUT i would never buy a lifetime sub. Spending 200 on a game that we really dont know how well it will do is clearly a sigh of addiction (ever send 200 to poor and starving kids in africa or even gave 200 to anyone in your family for no reason?).
The only + i see is the ST cb access but then again betting on a horse that has not been even born yet is a bad bad bad choice.
Game Over man! The WoW Killer has arrived!! The first slash was the subs going sold out which means we got 1.5 million already signed up for Lifetime and 3 million signed up for 6 months!
Looks like people who thought CO was going to be a flash in the pan lost the war! See you Aug 28th! 3 day headstart!!!!!!!
I think they have a GREAT PR department, thats what I think. They actually made some people, numbers unknown, part with $200. That, Sir, is marketing genius!
Even if they only sold 5k lifetime subs, GENIUS.
BY the way, i like the game and im subbing to it. BUT $200 for a LIFETIME. LOL.
This is impressive to my mind, depending on what the number of subs is. At any rate, good on them for accomplishing that.
Daxamar, I think you really don't understand the potential financial gain for the player here. Remember, if you play a traditional 15 a month game for 14 months, you have passed 200 dollars. Not enough will change from open beta to release that if you are certain you are going to be playing for over a year that you will change your minds. At the very least, odds are very low that this would happen. For example, say you love LotRO. If you bought the lifetime subscription, you are pretty happy now because you said a bucket of money.
"There are two great powers, and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."
John Parry, to his son Will; "The Subtle Knife," by Phillip Pullman
It was the same for lotro. But the offered it again a few months later. So who cares. They will offer it again and again and again.
why would anyone pay $200 for this crap beats me.. and im beeing honest
selling out of a lifetime subscription is pretty low actually. LOTRO still offers them at certain times. and the discounted 6 month subscription.... i hope if you still pay for 6 months, you still get a deal right? if there's no discount for a multi-month subscription, that would be pathetic. though, as there is still no fix for the odd performance problem myself, and few others were having, i can't bring myself to buy this.... hoping they offer a free trail later, so i can see if the issue is resolved
Made up numbers. Source your information fanboy.
I doubt they are sold out considering, I'm pretty sure CO would have this on the front page of their website since they also posted that the 6month and life subs were almost gone.
lol, so they just sold $250,000,000 worth of subscriptions and star trek is going to be one hella overpopulated beta
This game won't make $250,000,000 in the course of 25 years, if any the sales were so weak they pulled item off market as the enormous chargebacks they were receiving after the pathetic game was detailed in open beta
But dont worry "suckers", ill sell you mines if you really want in this crap.. please hit me up.. mine is for sale, i will never install my pre-order...
All kidding aside,
Peter Porker
<hint>Star Trek Closed Beta Access Monetary Reasons</hint>
DO I NEED TO SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU?
All kidding aside,
Peter Porker
Part of the reason for limited number of sub - specials was to limit the number of people that would be garaunteed beta access to STO.
Why is everyone on the MMORPG forums so negative lately. It seems like everyone hates everything. OMG this game SUCKS anyone who plays it is a complete loser......blah blah blah.
I remember joining these forums a few years back and really enjoying coming here for info on my prefered style of gaming....MMO's. Over the past few months maybe a year it seems like everyone here either has an agenda because THEY are playing the best game and all others suck , or because only THEY know what the best games are going to be and the rest of us are clueless.
Can these people really be that angry at the world? Did someone cut off their meds?
Why can't we come here and discuss intelligently the pros and cons of different games. Let's get these forums back to what they were intended to do. Help shape a community and hopefully have a small impact on what gaming companies think and consider when designing their next game.
Flame away.
I mean I don't think it's anything against the people playing. It's against shady marketing tactics. It may work in some people's favor, but for others, we just don't like the smell of it and are picking other games.
I've tested CO on and off since early alpha and honestly, I just do not see the lasting power of this game to warrant a lifetime subscription.
The progression is extremely linear and there is no end game. The level cap can be reached in about a week or so. The PvP is an instanced joke and almost every one is a tankmage. So besides the character creator, which is great btw, what else is there to do?
I'm not even going to get into how Cryptic handles changes to their games. Those who are familiar with CoH will know what I'm talking about.
That's just my personal opinion though, if you enjoy the game and feel that it has lasting potential, I hope that you have fun.
So your gonna pay for my account right? Otherwise your bad idea to tell other people about a good idea.
EDIT (After reading more idiots post not exactly meaning this to the quoted poster)
Wow, and you wonder why MMO posters are considered the bottem of the barrel. WOW just WOW. Get a life people.
I cant understand how anyone can buy a lifetime sub to a game like CO without even knowing whats going to be in the MT store and how the launch will be...
And this is nothing like what LotrOs lifetime offer was at launch! (and that one wasnt "sold out")... In LotrO you could at any time after launch decide to change your sub to lifetime as long as you stayed a "founder" (played at launch).. So for me, I played LotrO 45 days after launch before deciding if I wanted to get Lifetime. They later also offered LT for non-Founders.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
The only thing that's "sold out" is the limited time offer PRICING.
I'm sure they will continue to be offered after launch at a higher price.
I'm not predicting this game's doom but at the same time this doesn't prove anything either "sold out" by what amount? I don't think they ever announced how many they would sell it could be 10,500,1000 who knows? And let's be honest a game that was about to be a million seller would brag about it so we can easliy assume that it didn't sell a million lifetime subs, point is we don't know what's going to happen with this game yet wether it will succeed or fail but for now I'm leaning on the side of they have things to fix from what I've been hearing about the game.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
The only thing that's "sold out" is the limited time offer PRICING.
I'm sure they will continue to be offered after launch at a higher price.
This is true. A life-time sub can still be bought after launch for 300$.
It's the 200$ offer that was limited, not the life-time offer in itself.
Damn and I so wasn't going to waste my money on this crappy CoX clone
The only thing that's "sold out" is the limited time offer PRICING.
I'm sure they will continue to be offered after launch at a higher price.
This is true. A life-time sub can still be bought after launch for 300$.
It's the 200$ offer that was limited, not the life-time offer in itself.
Oh so they sold out the Lifetime for $200 but the Lifetime for $300 is still in stock?
Damn Cryptic makes Funcom look good... First the MT and now this...
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
The only thing that's "sold out" is the limited time offer PRICING.
I'm sure they will continue to be offered after launch at a higher price.
This is true. A life-time sub can still be bought after launch for 300$.
It's the 200$ offer that was limited, not the life-time offer in itself.
Oh so they sold out the Lifetime for $200 but the Lifetime for $300 is still in stock?
Damn Cryptic makes Funcom look good... First the MT and now this...
I have tried to find a link to the 299$ offer, but I can't find it. I think I am just going by the OB forums and inside the game, where people were talking about the 199$ deal compared to the 299$ deal.
But since I can't find any links, I am now being in doubt how true it is. I do apologise, I guess I was merely so sure of the 299$ sub, since I heard it from so many different people.
Again, I apologise if it's not true. I am unsure myself now and figured I should mention it.
ROFLMFAO!
That was good!
_________________________________
JonMichael
Currently: AION, an MMO Beta under NDA
Played: WAR, LOTRO, Hellgate: London, CoX, GW, SotNW, DAOC, EQ2, SWG, WoW, AO, Horizons, Second Life, There, TSO
Beta'd: There, Second Life, EQ2, DAOC:LotM, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, Gods and Heroes, Hellgate: London, Requiem:Bloodymare, AoC, WAR, DDO, Fallen Earth