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John Needham: Cryptic CEO, Former SOE VP
championsFan
Member Posts: 419
This article is aimed to inform people about Cryptic's business model. I am a lifetime subscriber for Champions, and as you may know we recently found out that our first content update that includes a new zone will be a micro-transaction expansion. The STO fans don't want their game to turn out like CO, so many of them will deny the message I am trying to share: Cryptic and Atari want to make a lot of money really fast while delivering as little support as possible.
In case it helps people listen, to get their subs refunded and back out before it's too late, I want to bring to your attention John Needham, Chief Executive Officer of Cryptic Studios:
"...Moving to Sony Online Entertainment in 2001, John served as senior vice president of business development, focusing on international expansion and the formation of a cross-platform publishing, distribution and marketing label. He later managed business development, strategic initiatives, international operations, customer service and quality assurance for SOE as senior vice president of business development and operations. At Cryptic, John provides executive leadership to all departments and will guide the company as it expands from a development house to an international publisher of MMOGs."
Read: will guide the company as it strives for record profit margins by charging more and providing less than any one else in the business!
In CO it has become clear that they won't be providing the standard level of post launch updates that is usually included in an MMO sub cost. Instead they expect us to pay extra for anything beyond bug fixes. They arranged a few free post-launch updates for us as well, but nothing since November. That is just to point out that the currently announced free updates for STO don't prove anything conclusively. If you are an STO fan, denial is not the right action, this problem will soon effect you, it goes beyond CO. The better course of action is to communicate to Cryptic that enough is enough with these increasingly greedy micro-transactions, that the market will not support the ratio of profit to effort that they are trying to get away with.
The executives are truly out of touch, and they are not seeing how bad this will fail in the long term. They plan to keep making bare minimal games around fanboy IPs, make a killing at launch, and then extracting high profits per player once the game falls to a hardcore fan audience that will pay $5 for this and that attire etc. We are fans, and we can tolerate this to a point, but we must make them understand that there are limits, and we demand more quality, and if the executives don't get the message then we will all lose the games we are a fan of.
Cryptic is trying a Customer Development approach to MMO creation.
Comments
What you have given here is the basic definition of a Corporation. They employ Corporate Officers, to make as much money, with as little cost as possible, so as to maximize profit. If this is a surprise to you, and somehow unexpected, then you need to re-evaluate your understanding of how things work in the real world.
What you have given here is the basic definition of all Corporations. They employed Corporate Officers, to make as much money, with as little cost as possible, so as to maximize profit. If this is a surprise to you, and somehow unexpected, then you need to re-evaluate your understanding of how things work in the real world.
i think what the OP is trying to say given MMO's past norms, of making content updates, bug fixes, and numerous improvements to the core game, then only charging for " true expansions" e.g. new entire zones, hundreds of new quests, new starting areas, improved gameplay features, pvp or enhanced PVE. the list goes on.But you are still getting content and fixes with the $14.95 a month you pay.
what Cryptic seems to be doing is nickel and dime people through small content patches that are similar to DLC's that you have seen in console games. Where as MMO's always had content updates added for free since everquest and Ultima Online. what they are managing to do is alienate a huge playerbase who do not wish to pay for little content updates that should be offered through the subscription fee. the logic is, If you pay $14.95 a month you should not only recieve bug fixes, but content updates, new quests, skills, armor etc with that $14.95. or else why we paying for this game?? I have no problem with them wanting to make profit, if the game is good, and is supported well with bug fixes, and content patches, I have no problem supporting them with my money. What Cryptic seems to see is a hussle or a dodge, how much profit can we make without doing shit, or if we do anything, how much money can we make from it and charge the players. hence aka= nickel and dime.
3.4ghz Phenom II X4 965, 8GB PC12800 DDR3 GSKILL, EVGA 560GTX 2GB OC, 640GB HD SATA II, BFG 1000WATT PSU. MSI NF980-G65 TRI-SLI MOBO.
I'm assuming the OP is trying to stoke the anti-SOE flames by linking this executive's bio.
The reality is that the MMO business is very small. These companies trade personnel all the time at both the developer and executive level. That's why most of the games are rehashes and nothing new ever really comes out of this section of the game industry (aside from new payment models).
In short, this isn't really surprising, or newsworthy.
...
Just vote with your wallet. If Cryptic wants to run their business in a way that 'nickel and dimes' their players, that is their right. However, they may be cutting their own throats in the long run.
Personally I haven't decided if I'll purchase STO..the word of mouth about the game hasn't been good. Therefore, I'm taking a wait and see attitude, to see if the game will be improved. After trying out City of Villians, and Champions Online I'm skeptical of any of Cryptic's products.
ahh it's nice to put a face to the satan of mmo gaming
You bought a lifetime for a subscription based business model, you deserve no better. Would you trust an insurance company, that would offer you a lifetime one-time offer for your car for a price of 12 months insurance?
In addition, you bought it from a guy called Bill Roper, who put up a lifetime offer for a game - Hellgate London that terminated its servers 6 months after its release.
REALITY CHECK
The rebuttal to your denialist post is the fact that people talk about Bill Roper in relation to Cryptic Studios all the time, but in fact John Needham is much more responsible for the current Cryptic business model.
Roper is just the executive producer of Champions, and people even bring him p when talking about STO all over these forums. Roper has experience with one failed business model for Hellgate, while Needham has had years of experience with nickel and diming customers as a senior VP of SOE, a company with notoriously poor customer service. Roper is a distraction, and has been a very successful one, but Needham is much bigger problem for players of Cryptic games.
If you think I am trying to stoke the flames, thing again: I am a rare fan of Cryptic, months after they have been screwing me. Odds are you will not defend them a few months from now.
Cryptic is trying a Customer Development approach to MMO creation.
What you have given here is the basic definition of a Corporation. They employ Corporate Officers, to make as much money, with as little cost as possible, so as to maximize profit. If this is a surprise to you, and somehow unexpected, then you need to re-evaluate your understanding of how things work in the real world.
This is a common lecture on the CO official forums, and just as here on MMORPG.com most posters can immediately see the flaw: everything is relative, and this statement is obviously meant to be relative to MMO precedent. Furthermore, most MMOs historically are treated as long-term products, not short term profit grabs. If you look into the details, STO and CO are for most players more expensive than any other MMO without a real economy (i.e. without a way to sometimes get money out). $5 for a costume? This is like paying $5 for a set of gear, but without any stats. Meanwhile there is a $15/month sub, and the game is much buggier than at launch (like no MMO I have played before, it comes from them sharing engine between STO and CO, now our superheroes fly like spaceships, etc).
So don't lecture me about the real world, unless you understand the details of how much Cryptic is charging, and how little they are outputting. It is exactly the economic principles of your beloved real-world that will bankrupt them if they continue to misunderstand the market and mis-price their products so badly relative to the competition.
Cryptic is trying a Customer Development approach to MMO creation.
You bought a lifetime for a subscription based business model, you deserve no better. Would you trust an insurance company, that would offer you a lifetime one-time offer for your car for a price of 12 months insurance?
In addition, you bought it from a guy called Bill Roper, who put up a lifetime offer for a game - Hellgate London that terminated its servers 6 months after its release.
Yeah, I did my research, and I bought the LTS knowing Roper, Cryptic, and myself, and I am still happy. I bought the LTS because I was happy with the game at launch. It has only gotten slightly worse since then, and it is still my favorite 3D game of all time. I am one of the top 10 or 25 Champs fans there is, so don't misunderstand me. I am just telling STO the truth.
Cryptic is trying a Customer Development approach to MMO creation.
Ok, this made me laugh! Is it too late to get in on the jihad?
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
What you have given here is the basic definition of a Corporation. They employ Corporate Officers, to make as much money, with as little cost as possible, so as to maximize profit. If this is a surprise to you, and somehow unexpected, then you need to re-evaluate your understanding of how things work in the real world.
This is why I prefer my games to be made by development studios and not corporations. You know, made by people who want to make good, fun video games, not people who only want to make lots and lots of profit.
What you have given here is the basic definition of a Corporation. They employ Corporate Officers, to make as much money, with as little cost as possible, so as to maximize profit. If this is a surprise to you, and somehow unexpected, then you need to re-evaluate your understanding of how things work in the real world.
This is why I prefer my games to be made by development studios and not corporations. You know, made by people who want to make good, fun video games, not people who only want to make lots and lots of profit.
Why do you feel the two must be mutually exclusive?
I enjoy having a coke on a hot day.
Does that mean that they are not a corporation out to make as much as possible? Does that decrease my enjoyment? Would the coke be better if the person who made it didnt make as much profit?
OK, first of all who wrote this post... Hmm... This is really surprising. Haven't you been defending Cryptic to the hilt championsFan?
Not that I think your points are invalid, I fully agree with everything you've written.
Second, ohhh... This must be the guy who beamed everyone who had duped credits out into space in Star Wars Galaxies!
www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/08/25/
Yeah, but the MMO industry is large enough that Cryptic could have avoided hiring one of the head honchos from SOE and the guy who caused the crash and burn that was Hellgate London. It's as if they are purposely hiring the bottom of the barrel in the MMO industry.
What you have given here is the basic definition of a Corporation. They employ Corporate Officers, to make as much money, with as little cost as possible, so as to maximize profit. If this is a surprise to you, and somehow unexpected, then you need to re-evaluate your understanding of how things work in the real world.
This is why I prefer my games to be made by development studios and not corporations. You know, made by people who want to make good, fun video games, not people who only want to make lots and lots of profit.
Why do you feel the two must be mutually exclusive?
I enjoy having a coke on a hot day.
Does that mean that they are not a corporation out to make as much as possible? Does that decrease my enjoyment? Would the coke be better if the person who made it didnt make as much profit?
My answer was glib.
There is a spectrum of profit-seeking. A corporation can go to the extreme of seeking as much profit as possible, or they can try to balance profits with products and services. Corporations that go for pure profits at the expense of all other considerations tend to do less well than other corporations who do not.
Cryptic is listing very heavily toward the "greed" end of the spectrum so much so that their products are suffering and their die-hard customers are losing faith in them. There's no real way you can defend these practises, saying "well, all corporations are greedy" is a non-answer.
You could also claim that Cryptic just wants profits and that's why they set up the C-Store, but you'd be wrong. The C-Store goes beyond profits and into pure greed. Why? Because the monthly payment model has proved very effective for MMORPGs so far. There's a reason why most AAA MMOs are using that model: they earn a profit. Games like City of Heroes and EVE probably earn millions of dollars a month while World of Warcraft earns billions a month. Cryptic doesn't need the extra money that they get through their C-Store, especially when their games are barely worth the $15 a month fee.
I actually think you all should listen to the OPs advice. He was an avid champions fan through and through. When the game launched and there were tons of problems he stood by the game and talked about how fun it was. It takes a lot to turn a loyal fan around. If the OP is putting information out so that others don't get burned as he feels he has been, they should really make an effort to at least understand what he's saying.
As an artist and a former (former!!!) art director at a game company I can say I left for many reasons. A firend of mine that was one of the founders of a huge game company, now assimilated by MS, also bemoaned these exact issues and more. Art is dead...killed by money. Vincent painted for himself but needed wanted to sell because he wanted to live to paint more. We no longer live by what I was taught back in the day..."make a game you love to play, cannot wait to play and by the last milestone still love to play and there will be a market for it." This is dead...DEAD! Now it is about target this and market that and getting at least 20% back on the investment. Theme, idea, art, style and true greatness tak a back seat to money and the making of it. The money people, suits, run the day to day and have the the producers by the wallet. In the past two weeks I have had two friends tell me 80-90% of the art jobs at their companies, different companies and different regions of the country, are moving to China and Mexico and the few artists left will simply be sub art directors approval monkeys.
Gaming is going downhill fast...just pop open a cold one, put in Morrowind and Oblivion and watch the flaming juiceball slide down to hell.
Sometimes you just gotta say weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
What you have given here is the basic definition of a Corporation. They employ Corporate Officers, to make as much money, with as little cost as possible, so as to maximize profit. If this is a surprise to you, and somehow unexpected, then you need to re-evaluate your understanding of how things work in the real world.
In other industries this is shameful, but in the gaming industry this is unacceptable and will only make you unemployable before too long as any games you make or are associated with will fail. Learn what the gaming industry is and how it works before you blabber off about nonsense.
Like the movies if you don't like the actors you won't go see it, if you don't like a developer or who runs a company you won't buy it. In other industries people suck it up but this is the entertainment industry and it works differently.
Owner/Admin of GodlessGamer.com - Gaming news and reviews for the godless.
What you have given here is the basic definition of a Corporation. They employ Corporate Officers, to make as much money, with as little cost as possible, so as to maximize profit. If this is a surprise to you, and somehow unexpected, then you need to re-evaluate your understanding of how things work in the real world.
This is why I prefer my games to be made by development studios and not corporations. You know, made by people who want to make good, fun video games, not people who only want to make lots and lots of profit.
Why do you feel the two must be mutually exclusive?
I enjoy having a coke on a hot day.
Does that mean that they are not a corporation out to make as much as possible? Does that decrease my enjoyment? Would the coke be better if the person who made it didnt make as much profit?
It would decrease your enjoyment if they started lacing it with addictive substances to keep you buying as much of their product as possible, possibly with detrimental side effects to your health should you quit. If it wasn't completely illegal, you could damn well see a corporation doing something like this. Joe blow and his buddies who just really like making coke and are happy being able to make a living off it, will likely not try to kill your family to pad their bottom line.
Bans a perma, but so are sigs in necro posts.
EAT ME MMORPG.com!
What you have given here is the basic definition of a Corporation. They employ Corporate Officers, to make as much money, with as little cost as possible, so as to maximize profit. If this is a surprise to you, and somehow unexpected, then you need to re-evaluate your understanding of how things work in the real world.
Cryptic sells and inferior product for more money when compared to ANY MMO out there. Cryptic is like Taco Bell trying to sell there food for the same price as a fancy Mexican restaurant. Last i checked a corporation owned Taco Bell and Taco Bell was cheap as hell. Not very many succesful businesses are run like Cryptic.
Currently Playing: Fallen Earth
Played and liked: TCOS, Vanguard, Guild Wars, DDO
Played and didn't like: CO, MO, STO, DF, AoC, WAR, WoW, EQ2, EVE, most f2p
Waiting for: Earthrise, Guild Wars 2, Secret World
Seriously. Cryptic has been in the business of delivering as little and shallow as possible while trying to ramp hype in favor of early long-term subscription hooks.
STO is not a horrible short-term entertainment outlet, but short-term is the key design feature of their games imho. I feel there are several life-timers, 12-month to 6-month, etc. subscription commitment people that realize their investment is not worth it compared to where many mainstream mmorpg's are at today in what should be breadth and depth of design.
Everyone considering STO should be forewarned.
What you have given here is the basic definition of a Corporation. They employ Corporate Officers, to make as much money, with as little cost as possible, so as to maximize profit. If this is a surprise to you, and somehow unexpected, then you need to re-evaluate your understanding of how things work in the real world.
There's Corporations like Nike then you have the knock off folks that make fake Nike's that are cheaply made and fall a part very fast.
Cryptic has sacrificed pretty much all quality in order to maximize profit much like the knock off folks. They have taken a name brand and stuck it's label on some cheaply made knock off and are selling it for the full price of a real quality product. When a Corporation sacrifices this much quality to maximize profits there are generally frowned upon and tend to tank as people learn not to purchase there products.
I'm sure you meant well but the fact of the matter is Cryptic seems to be in the process of pumping out cheaply made MMO knock offs. You can't have sub par quality and premium pricing. Leads to bankruptcy fast lol.
Ill give them the benefit of a doubt . They have made 3 mmo's 1 was very successful and CO was a flop. Star trek's future has not been determined. As of now its doing good but if they don't play their cards right this will be their last game.
There one successful MMO so far was developed mainly by the people that stayed with that MMO lol. They stayed on with NCSoft and formed Paragon Studios. So you can't give Cryptic credit for CoX considering those people are still working on CoX lol.
What you have given here is the basic definition of a Corporation. They employ Corporate Officers, to make as much money, with as little cost as possible, so as to maximize profit. If this is a surprise to you, and somehow unexpected, then you need to re-evaluate your understanding of how things work in the real world.
There's Corporations like Nike then you have the knock off folks that make fake Nike's that are cheaply made and fall a part very fast.
Cryptic has sacrificed pretty much all quality in order to maximize profit much like the knock off folks. They have taken a name brand and stuck it's label on some cheaply made knock off and are selling it for the full price of a real quality product. When a Corporation sacrifices this much quality to maximize profits there are generally frowned upon and tend to tank as people learn not to purchase there products.
I'm sure you meant well but the fact of the matter is Cryptic seems to be in the process of pumping out cheaply made MMO knock offs. You can't have sub par quality and premium pricing. Leads to bankruptcy fast lol.
Exactly. Atari is a publically traded company, here is an excerpt from their corporate strategy document:
"Online gaming is the fastest growing segment of the industry. The online business model consists in creating compelling online content that builds active communities with enough value to justify:
· a monthly subscription fee;
· micropayments.
This business model enables to generate recurring revenues with higher margins than business models based on traditional publishing and distribution operations.
The development of online gaming is built around four main pillars:
· a high-performance online platform: the acquisition of Cryptic provides Atari with high-performance, multi-game server-side technology architecture that can be used to develop a range of titles. When combined with a sophisticated customer service infrastructure, it offers very high productivity-per-employee and industry-leading client/server performance and creates MMO games at reasonable cost in 18 to 24-month cycles;
...
Currently, Cryptic Studios is developing 2 main games: Champions Online, to be released in September 2009, and Star Trek Online, to be released in spring 2010, and is working on the development of new games based on Atari’s most successful current and classic IPs."
To be fair, Atari did specify "with enough value to justify", which is where Cryptic has fallen short.
Just to clarify, I still play Champions and enjoy it as a game but I no longer generally recommend it because of Cryptic's ridiculous business plan. Seriously, they expect to charge more than everyone else while delivering less, and the way they plan to get away with it is by milking geeky IP fan bases. That is exactly what it says in orange above. Don't make the mistake of thinking STO will be different.
Cryptic is trying a Customer Development approach to MMO creation.