Coming from someone that was playing Allods for several months I'm still seeing f2p games as nothing more than low quality cash grabs. They may be increasing the bar with content and depth but it's still got the stench of amatuer development work. They eventually go down the path of pay to win because in the end the devs are simply trying to balance lower quality with making money.
With the exception of Guild Wars or mainstream games that went from p2p to f2p there's still a fairly large gap between indepenant f2p games and p2p and I don't seriously see this changing anytime soon. You might be able to satisfy your MMO fix somewhat playing a f2p but the differences in quality with eventually become apparent and leave a bad taste in your mouth.
People have proven time and time again in Sub games and in single player games (dragon age) that they will pay extra for extra features. Thus the hybrid. Right or wrong has no place in the discussion because it is only a question of will people pay or not. And they will.
Soon games will hold back stuff (if not already) that is complete and ready for launch so that they can release it as a DLC.
Dunno about that. I usually buy the game, then *cough* aquire through alternative means *cough* the DLC.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
It's hard to say since I've never seen a f2p game publish how many people are playing it much less how well they do with the item shop. Unlike p2p games where they are sometimes open about how successful they are and even if they keep it to themselves they are often involved with publicl traded company that releases the info for their stockholders and investors. Then you also have to consider how different cultures tolerate their games. Like Asians are notorious for actually enjoying grinding in their MMO's but it doesn't fly well in the West. Regardless they do well in the East but who's to say they are still successful in regards to the EU/US market?
Take Allods Online. Even before the 1.10 patch chased a lot of people off it was dubbed as a f2p MMO that raised the bar and a game that should have been about as popular as f2p can get. Considering they only had two servers that hovered around medium to low all you can really do is guess. I've played a lot of MMORPG's from WoW with insane active players to games that were dead and ready to close up shop and I'd have to say the number of people actively playing US Allods was really low when compared mainstream games made by .
I think I read where they said they spent $12 million making it. I have to assume that's pretty good size budget when it comes to f2p. Are they making enough money though that's the question. Since they just released a patch that put a lot more focus on the item shop just to play the game like normal I'd have to say they aren't. So it is even possible for an amatuer indie company to create a big budget game around a f2p model and stil be able to turn enough profit? Guild Wars is pretty much the only example of a game created by experienced mainstream develeopers with deep pockets and a game that was designed to be f2p from the ground up. I'm guessing they still do pretty well considering the sequel coming up.
Im sorry I am several day slow but couldn't we argue the optimal payment model changes over the life of the game itself? When a game is new and large amounts of development capital need to be repaid box sales and p2p for a premium product allow greater revenue. As a product ages and more competition is available the monthly rate players are willing to pay will decline to zero. At this point in the product life it should become f2p. Games using f2p are not able to stand apart from others in the market and demand a premium. The whole discussion is really just an exercise in economic price descrimination and product life cycle. If you follow my logic, the highest perceived quality games will also be able to demand the greatest monthly fee.
* I read most of what Jon Wood writes * He needs more bullet points though
You can't beat every single game, and mmos aren't meant to be beaten, they are usually a great way to save money (at least subscription based MMOs), as you go out to less movies and other real life entertainment venues (eat at less restaurants and for the poorer eat less period?).
I never expect to 100% finish my games, I mostly finish them, and with my MMOs I only partially finish them... This is due to not being a hardcore raider in a top of the server raiding guild - so I will always miss out on the hardest raids in a game/best loot in the game (same as not buying from item malls and missing out on useful items in free to play games)
Free to play games are great diversions, usually meant for casual small time commitments, and shouldn't be beaten, since there are other great games out there that you could buy and actually finish on the market...
What angers me though is SoE charging $50 for a furniture set, when you are already paying a sub monthly and its double dipping us... I can't buy the item mall items because they are over priced and I'm already paying a sub... plus expansions? *sigh*
DDO gets a major thumbs up, for being free and letting me grind favor points to buy items - instead of forcing me to pay for adventure zones/drow/monk - all I have to do is grind for it...
Everquest 2 has no in-game quests or way to earn Station Cash and buy furniture etc. that is specific to the Marketplace only >< .
Comments
Coming from someone that was playing Allods for several months I'm still seeing f2p games as nothing more than low quality cash grabs. They may be increasing the bar with content and depth but it's still got the stench of amatuer development work. They eventually go down the path of pay to win because in the end the devs are simply trying to balance lower quality with making money.
With the exception of Guild Wars or mainstream games that went from p2p to f2p there's still a fairly large gap between indepenant f2p games and p2p and I don't seriously see this changing anytime soon. You might be able to satisfy your MMO fix somewhat playing a f2p but the differences in quality with eventually become apparent and leave a bad taste in your mouth.
Dunno about that. I usually buy the game, then *cough* aquire through alternative means *cough* the DLC.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
It's hard to say since I've never seen a f2p game publish how many people are playing it much less how well they do with the item shop. Unlike p2p games where they are sometimes open about how successful they are and even if they keep it to themselves they are often involved with publicl traded company that releases the info for their stockholders and investors. Then you also have to consider how different cultures tolerate their games. Like Asians are notorious for actually enjoying grinding in their MMO's but it doesn't fly well in the West. Regardless they do well in the East but who's to say they are still successful in regards to the EU/US market?
Take Allods Online. Even before the 1.10 patch chased a lot of people off it was dubbed as a f2p MMO that raised the bar and a game that should have been about as popular as f2p can get. Considering they only had two servers that hovered around medium to low all you can really do is guess. I've played a lot of MMORPG's from WoW with insane active players to games that were dead and ready to close up shop and I'd have to say the number of people actively playing US Allods was really low when compared mainstream games made by .
I think I read where they said they spent $12 million making it. I have to assume that's pretty good size budget when it comes to f2p. Are they making enough money though that's the question. Since they just released a patch that put a lot more focus on the item shop just to play the game like normal I'd have to say they aren't. So it is even possible for an amatuer indie company to create a big budget game around a f2p model and stil be able to turn enough profit? Guild Wars is pretty much the only example of a game created by experienced mainstream develeopers with deep pockets and a game that was designed to be f2p from the ground up. I'm guessing they still do pretty well considering the sequel coming up.
Im sorry I am several day slow but couldn't we argue the optimal payment model changes over the life of the game itself? When a game is new and large amounts of development capital need to be repaid box sales and p2p for a premium product allow greater revenue. As a product ages and more competition is available the monthly rate players are willing to pay will decline to zero. At this point in the product life it should become f2p. Games using f2p are not able to stand apart from others in the market and demand a premium. The whole discussion is really just an exercise in economic price descrimination and product life cycle. If you follow my logic, the highest perceived quality games will also be able to demand the greatest monthly fee.
* I read most of what Jon Wood writes
* He needs more bullet points though
You can't beat every single game, and mmos aren't meant to be beaten, they are usually a great way to save money (at least subscription based MMOs), as you go out to less movies and other real life entertainment venues (eat at less restaurants and for the poorer eat less period?).
I never expect to 100% finish my games, I mostly finish them, and with my MMOs I only partially finish them... This is due to not being a hardcore raider in a top of the server raiding guild - so I will always miss out on the hardest raids in a game/best loot in the game (same as not buying from item malls and missing out on useful items in free to play games)
Free to play games are great diversions, usually meant for casual small time commitments, and shouldn't be beaten, since there are other great games out there that you could buy and actually finish on the market...
What angers me though is SoE charging $50 for a furniture set, when you are already paying a sub monthly and its double dipping us... I can't buy the item mall items because they are over priced and I'm already paying a sub... plus expansions? *sigh*
DDO gets a major thumbs up, for being free and letting me grind favor points to buy items - instead of forcing me to pay for adventure zones/drow/monk - all I have to do is grind for it...
Everquest 2 has no in-game quests or way to earn Station Cash and buy furniture etc. that is specific to the Marketplace only >< .