F2P is not about getting more people to play the game - it's about getting the people who pay, to pay more.
If you look at Turbine's past experience that is just not accurate.
"That's why it should come as no surprise to hear that since relaunching as a hybrid F2P in September, DDO has managed to amass more than 1 million new players who had never played the game before. According to Turbine, there are over twice as many paid subscribers as there were prior to the change. The revenue from DDO store transactions is now also over 500% -- three times the industry standard for similar titles."
Twice as many subs. 500% more revenue. One million people. All this sounds good until put into perspective. Twice as many subs would be good if the amount of subs the game had was significant before F2P. 500%, 3 times the industry standard? So what is supposed to be a AAA title brings in 3 times more Cash Shop money than other F2P games? One million people would be a good number if they paid but the majority do not or the sub numbers and cash shop percentage would be much higher.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
F2P is not about getting more people to play the game - it's about getting the people who pay, to pay more.
If you look at Turbine's past experience that is just not accurate.
"That's why it should come as no surprise to hear that since relaunching as a hybrid F2P in September, DDO has managed to amass more than 1 million new players who had never played the game before. According to Turbine, there are over twice as many paid subscribers as there were prior to the change. The revenue from DDO store transactions is now also over 500% -- three times the industry standard for similar titles."
Twice as many subs. 500% more revenue. One million people. All this sounds good until put into perspective. Twice as many subs would be good if the amount of subs the game had was significant before F2P. 500%, 3 times the industry standard? So what is supposed to be a AAA title brings in 3 times more Cash Shop money than other F2P games? One million people would be a good number if they paid but the majority do not or the sub numbers and cash shop percentage would be much higher.
Before the F2P model DDO was estimated to be hanging around the 30-40 sub mark. If they were able to double those numbers then that pushes them closer to the magical 100k region. That is the region where most MMO titles hover these days if they achieve moderate success. They can make money, they can continue to release content and they can achieve a nice community.
In short DDO moved from failing to a moderate success by most industry standards.
Currently LOTRO is estimated to hover in the 80-100k mark for subs. "If" they have the same measure of success as DDO did with another F2P game. It could bump them towards the 200k mark. That would put them in the same ball park as a game like EVE for subscribers, which is a very very comfortable place to be for any game of this scope. Very few games surpass the million player mark and stay there.
Turbine is banking on an increase in both subscribers and extra income from the F2P shop. Until the F2P model is released and given a few months we won't know if it will succeed or not. For now we can only point to their past experiences. In the case of DDO it was a huge surge in income for them and literally brought their game back from the dead.
They can make money, they can continue to release content and they can achieve a nice community.
These are to two points of contention. If by a "nice" community you mean more numbers then yes in the levels prior to Lonelands I expect this will be true. On the other hand if you mean a friendly mature community, I doubt it. As for the "continue to release content" part its arguble in the fact that LOTRO has not released any meaningful content since MOM and if they had used funds obtained by LOTRO subs to create content more players would have remained. People left due to no new content. In hind sight its pretty evident that the sub money LOTRO did bring in went to transform DDO as well as LOTRO to the F2P model. So yes, lots of new players in the noob areas and content offered the size of Mirkwood with lots of extras in the cash shop. I dont think this is way people expected their sub money to be spent.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
The big golden coin floating in the middle of the ring makes me say 'yuck'. Couldn't there have been a more discreet way of doing this say by just putting the info that you have to buy that quest to unlock it in the quest dialogue?
I like how Bioware did it in Dragon Age Origins with the DLC.
Comments
Twice as many subs. 500% more revenue. One million people. All this sounds good until put into perspective. Twice as many subs would be good if the amount of subs the game had was significant before F2P. 500%, 3 times the industry standard? So what is supposed to be a AAA title brings in 3 times more Cash Shop money than other F2P games? One million people would be a good number if they paid but the majority do not or the sub numbers and cash shop percentage would be much higher.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Before the F2P model DDO was estimated to be hanging around the 30-40 sub mark. If they were able to double those numbers then that pushes them closer to the magical 100k region. That is the region where most MMO titles hover these days if they achieve moderate success. They can make money, they can continue to release content and they can achieve a nice community.
In short DDO moved from failing to a moderate success by most industry standards.
Currently LOTRO is estimated to hover in the 80-100k mark for subs. "If" they have the same measure of success as DDO did with another F2P game. It could bump them towards the 200k mark. That would put them in the same ball park as a game like EVE for subscribers, which is a very very comfortable place to be for any game of this scope. Very few games surpass the million player mark and stay there.
Turbine is banking on an increase in both subscribers and extra income from the F2P shop. Until the F2P model is released and given a few months we won't know if it will succeed or not. For now we can only point to their past experiences. In the case of DDO it was a huge surge in income for them and literally brought their game back from the dead.
Lotro, one of the worst mmorpg's ever made.
Tolkien rolled over a few times in his grave.
These are to two points of contention. If by a "nice" community you mean more numbers then yes in the levels prior to Lonelands I expect this will be true. On the other hand if you mean a friendly mature community, I doubt it. As for the "continue to release content" part its arguble in the fact that LOTRO has not released any meaningful content since MOM and if they had used funds obtained by LOTRO subs to create content more players would have remained. People left due to no new content. In hind sight its pretty evident that the sub money LOTRO did bring in went to transform DDO as well as LOTRO to the F2P model. So yes, lots of new players in the noob areas and content offered the size of Mirkwood with lots of extras in the cash shop. I dont think this is way people expected their sub money to be spent.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
The big golden coin floating in the middle of the ring makes me say 'yuck'. Couldn't there have been a more discreet way of doing this say by just putting the info that you have to buy that quest to unlock it in the quest dialogue?
I like how Bioware did it in Dragon Age Origins with the DLC.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
The only thing we need is locked morons! This feature will save us from retarded comments!