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EVE Online: Cancelled Subs Could Cost CCP $1 Million
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
According to a report published at Develop Online, EVE Online developer CCP Games could lost nearly a million dollars due to cancelled subscriptions. A document has surfaced with the names of over five thousand players indicating they will be cancelling their EVE subscription over recent documents focused around the company's microtransaction revenue model.
At the time of going to press, some 5,257 accounts are due to be cancelled in protest. An annual subscription in Eve Online costs €131, meaning the absconding players would represent a loss near $1 million – though the number is likely to climb further.
CCP Games made more than $46 million in 2008, according to financial statements.
The expected mass-cancellation of Eve Online accounts comes as CCP Games looks to recover from a humiliating backlash regarding its microtransaction plans.
The "cancellation list" is available for viewing on Google Docs.
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Comments
I'm interested in seeing how many that say they will quit, actually quit. We've seen this in MMO's for years, so many claim to quit yet within a week are playing again. They try new games realize they are no longer at the top and go back to where they were.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I wonder after the initial uproar how many of those will come crawling back in silently.
Putting that against a potential return of non-subscriber and the revenue from the shop it self... I would not be to worried if i was CCP.
This have been a good conversation
"A document has surfaced with the names of over five thousand players "
Not 5k players but 5k accounts.
Actual numbers for the time being are:
Players: 2318
Accounts: 5257
I believe they won't come back if CCP continues to "Stay the course!". If CCP reduce the prices of the in-game items, you'll probably see some return but if they still plan on selling non-vanity items like ships and the like, not many will return at all.
This is not a game.
That's always the rub right? Also, as stated after you, how many will silently reactivate?
The other catch is that people have bought multi-month subs or have multiple months left on PLEX they activated. As a result, it will be pretty tough to really gauge the impact without any official data. Regardless, the underlying motivator is still being talked about and it is probably more interesting to see what is done/said over the next couple weeks and how CCP chooses to move forward. I imagine there are a bunch of people who have taken a bit more of a wait and see attitude and those people would be the other shoe to drop depending on their tolerence threshold for the various issues that stirred up all the drama...
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
This happens every time some devs do something that the drama llamas think will drop the sky...They'll "quit" and quietly come back month later
whahahahahaha....sorry just had to be done. I saw a recent presentation online about battlefield heroes and them create items that give benifits to people who pay for them. A lot of outcry on the forums, a lot of outcry in the media. At the end though they are making more money and nothing really changed sub-wise.
Saw the same with Left 4 Dead 2. So many people signed up for the anti-l4d 2 steam group. Most of them WOULD NEVER buy L4D2 because it got released so shortly after L4D and did not add a lot of new things. Day 1 though a lot of the members of the group decided to play it anyway.
Most of the folks who claim there going to cancel will most likely not. Just like people did not with Battlefield Heroes and just like people brought L4D2 regardless.
thing is the way i see it if CCP uses the same model for micro tranactions as Turbine is i do not see how that will change look at LOTRO it is a bigger success now that it is free toplay then it was back when it was pay to play coz they have items in their Store that are juicy people need those items it is not garbage like other free to play models the items are wel eorth the purchase. but if they do wind up in doing this they will need to make the game fre to play they can not have both.
EverQuest 2 lost a lot of subs with their cash shop debacle and the way they implemented it.
Problem is, they only need a handful of idiots with big wallets spending thousands of dollars in their shop, to recoup the loss in subscriptions.
If CCP is just as arrogant disrespectful towards their customerbase as John Smedley from SOE is (which so far has shown to be the case), they will think the same thing. 5000+ people rage quiting... so what... we got several thousand suckers buying those monocle's paying up for you people quiting.
And it's sadly that kind of number crunching attitude that seems to have taken over the MMO industry (or game industry as whole) that is making me sad and slowly I am just getting fed up with the whole genre as a whole.
There was a time that paying for the game box, expansions and then paying a monthly subscription fee, was enough to enjoy everything an MMO has to offer, including free updates and everything obtainable / craftable ingame.
Horrible cash shops were something that existed in Asia in those horrible Asian grinder's MMO and we were glad it was there in the east and not here.
But now greed has taken over everywhere and someone came with the idea why not have both models within the same game and start squeezing every penny out of our suckers....ehhh customers. /facepalm
May that person burn in hell when he dies! /sigh
I think the massive response was amazing and actually a big selling point for EVE as a game. Obviously people love it deeply; as most people unsubbing really did it to protest, not because they didn't like playing EVE anymore. I see them mainly as concerned citizens.
My brand new bloggity blog.
That's the spirit!
I heartily hope that CCP won't bend just because of few screaming kids. The world has to spin.
so yout hink the greed is a good thing it isnt fyi
It is not greed... It has to do with the fact that the "geek" who used to play after school and had lots fo free time but little money have grown up and now have a job and a family.. thus giving him lots of money but little time... Ergo he is very much willing to pay for things that makes it easier for him to play the game...
combine that with the fact that the new generation ask them self "why should i pay for this" and want things to be free to play, cash shops are the way fo the future... If you do not like it you will have sto start your own company and produce a game without those things.
Also... Eve was never a fair game to begin with due to its linear skillgain.
This have been a good conversation
There is no greed.
People pay for MT, you like it or not, and CCP would be stupid not to give it to them.
I wouldn't go as far as comparing them to Smed, I think their motivations are quite different, especially if that report about their earnings is correct. I have always thought of EVE's addition of MT as a means to further support their company financially. With that report I don't think I was far off, though I was speculating they may have bit off more than they could chew as well. It doesn't seem much like speculation now heh.
Dust, WOD, the purchase of White Wolf, as well as incarna, seems to have had a negative impact on their earnings, and far more than they planned for. EVE is more or less their only product at present and their only souce of income, I asume anyway. They have to milk it if they're in that much trouble.
With NGE that was a push to get an entirely new playerbase (WOWs), a much different motivation.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Well said. I applaud those that "vote" using their wallets. Companies, like politicians, only respond once they think their livelihood is at stake. Perhaps if more gamers took a stand rather then captiulating game companies would make better attempts to provide what the customer wants then what the accountants think is best. And yes, these companies need to make money but they need to do it providing for the demand and not milking demand and trying to force things at gamers. J. P. Getty once said that you can make a lot of money IF you provide what the customer WANTS. CCP is obviously not adhering to that.
Let's party like it is 1863!
~2000 people is nothing to lose, if they do go - which is unlikely as they are angry about CCP selling ships and ammo cutting out the middle man which is the whole game. Of course thats not the case at all, and they will be back once CCP restates it has no plans at present to sell gold ammo (again).
Some people don't understand that companies can't say never to anything just like they can't say we will never turn off the servers.
I have to ask.. how come that every one who does not do as you like is wrong...As for your J.P.Getty qoute... how do you no know that this is what the MAJORITY of the customers want..? All we see here is a vocal minority... Heck even that petiton is still a very small minority of the players.
So what says they you are right?
I know what i would call trying to bend facts and forceing an opinion upon people... not going to say it here tho.
This have been a good conversation
Well, actually that is what CCP is doing exactly.
It is only those 2.3k/5.5k people that do not want it. That is 1.4% of whole subscriber base.
The rest, 98.6% of subscribers are fine with MT.
Well that depends on which costumers you're looking at, the 2000 that are screaming out or the thousands of others who are not.
That slogan very much describes the cash shop situation in MMO's, you can't judge only by those who do not like, there is another spectrum to consider and that's those who do.
SO what does the customer want? Why has the entire industry been sliding down this slope? Why?
You have to remember those who stay or join, as well as who buy are voting with their wallet to.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I have found it interesting, from the very beginning, that everyone takes that article to mean, “Greed is good”.
If I remember correctly, that character didn’t fair to well in that movie, and the point of the movie was how to fight back against corporate greed.
This. Eve carries a heavy, HEAVY investment to play. CCP is banking on people being unwilling to give up their 50 million SP character. Time will tell if their gamble pays off. Either way, it's a sad, sad day.
I am sorry tho. But I hardly doubt the vast majority in EVE Online wants to pay $60 for virtual monocle on their avatar. /facepalm
Meh they still have enough morons paying to pay their spreadsheet program I doubt it'll hurt them much. But I have to wonder why do mmorpg devs pull stuff like this out of their ass, do they ever consider the reaction the playerbase will have before implementing stuff? So many mmorpg devs lately have been making some really messed up sudden choices. Hellgate revival is another one, they advertised it as free to play, and then just a day or 2 ago they announce you can only play act 1 and 2 for free, after that your forced to buy a ticket to continue the game, though you can make a new char but yeah.. GG T3. Let me link you.
http://hellgate.t3fun.com/News/Notice_View.aspx?post_key=16
They just pulled this out of their ass after saying for months it was gonna be f2p, pissed off ALOT of people, its not about the price, its about the company promising one thing then at the last minute changing it.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Either way, you can't lose! Try it out sometime!