WildStar: Pricing Model Announced & FAQ

SBFord

Carbine Studios has announced the pricing model FAQ and a blog post by Jeremy Gaffney for its upcoming game, WildStar. The game will feature a subscription revenue model with a twist. For more information, you can check out the official site or Bill Murphy's report here at MMORPG.com.

First, let’s laydown the basics for you.  The box for WildStar will cost you the now standard price of $59.99, which gets you 30-days of free game time, and three week-long passes for friends to try the game too.  After that, you’ll have to pay $14.99 a month, or cheaper ($13.99 for three months, $12.99 for six, $10.99 for a year) if you pay for multiple months at a time.  But the big twist that WildStar is throwing into the mix is that you still can play for free... if you’re willing to work for it in-game.  That’s where CREDD comes in.

Reignson

Hrrmm.  I was hoping to see more of a hybrid biz model for this.  Like maybe a cheaper sub ($9.99-ish), blended with a cosmetic / fluff micro-shop so they could recoup the cheaper sub prices.   

Ah, well.  Too much to hope that Wildstar would be inovative or daring with the buisness model as well.  After all, the bottom line - is the bottom line.

Lobotomist

P2P themepark in this day and age ... why do they never learn ?

I will be checking the game when it goes F2P , which it will - based on unfortunate choice of pricing model.

 

Ezraiel92

Screw that!

spirus7

its looks wow in space and it has the "almost" same  pricing model ..  

Pr0n

Fuck that, indeed.

Yaevindusk

 

Girlfriend only allows me one P2P MMO subscription.  :<

 

/shewearsthepantsintherelationship

 

Hope others have fun with it if they're interested; just haven't seen reason to give up my current game / plans for it.

 

My main problem is that I barely play any game as is.  If they made it so you don't lose time if you don't play that day (I.E. 30 days, one day used if you log in), I might be able to convince her to have multiple.  With B2P or P2P I am free to play whenever I want and to invest in said game if I feel that I've got my money's worth.

 

I'm bad with fees (You can only say it's only a couple lunches per month so many times before you see that you've spent $5,000 in expansions / monthly fees / services over time), but great and controlling impulse buying and rewarding developers if they provide me with entertainment.

 

Perhaps that's why those other models are successful for a lot of companies, and popular with all age groups.  :>

 

krondin

Hard to believe such harshness about this pricing model as in the comments above this one. I personally am not surprised to see a few folks upset and posting it here . I dont mind if its sub, i prefer sub over f2p < free to play > or p2w < pay to win > cash shops.  The interesting thing here is they said you can play free from launch, for some type of game currency , which you have to earn in game. So there IS a built in free to play option.

I just hope game dev's dont change things based on the comments of a few people, like most other game companys have done, and its easy to see where that got them! 

As far as a monthly sub, thats alot cheaper then cash shops overall imho, and where are you going to get this much entertainment  for less then the price of 2 mcdonalds combo meals a Month. So stop all this Complaining about how expensive this is. You want it for free, you dont want to level a character, you dont want to raid for gear, gimmie gimmie gimmie , its all BS. Go find something else to do with your time, gaming isnt for you!

GamerToons

Well I can already see it now. A year after release it will be going f2p but by then the lackluster launch and turnoffs involved in sub model will have already hurt the game.

Really bad idea from an MMO filled with great ideas. Too bad this idea will doom the game before launch.

I'm being mmo economic realist here not just another doom sayer as I really wanted this game to succeed

nuttob

Well the CREDD will probably mean you have to be really dedicated to the game to play for free.  I was hoping for a BTP model like GW2.  I will probably take a wait and see approach to this game...

Voltimus

I have no problem with Subscription based games.  However I don't see the point of there being CREDD in the game when it costs $19.99 for a month subscription, as it cannot be traded or gifted. What is the point of an item that costs $19.99 that gives you the same exact thing you already have to pay for at $14.99 a month?  Everquest, which is now free to play has a similar item and you can buy it or do the subscription.  In that it makes sense as you can play for free and then buy the item from other players.  If CREDD cannot be traded or gifted can it be sold?  Even if you could sell it who would buy it when it gives them nothing they don't already have? 

I guess I just don't understand the point of CREDD or a similar item if you don't have a game that is F2P with subscription being an option.

Ryowulf

I'm a casual player. I like trying out and playing different games. When I am subbing I feel like I am not getting my money's worth if I am playing some other game.

Or to put it another way, I would rather spend 15 a month in the cash shop buying things I want/will use than paying for server rental.

Lastly, we all know they will be going ftp in 6 months or less, based on this simple truth.  Please name an AAA mmo that is sub and getting high retention (not Wow or Eve). Now name the mmos that started as sub and went ftp or started out btp/ftp.

Wildstar isn't a sandbox like Eve and is probably not going to be a freak of nature like WoW. Its an AAA title so it has tons of money pumped into it.  Does anyone really think that when sub numbers start to drop and show a steady decline that they won't go ftp?

Are you happy with paying full price plus a sub for 4 - 6 months. Only to have the Devs announce they are going ftp? Actually I would guess they will add a cash shop first then go btp.

No one should be happy they are going sub, because the reality is its not going to stay that way.  They are going to get as much money from you subbers as they can then switch to ftp.  Please look at recent AAA titles and realize what's going on.

drgran

Originally posted by Voltimus

I have no problem with Subscription based games.  However I don't see the point of there being CREDD in the game when it costs $19.99 for a month subscription, as it cannot be traded or gifted. What is the point of an item that costs $19.99 that gives you the same exact thing you already have to pay for at $14.99 a month?  Everquest, which is now free to play has a similar item and you can buy it or do the subscription.  In that it makes sense as you can play for free and then buy the item from other players.  If CREDD cannot be traded or gifted can it be sold?  Even if you could sell it who would buy it when it gives them nothing they don't already have? 

I guess I just don't understand the point of CREDD or a similar item if you don't have a game that is F2P with subscription being an option.

CREDD is a option that you buy to get more gold in game. You pay 19.99 for it and it is put on the market. When you sell yours for in game currency you get the gold. So basicly it gets rid of (or tries too) the gold sellers. Less spam is good. 

Ex. 

Player A = buys CREDD for 19.99

Player B = Buys CREDD for in game currency to play another month

Player A = receives in game currency 

Gold Seller cant sell gold cause all the Player A are getting gold anyway.

So its good for hte player that cant afford to play but is a good farmer, And its good for the players that have spending money but doesnt have time to farm the money.

 

I say buy the game . See if you like it. If you do then buy 1 month at a time or the whole CREDD thing.

If you dont like it then wait until it goes free to play.  

If you spend about 6hrs to 12hrs on this game then you got your moneys worth on the first month . Cause buying games for full price you seem to get only 6 to 12 hrs of gameplay. 

So enjoy if you like

Reizla

Originally posted by drgran

CREDD is a option that you buy to get more gold in game. You pay 19.99 for it and it is put on the market. When you sell yours for in game currency you get the gold. So basicly it gets rid of (or tries too) the gold sellers. Less spam is good. 

Ex. 

Player A = buys CREDD for 19.99

Player B = Buys CREDD for in game currency to play another month

Player A = receives in game currency 

Gold Seller cant sell gold cause all the Player A are getting gold anyway.

So its good for hte player that cant afford to play but is a good farmer, And its good for the players that have spending money but doesnt have time to farm the money.

 

I say buy the game . See if you like it. If you do then buy 1 month at a time or the whole CREDD thing.

If you dont like it then wait until it goes free to play.  

If you spend about 6hrs to 12hrs on this game then you got your moneys worth on the first month . Cause buying games for full price you seem to get only 6 to 12 hrs of gameplay. 

So enjoy if you like

Not really true... A lot of MMORPGs where you can buy/sel in-game cash shop items, have more goldsellers than the one that do not allow that feature. Why? Simple. Player A now has XXX gold and wants to sell it. Since not a lot of players do have so much gold, he sells half of that XXX gold for $12,50, allowing him a profit of $5 on one timecard. Do this with 100s of timecards and your profit goes up fast. And you tell me this is not true..? Try to look at the EU Lineage II servers where you can sell cash shop items. Good thing there is that the GMs actually BAN the goldsellers and buyers...

So yeah, some players indeed will play for free with these CREDDS, but they also fuel the RMT. IMO the CREDD (or PLEX for EVE) has to be removed completely from the game!

Nanfoodle

When a game becomes a job, no thanks!

drgran

Originally posted by Reizla

Originally posted by drgran

CREDD is a option that you buy to get more gold in game. You pay 19.99 for it and it is put on the market. When you sell yours for in game currency you get the gold. So basicly it gets rid of (or tries too) the gold sellers. Less spam is good. 

Ex. 

Player A = buys CREDD for 19.99

Player B = Buys CREDD for in game currency to play another month

Player A = receives in game currency 

Gold Seller cant sell gold cause all the Player A are getting gold anyway.

So its good for hte player that cant afford to play but is a good farmer, And its good for the players that have spending money but doesnt have time to farm the money.

 

I say buy the game . See if you like it. If you do then buy 1 month at a time or the whole CREDD thing.

If you dont like it then wait until it goes free to play.  

If you spend about 6hrs to 12hrs on this game then you got your moneys worth on the first month . Cause buying games for full price you seem to get only 6 to 12 hrs of gameplay. 

So enjoy if you like

Not really true... A lot of MMORPGs where you can buy/sel in-game cash shop items, have more goldsellers than the one that do not allow that feature. Why? Simple. Player A now has XXX gold and wants to sell it. Since not a lot of players do have so much gold, he sells half of that XXX gold for $12,50, allowing him a profit of $5 on one timecard. Do this with 100s of timecards and your profit goes up fast. And you tell me this is not true..? Try to look at the EU Lineage II servers where you can sell cash shop items. Good thing there is that the GMs actually BAN the goldsellers and buyers...

So yeah, some players indeed will play for free with these CREDDS, but they also fuel the RMT. IMO the CREDD (or PLEX for EVE) has to be removed completely from the game!

Yah i was only ex. from what was given out and their way of thinking. 

And your talking about a AH or cash shop sort of thing . They stated that this wont be a AH it will be more like a stock exchange. And you can only buy at the lowest rates. cant pick.

Only until that stock is gone you can get the next lowest price. 

Not to discredit anything you have said . You are right with people farming for gold . You will see Spammers trying to sell gold at lower prices then what this sort of AH(stock exchange) are selling for. 

My concern is How much for how much. 

Am i paying 19.99 for lets say 1000 gold? Not worth it. Am I farming 10,000 and only get a lets say 1/4 of the monthly cost? Yah not worth it. 

 

Calerxes

Originally posted by GamerToons
Well I can already see it now. A year after release it will be going f2p but by then the lackluster launch and turnoffs involved in sub model will have already hurt the game.

Really bad idea from an MMO filled with great ideas. Too bad this idea will doom the game before launch.

I'm being mmo economic realist here not just another doom sayer as I really wanted this game to succeed

 

I feel this is a sensible notion with Wildstar being a no name IP, Final Fantasy and maybe TESO can get away with a sub fee for a while but Wildstar? the mainstream market has moved on from box price and sub. So I agree with all the competition in the market they'll struggle to retain players unless they have a magical content maker churning out the top quality updates but really this is a strangely anachronistic move to me.

Dakeru

Didn't Tera have an item for subscription time like this and it didn't work out either?

I understand that FF14 has a sub since the Japanese are proud and would consider a f2p version something dishonorable.

But NCSoft never had anything other in mind than profit, so I don't understand this decision for a payment model which seems to have its origin in a vivid dream of Scrooge Duck.

Lobotomist

Originally posted by nuttob
Well the CREDD will probably mean you have to be really dedicated to the game to play for free.  I was hoping for a BTP model like GW2.  I will probably take a wait and see approach to this game...

Me to.

Problem is that when the game launches P2P and players start to leave because of natural subscription drop , there is not much for company to do but go F2P , and lose credibility.

Instead going B2P , and having steady revenue like GW2

issling

Some people say they want f2p and spend their fifteen dollars the way they want in the cash shop instead of paying a sub, why not just pay the sub and get everything the game has to offer?

Anyways we are divided on this issue, and you guys have your f2p and we have some p2p games now:) Everybody should be happy.

Varthander

The strategy is clear, they launch as a P2P game, they gather all the money they can from the subscribers, then when the numbers are not profitable they go free to play with cash shop and the numbers go up again, of course all that has been planned in advance because its the most efficient way to pump money out, also its the dirtiest one.

Kyleran

Originally posted by Lobotomist

Originally posted by nuttob
Well the CREDD will probably mean you have to be really dedicated to the game to play for free.  I was hoping for a BTP model like GW2.  I will probably take a wait and see approach to this game...

Me to.

Problem is that when the game launches P2P and players start to leave because of natural subscription drop , there is not much for company to do but go F2P , and lose creddibility.

Instead going B2P , and having steady revenue like GW2 ???

I'm sorry, but you just missed such an opportunity there. 

But as to your 2nd comment, recent financials showed GW2 revenues heading significantly and steadily downward, so not sure where this steady revenue is coming from in your way of thinking.

In fact, the game that was growing in revenue was Lineage 1, almost 15 years old and still a sub only title.

 

saker

Originally posted by Lobotomist

P2P themepark in this day and age ... why do they never learn ?

I will be checking the game when it goes F2P , which it will - based on unfortunate choice of pricing model.

 

Agree. This model, which is basically what we had 10 years ago just doesn't cut it today. The age of buying boxes and paying 19., or 14. (even 9.99) monthly is long dead and gone.

saker

Originally posted by Varthander

The strategy is clear, they launch as a P2P game, they gather all the money they can from the subscribers, then when the numbers are not profitable they go free to play with cash shop and the numbers go up again, of course all that has been planned in advance because its the most efficient way to pump money out, also its the dirtiest one.

 

Well and truly said! You hit the nail on the head. It's the western market stratedgy of today. Though i don't think it has much longevity as people are all seeing through it saying screw-it, there's lots of games out and it'll likely be full of bugs as is typical when these launch (cuz we all know they throw them out the door before they're ready!), I'll just wait for it to go "freemium", or "ftp", or whatever the chosen definition.

saker

Originally posted by Calerxes

Originally posted by GamerToons
Well I can already see it now. A year after release it will be going f2p but by then the lackluster launch and turnoffs involved in sub model will have already hurt the game.

Really bad idea from an MMO filled with great ideas. Too bad this idea will doom the game before launch.

I'm being mmo economic realist here not just another doom sayer as I really wanted this game to succeed

 

I feel this is a sensible notion with Wildstar being a no name IP, Final Fantasy and maybe TESO can get away with a sub fee for a while but Wildstar? the mainstream market has moved on from box price and sub. So I agree with all the competition in the market they'll struggle to retain players unless they have a magical content maker churning out the top quality updates but really this is a strangely anachronistic move to me.

 

I agree that TESO -may- get away with this (but I doubt anyone can anymore, I expect they'll end up going ftp after a year or 2 also), I don't agree that Final Fantasy can. It's just not a good enough game...

Theocritus

Originally posted by Lobotomist

P2P themepark in this day and age ... why do they never learn ?

I will be checking the game when it goes F2P , which it will - based on unfortunate choice of pricing model.

 

 Yep I wont even look at this until I read it is going f2p....Why should I fork out around a hundred bucks to play any MMO....T ome its just ridiculous.....This site alone lists 604 and many of those are free.....