Curious question about other releases for this game.

Darkfalz89

Just a serious question, I'm just curious about how the releases for this game happened in other countries. I know the game was P2P in Korea but that's as much as i know. For those here that played those versions I ask was there a B2P into P2P for the game? And I assume it being a Korean IP that it had a Vanity cash shop but were you able to buy your sub with gold? Also most important question is if the Korean and Euro versions had a alpha you bought into for a ridiculous price or was that just Trion?

Darkfalz89

bump.

Thestrain

AA didn't do very well in Korea and had to go F2P to survive. Its performance has been very lack luster in Russia. For US release it is yet to be seen but since it is pretty much the same game i don't see it suddenly becoming a success story.

Gdemami

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Originally posted by DMKano
By ridiculous alpha price you mean$100 worth of credits + 3 month patron pass + playing the game months before release (plus pots, glider, logo scroll, teleport stones etc..)Yeah.... damn them for giving such a good deal, lol  

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You mistake price for worth, or value.

sketocafe

Koreans don't do subs. Song experimented with trying it and AA wasn't strong enough to pull it off. The Russian pub didn't even try. The nature of their f2p is a lot different than fucking Tyrone's attempt, though. For stuff like the Halloween event, you'd see the costumes in the store and the other good stuff available without anyone paying real money. Family members can use farmer's workstations so you aren't forced into patronage if you want to access them. You can compare the nature of all three f2p releases and see that one of them is the odd one out in terms of how they treat their customers.

 

bobfish

Originally posted by sketocafe

Koreans don't do subs. Song experimented with trying it and AA wasn't strong enough to pull it off. The Russian pub didn't even try. The nature of their f2p is a lot different than fucking Tyrone's attempt, though. For stuff like the Halloween event, you'd see the costumes in the store and the other good stuff available without anyone paying real money. Family members can use farmer's workstations so you aren't forced into patronage if you want to access them. You can compare the nature of all three f2p releases and see that one of them is the odd one out in terms of how they treat their customers.

 

Subscriptions MMOs are just as popular in Korea as they are in America.

 

The reality is though, there is a LOT of competition for subscribers and most remain where they are. Here they stick with WoW, in Korea, they stick with Lineage.

ArcheAge, like TERA before it and many others, failed to gain the traction it needed and had to move to the hybrid model which we see also in the western versions. It should be noted for example that Aion went F2P in the west before it did in Korea.

 

The main difference you will find is that in Korea you don't need to buy the game up front to play it, whether it is free to play or subscription, the initial game is free to download and try (for various lengths of time). So ArcheAge whilst it launched as a subscription game in Korea, never had an up front cost, you just went straight into it and started subscribing. I don't know if it had a cash shop at the start, I think it did, but their version of the shop now is a lot more pay to win than ours is, which is true of all cash shops in Asian MMOs. Different mentality to purchases there, players are happy to buy an advantage.

 

The same approach is true for any subscription MMO in Asia, even the western exports like WoW, EQ2, LOTRO, etc. They were all free to download and start playing.