Please........AO is the perfect example of FunCom's "Exploit the player base" mentality. Almost 2 decades of premium sub costs, and in most cases. almost all sub based players have at least 2 accounts. Yes, it was absolutely necessary to play AO with no less than 2 paid accounts due to the need to multi-box. It's because the player base is no longer large enough to support the game's interdependence on other players. And yet, with these die hard loyal fans, FunCom gives back........NOT!!!!!
I was a long term player of AO with 2 paid accounts. As a reward for being a loyal customer, they released some content.........Back in the early part of the decade.....2010 was it? They released a booster........But it cost $20 bucks, and you got what amounted to about half of what A game like WoW would release quarterly as part of the Sub. Really FC? LOX should have been part of a quarterly content update.......But AO NEVER EVER got content updates as part of the subscription. What was the premium sub for?
Oh, but don't worry. FunCom was well aware of the problems facing players in AO.... They developed solutions for their shortcomings.........and then put them in the cash shop. Yeah, so it's not enough that I need to pay $30/mo to play this game seriously, further shortcomings (Necessary buffs by other professions) are now available in one time uses from the CS......lovely. Let's not even get into how many bugs still remain from the original game that they never fixed........too busy developing Cash Shop content to make their game work properly I guess.
Maybe if they had invested back into their games, their player base wouldn't have dwindled to life support levels. Until they start proving they are capable of giving back to what they are getting paid for, they will never see another dime from me.
Hopefully the investors realize that Funcom's out of games they can re-package as a new game. ...or are they? (coming next year: The Secret World Eternal and Super Ultra Conan Turbo)
Just did a quick glance to see how Conan Exiles is doing - also this is a good example of how expansions are only little bumps in population compared to initial release (of course 10 years ago WoW and a few others are the exception as they've managed to grow the playerbase after launch)
but the below graph shows exactly how the vast majority of games are in terms of playerbase:
largest pop spike is at launch - followed by a big drop within the first 3 months post launch, and then major expansions are little bumps (pop never recovers to original launch numbers).
The 2nd expansion would be an even smaller bump, the 3rd expansion would be hardly noticable... etc...
So from a business perspective - for majority of games, going beyond the 2nd expansion is questionable.
Expansions just become a way of retaining the core playarbase, so there's merit (from a business perspective) to just not do any expansions but to relocate the dev staff to a new project and a new launch (which would start off the above playerbase cycle again - big launch, big dropoff, rinse and repeat).
Just to point out - games that have bad launches have horrible return on expansions - as very few players return, this is why MEA decided to not do any expansions - it would be money lost.
Since they had their best quarter ever I think this illustrates that there is a lot more to good analytics than leaping to conclusions based off of a cursory glance at a few pieces of data.
It's not surprising that the game and consequently Funcom are doing well. Survival games, like MOBAs, are custom-made for short attention spans, which is where online gaming seems to be going.
Just did a quick glance to see how Conan Exiles is doing - also this is a good example of how expansions are only little bumps in population compared to initial release (of course 10 years ago WoW and a few others are the exception as they've managed to grow the playerbase after launch)
but the below graph shows exactly how the vast majority of games are in terms of playerbase:
largest pop spike is at launch - followed by a big drop within the first 3 months post launch, and then major expansions are little bumps (pop never recovers to original launch numbers).
The 2nd expansion would be an even smaller bump, the 3rd expansion would be hardly noticable... etc...
So from a business perspective - for majority of games, going beyond the 2nd expansion is questionable.
Expansions just become a way of retaining the core playarbase, so there's merit (from a business perspective) to just not do any expansions but to relocate the dev staff to a new project and a new launch (which would start off the above playerbase cycle again - big launch, big dropoff, rinse and repeat).
Just to point out - games that have bad launches have horrible return on expansions - as very few players return, this is why MEA decided to not do any expansions - it would be money lost.
Since they had their best quarter ever I think this illustrates that there is a lot more to good analytics than leaping to conclusions based off of a cursory glance at a few pieces of data.
It's not surprising that the game and consequently Funcom are doing well. Survival games, like MOBAs, are custom-made for short attention spans, which is where online gaming seems to be going.
It's where online gaming has always been to be fair. Fps fans have always dwarfed the mmo playerbase, and those games are all about playing a few matches when you feel like it.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
I am done with anything that comes out of Funcom. These current cash grabs are going to fade away soon enough as there is no long term game play in any of them.
I would post a decent response, but this site does Web 2.0 so badly I really can't be arsed to battle against it. Sort your shit out, MMORPG. You've evaded enough taxes to certainly do a better job.
I would post a decent response, but this site does Web 2.0 so badly I really can't be arsed to battle against it. Sort your shit out, MMORPG. You've evaded enough taxes to certainly do a better job.
Tax evasion... Bet you guys never thought you'd get accused of that by some stranger on your forums.
Constantine, The Console Poster
"One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men out of touch with their instinctive selves." - Carl Jung
Comments
~~ postlarval ~~
I was a long term player of AO with 2 paid accounts. As a reward for being a loyal customer, they released some content.........Back in the early part of the decade.....2010 was it? They released a booster........But it cost $20 bucks, and you got what amounted to about half of what A game like WoW would release quarterly as part of the Sub. Really FC? LOX should have been part of a quarterly content update.......But AO NEVER EVER got content updates as part of the subscription. What was the premium sub for?
Oh, but don't worry. FunCom was well aware of the problems facing players in AO.... They developed solutions for their shortcomings.........and then put them in the cash shop. Yeah, so it's not enough that I need to pay $30/mo to play this game seriously, further shortcomings (Necessary buffs by other professions) are now available in one time uses from the CS......lovely. Let's not even get into how many bugs still remain from the original game that they never fixed........too busy developing Cash Shop content to make their game work properly I guess.
Maybe if they had invested back into their games, their player base wouldn't have dwindled to life support levels. Until they start proving they are capable of giving back to what they are getting paid for, they will never see another dime from me.
They said the same thing a few months ago at launch. Its actually been a few months and its still going very strong.
~~ postlarval ~~
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
Their game designers just DON'T get it.