800,000 quit? You clearly have nothing to show this foolish assumption of yours. You don't know how many players recently quit the game, and just because you think it's bad, you make useless assumptions saying they lost 800,000 players. So far, wether anyone here wants to admit it or not, they have become pretty successful (1million sold is a success for just releasing).
No game comes out perfectly. It can be costly (ie. Vanguard), but Funcom did state that they were going to add a lot more this month. Wether or not it is true, we will have to see.
i'm not talking about the 1 million sold. I'm talking about how many are going to stay. And since there is no content after level 40. i don't see many people staying.
I agree with the OP. It is all about the income statements in November and beyond with concurrent subscribers that will decide this argument. And for the record, a developer is LUCKY if they see $2 out of each box sale. Please, don't think for second that Funcom has $50,000,000 dollars from the sales of the game. The retailers and EIDOS split box sales. That is why Funcom was selling the game themselves out the gate. They wanted the retailers cut of some of the box sales. EIDOS also gets a percentage of subscription fees, so it isn't like Funcom will $15 a month from the subscribers. MMOG income is distributed widely.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
What the heck are you talking about, 'learn their lesson'? If you think games are about making players happy and ensuring they have fun, you are missing most of the point. Games are about money. That's it. Period. This isn't happy fun time freeware. The only reason games are made is to make money. If the financiers and executives didn't believe it would make money, it wouldn't be done.
So let us look at some hypothetical numbers. 1 million copies sold x $50 = $50,000,000 in retail sales, which we'll say a mere $35,000,000 goes to the publisher / developer / etc. And figure half of the purchasers subscribe for one month thinking a game will improver - $15 x 500,000 = $7,500,000. If it still sucks big time, only a tenth of the original subscribe for the next six months - $15 x 6 x 100,000 = $9,000,000. That is a total of $51,500,000 which I am pretty sure is around the average development budget. Anything more than development is 75% gravy, the rest going to tech support and server upkeep. This isn't even assuming any new sales, subscriptions, or sales and subscriptions in non-US markets, which generally are more expensive.
So, in summation, they have learned. It is you who have not yet learned. If it was not profitable, they wouldn't do it.
Some want to argue that all mmo's are not finished at launch, and for the most part they are correct. That's the problem though, to many people accepting this type of buisness practices from dev companies.
A game that is a class/lvl based game with crafting and pvp should have everything in place at launch, period. Bugs and lag spikes are one thing but to not have the game fully developed from the get go is plain ole bait and switch and should be considered false advertisement of a product.
We can all sit and bicker back and forth what type of content and world design an mmo should have, but we should all agree that the game at release should be complete and ready to go at launch.
I think any MMO game developer today can not help but have that 900 pound gorilla (i.e. WoW) breathing down it's proverbial "Mithiral Neck of WTF"...
The developers want a piece of that money pie, but it's hard to create that "Lightning in the Bottle"...
It's the same with movies/music...something is popular and then, all of a sudden, the clones start popping up...
AoC should be given a chance,,,I heard WoW wasn't too stable/good at the start...The real praise should be on the developers that try to break out of the mold...R.I.P...Auto Assault/Earth&Beyond/Planetside...(PS? oh yeah, you just don't see it...)
800,000 quit? You clearly have nothing to show this foolish assumption of yours. You don't know how many players recently quit the game, and just because you think it's bad, you make useless assumptions saying they lost 800,000 players. So far, wether anyone here wants to admit it or not, they have become pretty successful (1million sold is a success for just releasing).
No game comes out perfectly. It can be costly (ie. Vanguard), but Funcom did state that they were going to add a lot more this month. Wether or not it is true, we will have to see.
i'm not talking about the 1 million sold. I'm talking about how many are going to stay. And since there is no content after level 40. i don't see many people staying.
No, you stated that 800,000 quit. And, I do believe that if they can fix up the game within the next month, people will stay... There are people who doin;t like it from the start, like yourself, and don't really plan on playing it anyway. For the others who don't mind the things that people continuely complain about on these forums (a larger number than you would think) will most likely stay around for a while and see if they fix things up.
If they can add in the end game combat that this game needs so badly, then I do not believe they will lose 800,000 subs.......within the next month. The true numbers will show two or three months after release.
I'm take a random guess of 300,000 subs...
I agree with the OP. It is all about the income statements in November and beyond with concurrent subscribers that will decide this argument.
Exactly.
And for the record, a developer is LUCKY if they see $2 out of each box sale. Please, don't think for second that Funcom has $50,000,000 dollars from the sales of the game. The retailers and EIDOS split box sales. That is why Funcom was selling the game themselves out the gate. They wanted the retailers cut of some of the box sales. EIDOS also gets a percentage of subscription fees, so it isn't like Funcom will $15 a month from the subscribers. MMOG income is distributed widely.
Well, I nver said they did, but I'm guessing this was in general. Although some of the money made will most likely go to the adding on of content..
__________________________________________________ In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08 - Rest In Peace; you will not be forgotten
If you release a MMORPG that is totally unfinished, most of the players will leave and never come back. Even if you end up with a great game a year after release, it will be too late.
The game is finished for the most part. Just a few small bugs and some content problems. However most companies dont expect players to be level 80 within a few weeks, which was the main problem. But I will agree with you that as a player I do want a finished product at least for the most part when the game launches, and I think AOC acomplished that. Given that it is an MMO there will always be updates however and you have to come to understand that. If you do not, then you are playing the wrong type of game genre.
*I think WoW helped cause the need for gamers to race through most content just to get to end game content. However I like WoW myself even though its a constant gear grind. I hope WoW 2 learns from WoW 1
The bugs I experience are not small for the AAA title game. Perma debuffs that wont leave unless you zone. You cannot drown in the water. Glitches in buff and debuff icons. Option menus that constantly reset and change on their own as you play the game. A poorly tested PvP system that seems to forget that players MOVE AROUND. The list just goes on and on.
This game has many major bugs that have convinced me to leave it when Warhammer is released. They may of had a smooth launch with stables servers, but that was the only good thing about this game launch it seems.
"A few bugs", "bit more content", "unrealistic customer demands". If this game was not an MMO it would have been crucified by reviewers for the amount of bugs present and other game faults. Oh but it's a MMO, so throw all that to the wind.
people already quitting like mad .. this game has no future
and get replaced by people wanting to play... so yeah still looking good actually... you mostly read bad comments and you hate the game but your kind is giving the game PR and I'm happy about it..
Of all my mmo friends which is quite a bunch actually none has whined about things like in these forums with the whining chorus who is trying their best to make people quit.. well the fun things is and I say it again most players of AoC isn't even using this site for anything... so your ranting is kinda futile... I would love to reply on several of the stupid postings here but I really don't care to do that anymore trying to make people understand things they don't want to understand or they don't like to understand is no point.
Good luck in future ranting. Wonder what is the next game to nag about...
If you release a MMORPG that is totally unfinished, most of the players will leave and never come back. Even if you end up with a great game a year after release, it will be too late.
we paid for it though, so they should be bathing in money right now
i love how people say its "somewhere closed to finished".. when its not
Comments
I agree with the OP. It is all about the income statements in November and beyond with concurrent subscribers that will decide this argument. And for the record, a developer is LUCKY if they see $2 out of each box sale. Please, don't think for second that Funcom has $50,000,000 dollars from the sales of the game. The retailers and EIDOS split box sales. That is why Funcom was selling the game themselves out the gate. They wanted the retailers cut of some of the box sales. EIDOS also gets a percentage of subscription fees, so it isn't like Funcom will $15 a month from the subscribers. MMOG income is distributed widely.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
people already quitting like mad .. this game has no future
What the heck are you talking about, 'learn their lesson'? If you think games are about making players happy and ensuring they have fun, you are missing most of the point. Games are about money. That's it. Period. This isn't happy fun time freeware. The only reason games are made is to make money. If the financiers and executives didn't believe it would make money, it wouldn't be done.
So let us look at some hypothetical numbers. 1 million copies sold x $50 = $50,000,000 in retail sales, which we'll say a mere $35,000,000 goes to the publisher / developer / etc. And figure half of the purchasers subscribe for one month thinking a game will improver - $15 x 500,000 = $7,500,000. If it still sucks big time, only a tenth of the original subscribe for the next six months - $15 x 6 x 100,000 = $9,000,000. That is a total of $51,500,000 which I am pretty sure is around the average development budget. Anything more than development is 75% gravy, the rest going to tech support and server upkeep. This isn't even assuming any new sales, subscriptions, or sales and subscriptions in non-US markets, which generally are more expensive.
So, in summation, they have learned. It is you who have not yet learned. If it was not profitable, they wouldn't do it.
Some want to argue that all mmo's are not finished at launch, and for the most part they are correct. That's the problem though, to many people accepting this type of buisness practices from dev companies.
A game that is a class/lvl based game with crafting and pvp should have everything in place at launch, period. Bugs and lag spikes are one thing but to not have the game fully developed from the get go is plain ole bait and switch and should be considered false advertisement of a product.
We can all sit and bicker back and forth what type of content and world design an mmo should have, but we should all agree that the game at release should be complete and ready to go at launch.
yes becuse 1million accounts is just awful
"Patience...discipline..."
I think any MMO game developer today can not help but have that 900 pound gorilla (i.e. WoW) breathing down it's proverbial "Mithiral Neck of WTF"...
The developers want a piece of that money pie, but it's hard to create that "Lightning in the Bottle"...
It's the same with movies/music...something is popular and then, all of a sudden, the clones start popping up...
AoC should be given a chance,,,I heard WoW wasn't too stable/good at the start...The real praise should be on the developers that try to break out of the mold...R.I.P...Auto Assault/Earth&Beyond/Planetside...(PS? oh yeah, you just don't see it...)
No, you stated that 800,000 quit. And, I do believe that if they can fix up the game within the next month, people will stay... There are people who doin;t like it from the start, like yourself, and don't really plan on playing it anyway. For the others who don't mind the things that people continuely complain about on these forums (a larger number than you would think) will most likely stay around for a while and see if they fix things up.
If they can add in the end game combat that this game needs so badly, then I do not believe they will lose 800,000 subs.......within the next month. The true numbers will show two or three months after release.
I'm take a random guess of 300,000 subs...
I agree with the OP. It is all about the income statements in November and beyond with concurrent subscribers that will decide this argument.
Exactly.
And for the record, a developer is LUCKY if they see $2 out of each box sale. Please, don't think for second that Funcom has $50,000,000 dollars from the sales of the game. The retailers and EIDOS split box sales. That is why Funcom was selling the game themselves out the gate. They wanted the retailers cut of some of the box sales. EIDOS also gets a percentage of subscription fees, so it isn't like Funcom will $15 a month from the subscribers. MMOG income is distributed widely.
Well, I nver said they did, but I'm guessing this was in general. Although some of the money made will most likely go to the adding on of content..
__________________________________________________
In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08 - Rest In Peace; you will not be forgotten
The game is finished for the most part. Just a few small bugs and some content problems. However most companies dont expect players to be level 80 within a few weeks, which was the main problem. But I will agree with you that as a player I do want a finished product at least for the most part when the game launches, and I think AOC acomplished that. Given that it is an MMO there will always be updates however and you have to come to understand that. If you do not, then you are playing the wrong type of game genre.
*I think WoW helped cause the need for gamers to race through most content just to get to end game content. However I like WoW myself even though its a constant gear grind. I hope WoW 2 learns from WoW 1
The bugs I experience are not small for the AAA title game. Perma debuffs that wont leave unless you zone. You cannot drown in the water. Glitches in buff and debuff icons. Option menus that constantly reset and change on their own as you play the game. A poorly tested PvP system that seems to forget that players MOVE AROUND. The list just goes on and on.This game has many major bugs that have convinced me to leave it when Warhammer is released. They may of had a smooth launch with stables servers, but that was the only good thing about this game launch it seems.
"A few bugs", "bit more content", "unrealistic customer demands". If this game was not an MMO it would have been crucified by reviewers for the amount of bugs present and other game faults. Oh but it's a MMO, so throw all that to the wind.
and get replaced by people wanting to play... so yeah still looking good actually... you mostly read bad comments and you hate the game but your kind is giving the game PR and I'm happy about it..
Of all my mmo friends which is quite a bunch actually none has whined about things like in these forums with the whining chorus who is trying their best to make people quit.. well the fun things is and I say it again most players of AoC isn't even using this site for anything... so your ranting is kinda futile... I would love to reply on several of the stupid postings here but I really don't care to do that anymore trying to make people understand things they don't want to understand or they don't like to understand is no point.
Good luck in future ranting. Wonder what is the next game to nag about...
i love how people say its "somewhere closed to finished".. when its not