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Self-publish or find someone else?
Joker2240
Member Posts: 664
As some of you know Masthead Studio has not decided yet on a publishing company and they are leaning to self-publishing. Also would you Free Client download or a shop purchase?
My opinion is that they self-publish and make the client free to download. Than you have to pay for the account in order to actually play the game. I think this would make more people to try out the game as it is less of a risk due to the fact you are only paying for the account. Not the client+account which is more money and riskier... But I would also like to see a collectors edition box or something as I really want one for this game.
P.S. They have the resources to self-publish they have stated this themselves.
Opinions and disscussion.
Comments
Aww no "makes no difference to me" option.
As I see it, either option can work just fine. Athough the type of game it looks to be might be better served under a self publish model.
Eh thats a tough one.
Self-publishing means free client download which is an obvious plus. Without a publisher hovering over their shoulder, Masthead won't be pressured to push Earthrise out the door in an incomplete state. Another game with niche appeal, EVE, seemed to really flourish after CCP dropped their publisher and started handling things themselves.
However, publishers do provide certain perks. Like the mentioned possibility of a collectors edition for one (I still regret not getting that Fallout3 lunchbox). While not a guarantee the game itself will launch in the best of conditions, a publisher will ensure other aspects of the launch are taken care of such as billing. Also, without a publisher Earthrise will likely have little to no advertisement thus relying totally on word of mouth and viral campaigning.
Of course you can't have that option.. There is a difference between the two and they will both have a huge impact on the game. I am trying to create a discussion here as this could not only apply for this company but also others.
Me I believe every company should self-publish. Companies should be able to support there game entirely. If something failes it is there fault not some other compaines fault. If a new company can not support their first game than they should not be in the industry.
SOE or EA Games will do just fine!
personally i think that they should self publish from the start, with a free client download and only paying for the service upfront, instead of buying a box that you look at once before sticking it on the shelf to gather dust. I think Earthrise will grow into a moderate title like EVE has done, and will not get the sales in the first month which will then drop off ala WAR as there has been reletively little hype surrounding it.
Free vs Paid ---> I want to pay for it... It's not a generic game begging for someone to give it a try. It has distinguished appeal that people will pay for. If not, a free trial is not impossible.
Shop Vs Download ---> Both. Different people see one as more convenient than the other.
I'd prefer your first option as a Self-published downloadable product. Though im not sure if i want them to give the client away for free, but it really depends on how much they are taking for the account naturally. If the price for the account is the same as if they we're going to sell the client/account both together i guess it wouldnt matter.
If they we're to give away the client and making us pay, what 18-19 USD(?) for the account rather than paying maybe 25-35 USD for both of them. If that was case i'd rather pay alittle bit more money to ensure that the company get what they deserve in order to keep maintaining the product. I dont know if they would loose any customers on a higher first-time payment, than having a low first-time payment.
But to sum it all up, im up for Self-publish and downloadable client
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Self-publish certainly sounds like the best option, as long as they have the resources to support us here across the pond! They're a Bulgarian company, you know. "Unity Makes Strength" is the country's motto; sounds like a great company to be making an MMO.
Do they have the know how to handle billing? How popular will ER be? A few thousand interested in playing or a few hundred thousand? As a small company will they be able to handle launching the game if they need to look after every single thing. Will they be able to find the time/manpower to patch/update the game while also handling any billing problems?
I just look at Darkfall's launch and the trouble they had (might still be having just sick of the whole thing). I had friends staying up late playing the F5 game for hours trying to get in unsuccessfully.
Plenty of companies outsource if they don't have the knowledge required.
If they can afford not to get the money from box sales (how much is that anyway? I guess the retail chain and the publisher would grab most of it), definitely self-publish.
As Wycliffe said, it works well for EvE Online.
Advantages are:
-no need to share revenue with a publisher, should more than compensate misssing box sales in the long run
-and more freedom in further development, again because no publisher is around to meddle.
AS long as they don't ask me to download from torrent i'm fine either way
Iiii-iiiiiit's.... me!!! *Hooray*
I'm fairly confident that Earthrise will be a lot more successful (bigger) than EVE. The main problems people have with EVE stem from several very fundamental things. Primarily the entire pace of the game is slow. You never actually see your character, your ship basically is your character.
People like seeing a powerful individual as their character. Whereas seeing that individual in EVE is impossible in a literal sense considering your character as a whole is only visible in your head. A ship negates the sense of individuality, it implies a crew. I could go on and on and on, but you get the idea.
Dev companies don't really see that much money back from retail box sales. After shipping, shelfing costs, packaging, storage, and manufacturing they see a about 10-15 dollars out of that 49.99 per unit. That's just roughly.