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All Points Bulletin: Launch Date, Payment Model, Pre-Order Details Revealed
MikeB
Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
Realtime Worlds announced today the launch date, pre-order details, and most importantly what payment model they plan on using for their cops-n-robbers themed MMOG All Points Bulletin.
(Click the above image to view the Pre-Order trailer.)
APB will be releasing in the US on June 29 at $49.99, and in Europe on July 2nd at £34.99/€49.99. Players who pre-order the game will receive a number of bonus goodies. Read below for details:
As an APB VIP, you get access days before the rest of the world
A bonus 10 hours of game time!
Your own key to the city, allowing access to the pre-launch event
Exclusive clothing options (for both Enforcer and Criminal characters)
An exclusive Decal
Two exclusive Emotes
An exclusive, customised vehicle
Much hay has been made over what business model APB would make use of. After all, it wouldn't be subscriptions, but it was also promised to be "different" which sounded like it ruled out your traditional F2P model as well. Here's the skinny straight from the APB FAQ:
You can purchase a retail version of APB either in-store or via digital download at standard retail price (SRP $49.99/£34.99/€49.99). The game includes 50 hours of action game play out of the box plus unlimited time in APB's social districts customising, socialising and trading on the marketplace.
Once your game time is up, you have flexibility to top up your action game time from as little as $6.99 (£5.59, €6.29) for an additional 20 hours, while more frequent players can switch to a 30-day unlimited package for only $9.99 (£7.99, €8.99) with discounts available for 90 and 180 days.
The retail package also contains a bonus 100 RTW points towards your next purchases.
An additional benefit to this evolutionary model is the ability for you to convert your own customisations and rewards to tradable products to give to friends or clan-mates or to place on the Marketplace to earn more RTW points (convertible to game time) or in-game cash. Check back later for more details
They weren't kidding about being different. Instead of just buying time in days like your traditional MMO (which you can do for $9.99/30 days) you'll also be able to purchase blocks of actual hours, which is probably a much better alternative for players who aren't sure how much they will be playing in a given time period. The social district of the game, where you can do all your customizing, socializing and trading on the marketplace, will be availabled for an unlimited amount of time simply by purchasing the game. In the end, Realtime Worlds are offering a flexible array of payment options, and even some partially free-to-play gameplay for those of you who are content with hanging out in the social district.
What is even more interesting is that Realtime Worlds' plans to leverage the game's robust creation and design tools to allow players to earn points towards additional playtime. I know I can't design a logo or neat graphic for my life, so if I can help a starving designer pay his way through the game in exchange for some sweet clothes or decals, I'm all for it!
View the official announcement here.
Comments
Looks awesome. I can't wait!
Grand Theft Counter-Strike?
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II
"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
I like the payment methods they came up with.
Pretty cool.
That's a pretty decent idea for a payment model, especially the part about time spent in the social area not counting against your time and being able to trade customized clothing/vehicles for game time.
I hope this will encourage more people to play the game, and stick with it.
tho grand theft counterstrike will cost you nothing this will be 10 for 30 days unlimited or for 3 dollars less you can get the 20 hour counter strike offensive
Very interesting payment model, letting players pay a monthly fee or pay for hours of gameplay, and to top it off social areas don't count towards your gameplay hours. Awesome!
it is so interesting how crimecraft has become an object of derision yet this is being lauded as the second coming lol ok i give up i no longer trust anyone on this site
i swear i hope i never hear any of you say well go back to wow because this is no different than paying 25 dollars for a sparkely pony
What an odd payment method...I mean, it's not bad...but I would never use it. Huh. Interesting.
Well, I did buy one of those.
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II
"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
Awesome payment method, will definatley buy the game.
As a player who plays a good few hours a day, I was hoping APB would be "free to play" and I wouldn't have to pay for yet another subscription. Oh well.
I think it's a very good payment model, though.
"If all you can say is... "It's awful, it's not innovative, it's ugly, it's blah.." Then you're an unimaginative and unpolished excuse for human life" -eburn
Never gonna go afk in this game then xD
@upsilomerc: maybe that's the point?
Definitely an interesting choice for payment model; reasonable options for both the casual and the devoted gamer. Nice to see.
Very good idea;) also its very team oriented and fights can be crazy on streets so make sure to join a nice clan so that you can hunt criminals or enforcers together. Smart people in this game never venture alone.
You just have to make a routine out of going afk in social district ;-)
If you think about the payment options, there isnt much bad in there at all. As a matter of fact, they have potential to really expand on the breadth and depth of this game, and if they do it without playing any funny games with added purchase costs associated with content adds, it could turn out to be a good deal.
As one of the first mmo shooter games I've been interested in, they certainly have quite a bit of breadth and depth of persistent mmo game-play and quite a bit of game-play range, persistent nature and customization that far exceeds your rudimentary third-person shooter with a bolt-on multiplayer option. Of course, the kids that want everything for 'free' will disagree.
But the way I see it is that $10/month for starters, is a very reasonable expectation if this development team continues to actively and swiftly and frequently add content to this game. Heck, it's 35 cents/day for entertainment. 35 cents/day which I can pick up in loose-change from walking around my neighborhood off the street, from the floor of a local convenience store or McDonalds.
The dynamics of game-play in APB is without question more entertaining, by design, than is available with Team Fortress, CoD, BF series, or any other single-player third-person shooter/action game.
This is another situation where a developer/publisher is placing the success, uptake and appeal of the game in the consumers hands. I'll purchase the box and one-month initially, and if I decide its got mmo legs, I'll continue. If I decide its too shallow and really is nothing more than a rudimentary Third-Person Shooter, then I cancel.
Love it ! Finally a move from a dev team toward the casual players pockets. Can't wait to try it out !
to the people who "wont play it because of payment model" I am confused....
What could you possibly be upset about? UNLIMITED like all other MMO's, but 5 bucks cheaper at $9.99 or 30 hours (for any casual player he wont even come close for 6 bucks?!
AND if your not happy with cheaper prices u can use ur in game skills EVE style to hlp pay for subs....
so my question is, what about any of those options doesnt sound appealing?
WoW - $15.00 pre month NO choice - plus $10-$25 cash shop items....
ABP $6-$10 subs and earned gametime points....
I play all ghame
Great payment model!!
Finally something new!
While I have no interest in the game itself, I applaud the flexible and non-standard payment model. It's nice to see a company start out a bit humble and NOT assume that they can charge top-of-the-line prices until it proves itself.
I won't be playing, but I sure hope that it succeeds.
I haven't made my mind up on the payment model yet, on one hand i like that they are going in a different than norm direction but on the other hand i'm a little worried about the pay as go method crossing over from Asia, it was inevitable i suppose. Personally i much prefer paying the standard monthly fee, simply because when i really get into an MMO i tend to play it for far more hours than i probably should.
That being said, i'll be giving APB a miss, not because of payment methods but simply as i don't see it as being worth paying for full stop other than the box price for what they are giving. I already have my Steam games for when i want to jump into some FPS PVP action, APB really doesn't offer anything more than they do other than it being in a different setting than the usual. I say this from having played it fairly extensively and not from just reading.
It's nice to see a company try a new payment model. I can easily see my original 50 hours last well over a month.
I'm not here to complete my forum PVP dailies.
I feel the pay model is BS. You are going to give me 20 hours for $3 off a month? No thanks.
If they are going to do that AND have microtransactions (and they will have it) is either Free to Play or pay half the cost of the sub which would be $5 a month and be given the 20 hours to play. I mean... come on, 2 or 3 bucks difference between 20 hours and unlimited?
Sounds like they are feeling the market out before trying to find their payday mean. I don't blame them, but let's not forget the gamers.
There is also option to pay 9 bucks and get regular 30 day sub. Buying hours of play time is only for the casual gamers who obviously not going to spend 10 hours a day playing APB.
i could easily see me wanting to play the game like any other mmo and 50 hours falling far short you must really not enjoy the game