Atari wouldn't let the game launch F2P (?)

WhiteLantern

According to this interview at IGN, new chief Stephen D'Angelo claims it was Atari's decision not to launch the game as a F2P offering. 

".......according to Stephen D'Angelo, Executive Producer on STO and Chief Technical Officer. "We've always wanted the game to be free-to-play," he says, "in fact we tried to make it free-to-play at the original launch, but our publisher Atari didn't want us doing that so we didn't do that." "

 

Kyleran

Well, in the end the publisher almost always has significant influence in the payment model the game will be released in, so makes sense.

Joseph_Kerr

Thats because Atari is run by a bunch of greedy lowlifes.

ducesettutam

Don't trust anything you hear from the Cryptic staff. I don't believe I've heard any significant amount of truth from them since early open beta. Or rather, I don't think I ever have.

BartDaCat

Having briefly worked for Infogrames/ATARI, I can attest to the fact that they ARE indeed greedy lowlifes, so it IS possible there is some measure of truth to the quoted statement.

Gruug

And marketing games that use the FALSE "free to play" moniker while claiming it will make "more money" is not the same "greed"? There is trully some twisted thinking going on here. It also proves the saying "there is one born every minute".

AG-Vuk

The game should never have been released, even in it's current state. There's plenty of blame to go around.

   Cryptic is guilty of releasing a game structured in a manner that didn't make it condusive to the gameplay envisioned. ( Seriously when your biggest boast is that you character creation system is the best in the industry , that should be a red flag , it's a game and yes Cryptic gameplay does count, playing dressup , not so much ) . Cryptic is guilty of poor game design and exectution , taking CO and slapping Star trek on it does not qualify as good game design.  Cryptic is guilty of being a fraudulent bunch of BS'ers ( not only to Atari , but also the playerbase ), who either can't or won't man up to their mistakes and hide behind excuses , like a five year old.

 Atari is guilty of holding Cryptic to it's boast of producing a AAA MMO in a short period of time. Atari is guilty of forcing Cryptic to make the game profitible and squeezing as much profit out of it as possible. Atari is guilty of milking as many LTS's out of STO as possible. Forcing the release of a game they knew was not ready .

CBS is guilty of not controlling it's IP better. Not allowing a developer to extend the IP licensing deadline after Perpetual failed. ( which probably would have made it more attractive to other developers, possibly Activision , since they had experience with the IP )

PWI is guilty of trying to take for all intensive purposes a failing game and make money. ( News Flash , LTS'ers you will pay out of pocket a lot more then you think you will . It will balance out to approximately  a sub fee if not more . Don't think they haven't calculated and schemed on how to do this ). Only the niave believe F2P means actually free , and that a LTS actually allows you to play a game without cost. It's a business and they will extract their pound of flesh from you . You've been warned , PWI owes you nothing , they didn't sell you the LTS, they'll only provide the illusion that you will be getting some sort of benefit, contractually speaking .

My final guilty party are the LTS'ers/playerbase. They are guilty of being niave , wide eyed, day dreamers that believe that a game can create a world/or place for them exactly like a television series that they imagine ,whether realistic or unrealistic in expectations. The idea that given enough time/money a developer will greatly improve or change a game to suit them and make it more popular, is a myth. I see too many people come and defend a company's that really and truely doesn't give a stitch about the customer , you're an account that they draw revenue from . LTS'ers your a potential revenue stream , and that's how they see you . They don't need to do anything to make you happy, you've paid your money in one respect, they just want more , without it costing them more then they can get from you.

FleshMask

Originally posted by AG-Vuk

The game should never have been released, even in it's current state. There's plenty of blame to go around.

   Cryptic is guilty of releasing a game structured in a manner that didn't make it condusive to the gameplay envisioned. ( Seriously when your biggest boast is that you character creation system is the best in the industry , that should be a red flag , it's a game and yes Cryptic gameplay does count, playing dressup , not so much ) . Cryptic is guilty of poor game design and exectution , taking CO and slapping Star trek on it does not qualify as good game design.  Cryptic is guilty of being a fraudulent bunch of BS'ers ( not only to Atari , but also the playerbase ), who either can't or won't man up to their mistakes and hide behind excuses , like a five year old.

 Atari is guilty of holding Cryptic to it's boast of producing a AAA MMO in a short period of time. Atari is guilty of forcing Cryptic to make the game profitible and squeezing as much profit out of it as possible. Atari is guilty of milking as many LTS's out of STO as possible. Forcing the release of a game they knew was not ready .

CBS is guilty of not controlling it's IP better. Not allowing a developer to extend the IP licensing deadline after Perpetual failed. ( which probably would have made it more attractive to other developers, possibly Activision , since they had experience with the IP )

PWI is guilty of trying to take for all intensive purposes a failing game and make money. ( News Flash , LTS'ers you will pay out of pocket a lot more then you think you will . It will balance out to approximately  a sub fee if not more . Don't think they haven't calculated and schemed on how to do this ). Only the niave believe F2P means actually free , and that a LTS actually allows you to play a game without cost. It's a business and they will extract their pound of flesh from you . You've been warned , PWI owes you nothing , they didn't sell you the LTS, they'll only provide the illusion that you will be getting some sort of benefit, contractually speaking .

My final guilty party are the LTS'ers/playerbase. They are guilty of being niave , wide eyed, day dreamers that believe that a game can create a world/or place for them exactly like a television series that they imagine ,whether realistic or unrealistic in expectations. The idea that given enough time/money a developer will greatly improve or change a game to suit them and make it more popular, is a myth. I see too many people come and defend a company's that really and truely doesn't give a stitch about the customer , you're an account that they draw revenue from . LTS'ers your a potential revenue stream , and that's how they see you . They don't need to do anything to make you happy, you've paid your money in one respect, they just want more , without it costing them more then they can get from you.

I like what you saying... but I gotta ask...

 

Who are the victims?

 

Anyways, Cryptic has been lying to players since the beginning about updates. They promised to work on the Klingons gameplay, they promise a Romulan side, they promised to fix basic bugs that continue to plague missions.

So when they say they intended this game to be F2P, I gotta call Bullsh*t.

Dinendae

   It's entirely possible that Atari is to blame. Then again, it is entirely possible Cryptic is trying to spin things as usual in order to pass the buck; after all, I really doubt Cryptic negotiated that performance bonus (that they failed to achieve) based off of a F2P. They do have a history of going back and trying to change what they said. For example, there was that bit about 'we always intended Klingons to be this way' or their policy of going back and changing old Dev posts to be in line with their current mantra (which started after launch, when Cryptic devs would say something, and then players would quote older dev posts to show that wasn't what had been said). Personally I think they tried to squeeze every cent they could from their players, in order to try and hit that revenue target so that Cryptic could get its bonus, and now are trying to shove all blame off on their former owners. As someone above said, there's plenty of blame for all parties involved.

 

   Either way, it makes no difference in the long run; Cryptic can say whatever they wish about Atari, true or not, since they don't answer to Atari anymore. STO is going the F2P route under PWI, and current players who have been following the game's development towards that goal now have a taste of what it will mean for them. What Atari did or didn't do no longer really matters.

ajac09

I remember in open beta ALOT of people said this game should launch FTP and the guy in charge said they never would guess he got proven wrong lol