WoW Cloning as a Function of Bad Economy

Edeus

We've all read or heard about companies going out of business in the last few years due to the bad economy.  Whether it was a video game company, a retailer, a car manufacturer, etc. everyone has been impacted.  One reason for this is low sales volume due to the customer being tighter with their money, or not having the money to buy extra things with.  Another reason is the crediter being tighter with his money, or not having the money at all.  The Credit crunch has caused a lot of banks to withold risky short term loans to businesses that are too risky, or seen as too risky.

With creditors being tighter on the money they give out, combined with customer's being tighter with the money they spend, companies have to sit on a lot of their own capital, and use their own capital to invest.  This causes companies to invest conservatively.  When I say invest from a company's perspective, I mean build new factories, hire new employees, develop new things, etc. etc.  (A Business is, in the end, an investment for the owners).  If business are investing conservatively, then mimicing WoW and trying to be just as successful as it would be the best choice.  And investing conservatively is their only option due to no one being able to predict when the next Economic Downturn may occur.  (Though Greece leaving the European Union and collapsing on itself might be a good trigger.)

This would explain why so many AAA MMO's are WoW Clones and not much different (risky).  If video games put too much risk into their projects, they could go under if the economy tanked again.   (and sales plumetted and credit requirements shot up)  Where they might be able to produce a flop but stay afloat if sales were "ok" and credit was still easy to get. 

Back in the early 2000's, when cradit was cheap and people were buying, you could risk any sort of MMO and banks didn't care, and the Board of Directors didn't care, and the CEO didn't care (if the company was even that big).  But here in the late 2000's and early 2010's, credit isn't so easy and people aren't spending as much as they were in the early 2000's (read any consumer spending report.)  Therefore, WoW clones until the economy really turns around.

Note: this argument is for AAA MMO's that have high budgets that require companies to rely on short term bank loans

What do you think?

aleos

uhm. no. i think its frankly quite obvious that when things go mainstream everyone everywhere is trying to rip off the product while making the exact same thing with a few miner tweeks that they claim makes previous product not as good as this product blah blah. 

This is the touch of mainstream. so while we wait for mainstream to catch up to what MMORPG's used to be im going to be playing something else.

You know when they realize that some people want to craft all day and not fight at all

when they realize exploration is not just a waypoint to your next quest

I'd like for some company to just flat out get it. but they dont.

so ill just wait here.

 

Suraknar

Originally posted by Edeus

What do you think?

I actually think that whenthe economy goes bad, people become more conservative, and limit themselves to affordable activities.

Playing an MMO is a very affordable entertainment activity. When the economy goes well, people would spend more and engage in less affordable activities.

So I do not entirelly agree that tehre is acorrelation between companies making WoW clones and the state of the economy, since MMO's would be more popular in a slow moving economy.

The reason why, in my opinion, Companies are making WoW clones is because they simply want a peice of the action and because a business in the end is not about investement it is about profit, under the current economical system anyways (which will change in the comming years if things keep going downhill).

if there is a person that makes a fortune selling basket ball shoes, you can bet that any other manufacturer will also produce their own version of basketball shoes because they aim to make a profit with their business and they thus try to get a peice of the action from their competitor. The shoes that the first guy made maybe only black or white, so the competitor will make some that are red and some yellow ones, so they segment their target audiance from the big pool that is people who like basketball shoes, and target those that would prefer to wear red and yellow colored basketball shoes.

This is a business model principle. So if WoW made a fortune with MMO players, then many other companies will make WoW-Like MMO's with some element that is different and try thus to get a piece of the action as some WoW players may say, I like wow but i would wish it had more of this element, and then they find that another game is just like wow but has more of their favorite element and they go play that game instead.

At least in principle, and in practice this is why many companies are making WoW clones.

After that point there is a myrriad of other factors that affect the actual results, some of which cannot be calculated in advance.

All in al this is what i think.

Quizzical

There were copycat games long before WoW existed.  How many games wanted to be Super Mario Bros.?  How many games wanted to be Street Fighter II?  How many games wanted to be Wolfenstein?  How many games wanted to be Command and Conquer?  (Sorry if I missed the first popular game in any of those categories, but changing the name of the game doesn't affect the point.)

To a considerable degree, a genre is itself a collection of games that is trying to heavily borrow from a particular popular game.  Had WoW never existed, we'd still be complaining that MMORPGs are too often clones of some particular game.  We'd just have to pick a different game that they're cloning.

Puremallace

Not sure how many time I have to say this. Everytime a game comes out it gets rushed and then people leave because they did not copy WoW enough. Any TOR fan who reads there own forums can back me up. Surely any Rift player can tell you this is what people wanted.

 

There are games out there nothing like WoW and they are niche at best.

Edeus

Originally posted by Suraknar

Originally posted by Edeus

What do you think?

I actually think that whenthe economy goes bad, people become more conservative, and limit themselves to affordable activities.

Playing an MMO is a very affordable entertainment activity. When the economy goes well, people would spend more and engage in less affordable activities.

So I do not entirelly agree that tehre is acorrelation between companies making WoW clones and the state of the economy, since MMO's would be more popular in a slow moving economy.

The reason why, in my opinion, Companies are making WoW clones is because they simply want a peice of the action and because a business in the end is not about investement it is about profit, under the current economical system anyways (which will change in the comming years if things keep going downhill).

if there is a person that makes a fortune selling basket ball shoes, you can bet that any other manufacturer will also produce their own version of basketball shoes because they aim to make a profit with their business and they thus try to get a peice of the action from their competitor. The shoes that the first guy made maybe only black or white, so the competitor will make some that are red and some yellow ones, so they segment their target audiance from the big pool that is people who like basketball shoes, and target those that would prefer to wear red and yellow colored basketball shoes.

This is a business model principle. So if WoW made a fortune with MMO players, then many other companies will make WoW-Like MMO's with some element that is different and try thus to get a piece of the action as some WoW players may say, I like wow but i would wish it had more of this element, and then they find that another game is just like wow but has more of their favorite element and they go play that game instead.

At least in principle, and in practice this is why many companies are making WoW clones.

After that point there is a myrriad of other factors that affect the actual results, some of which cannot be calculated in advance.

All in al this is what i think.

Interesting...

 

But just to correct, investment is about profit too, it just accounts for the costs as well.  ie I need 100$ to make 150$ = 50$ profit.  Or to use your own example, how much does it take to develop, manufacture, transport and sell sneakers vs how much you can sell them for and how many you can sell = profit.

Slampig

Originally posted by Edeus

We've all read or heard about companies going out of business in the last few years due to the bad economy.  Whether it was a video game company, a retailer, a car manufacturer, etc. everyone has been impacted.  One reason for this is low sales volume due to the customer being tighter with their money, or not having the money to buy extra things with.  Another reason is the crediter being tighter with his money, or not having the money at all.  The Credit crunch has caused a lot of banks to withold risky short term loans to businesses that are too risky, or seen as too risky.

With creditors being tighter on the money they give out, combined with customer's being tighter with the money they spend, companies have to sit on a lot of their own capital, and use their own capital to invest.  This causes companies to invest conservatively.  When I say invest from a company's perspective, I mean build new factories, hire new employees, develop new things, etc. etc.  (A Business is, in the end, an investment for the owners).  If business are investing conservatively, then mimicing WoW and trying to be just as successful as it would be the best choice.  And investing conservatively is their only option due to no one being able to predict when the next Economic Downturn may occur.  (Though Greece leaving the European Union and collapsing on itself might be a good trigger.)

This would explain why so many AAA MMO's are WoW Clones and not much different (risky).  If video games put too much risk into their projects, they could go under if the economy tanked again.   (and sales plumetted and credit requirements shot up)  Where they might be able to produce a flop but stay afloat if sales were "ok" and credit was still easy to get. 

Back in the early 2000's, when cradit was cheap and people were buying, you could risk any sort of MMO and banks didn't care, and the Board of Directors didn't care, and the CEO didn't care (if the company was even that big).  But here in the late 2000's and early 2010's, credit isn't so easy and people aren't spending as much as they were in the early 2000's (read any consumer spending report.)  Therefore, WoW clones until the economy really turns around.

Note: this argument is for AAA MMO's that have high budgets that require companies to rely on short term bank loans

What do you think?

Just tell the Obama administration that you are a green company or green gamer, I am sure they will shower you with milions, don't even have to show them a working product!

 

Hey...HEY! Keep your politics out of my peanut butter! 

Suraknar

Originally posted by Edeus

Originally posted by Suraknar

Originally posted by Edeus

What do you think?

I actually think that whenthe economy goes bad, people become more conservative, and limit themselves to affordable activities.

Playing an MMO is a very affordable entertainment activity. When the economy goes well, people would spend more and engage in less affordable activities.

So I do not entirelly agree that tehre is acorrelation between companies making WoW clones and the state of the economy, since MMO's would be more popular in a slow moving economy.

The reason why, in my opinion, Companies are making WoW clones is because they simply want a peice of the action and because a business in the end is not about investement it is about profit, under the current economical system anyways (which will change in the comming years if things keep going downhill).

if there is a person that makes a fortune selling basket ball shoes, you can bet that any other manufacturer will also produce their own version of basketball shoes because they aim to make a profit with their business and they thus try to get a peice of the action from their competitor. The shoes that the first guy made maybe only black or white, so the competitor will make some that are red and some yellow ones, so they segment their target audiance from the big pool that is people who like basketball shoes, and target those that would prefer to wear red and yellow colored basketball shoes.

This is a business model principle. So if WoW made a fortune with MMO players, then many other companies will make WoW-Like MMO's with some element that is different and try thus to get a piece of the action as some WoW players may say, I like wow but i would wish it had more of this element, and then they find that another game is just like wow but has more of their favorite element and they go play that game instead.

At least in principle, and in practice this is why many companies are making WoW clones.

After that point there is a myrriad of other factors that affect the actual results, some of which cannot be calculated in advance.

All in al this is what i think.

Interesting...

 

But just to correct, investment is about profit too, it just accounts for the costs as well.  ie I need 100$ to make 150$ = 50$ profit.  Or to use your own example, how much does it take to develop, manufacture, transport and sell sneakers vs how much you can sell them for and how many you can sell = profit.

Oh I understand your view,

I consider Investement a means to an end, as such, in the end business is about profit not about Investment even if investment is part of the way to attain profit (one of the ways anyways).

My statement was in response to your statement "A Business is, in the end, an investment for the owners", the owners do invest but they do so with the goal to make a profit.

 

As such a typical way of business thinking could be:

"I am willing to Invest in a game but I need to return a profit in the end. How can I make this profit? What is popular right now? WoW is popular, this is what most are playing, so lets Invest to make a Wow Clone and get a piece of that popularity and make a profit."

Khaeros

I think that when bad times are rollin' on in, the entertainment industry still does well.  I won't say it's recession-proof, but people use entertainment for escapism often.

 

Pretty sure people still went to see motion pictures in the 1930's.

MMOExposed

Originally posted by Quizzical

There were copycat games long before WoW existed.  How many games wanted to be Super Mario Bros.?  How many games wanted to be Street Fighter II?  How many games wanted to be Wolfenstein?  How many games wanted to be Command and Conquer?  (Sorry if I missed the first popular game in any of those categories, but changing the name of the game doesn't affect the point.)

To a considerable degree, a genre is itself a collection of games that is trying to heavily borrow from a particular popular game.  Had WoW never existed, we'd still be complaining that MMORPGs are too often clones of some particular game.  We'd just have to pick a different game that they're cloning.

How many wanted to be Halo...

 

oops,, @ CoD fanbois

Serenes

Yet people still buy Apple products which are crazy over priced, don't you love America?

Khaeros

Originally posted by Serenes

Yet people still buy Apple products which are crazy over priced, don't you love America?

 

What can you say? Hipsters love Steve Jobs now since he's so underground

Cuathon

Originally posted by Serenes

Yet people still buy Apple products which are crazy over priced, don't you love America?

Buying a 200$ Ipod is a much better investment than a 200$ pair of jeans. Apple products seem expensive but expensive is relative. Also the image of owning many high end products is more important than the actual functionality.

marinrider

Originally posted by Cuathon

Originally posted by Serenes

Yet people still buy Apple products which are crazy over priced, don't you love America?

Buying a 200$ Ipod is a much better investment than a 200$ pair of jeans. Apple products seem expensive but expensive is relative. Also the image of owning many high end products is more important than the actual functionality.

I think hes talking about a Macbook pro being $2500 while you can get a laptop with similar specs from another company for $1000.  (prices as example, I'm not going to verify them).

Cuathon

Originally posted by marinrider

Originally posted by Cuathon

Originally posted by Serenes

Yet people still buy Apple products which are crazy over priced, don't you love America?

Buying a 200$ Ipod is a much better investment than a 200$ pair of jeans. Apple products seem expensive but expensive is relative. Also the image of owning many high end products is more important than the actual functionality.

I think hes talking about a Macbook pro being $2500 while you can get a laptop with similar specs from another company for $1000.  (prices as example, I'm not going to verify them).

Nevertheless the point is the same. You are paying for the brand name.

Oberholzer

Originally posted by Khaeros

Originally posted by Serenes

Yet people still buy Apple products which are crazy over priced, don't you love America?

 

What can you say? Hipsters love Steve Jobs now since he's so underground

Jobs is still dead? They haven't released the next gen Jobs yet???