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Funcom Investor Update - Bad News for TSW
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Yep, for sure, a lot of people have fallen for the smoke and mirrors of 'F2P', but the game not being able to retain players past the first month has very little to do with the £2.50/wk in reality and more to do with the fact that the game for a lot of folks is dry and not very much fun.
If the game WAS fun people would pay.
In the end TSW really only has it's core design, choice of minority theme, and lack of market presence to blame for it's failing. Blaming the revenue model for it is just getting it wrong IMO.
We need to be sold better games, not simply revenue models that make shareholders more profit.
I don't know much about the WoW shop. The probelm I have with the TSW one is the fact that it has stuff you can't get in game and are only available through the cs.
Agreeing with you completley... the game is not worth money for the sub nor is it worth the price of the box.. I was excited about the game, but when I saw how it looks like - I'm glad I didn't buy the game. On that matter, lately - no game is worth the sub and I think people and devs are aware of it.
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life."
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Another
thread by a mmorpg.com member.
Honestly Nephaerius, what is the point of this thread while many other posted the same type of thread?
This F2P topic has been beaten to death on this website.
If there is a list of things Funcom could do to get substantially more people into the game, doing something different with the cash shop or getting rid of the cash shop would either be near the bottom of the list, or it wouldn't make it on the list at all.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
The funny thing to me is that you are referencing P2W whereas he is referring to F2P. Unfortunately theres too many people like you that dont see the difference. With the industry moving towards F2P and B2P, theres just no reason to ever pay a sub cost. And theres more than just Pay2Win, theres quality AAA titles, most of which were sub at one time or another that have had to convert to keep up with market trends.
You may not be ready to face it yet, but subscriptions are dead. Or even hibernating, maybe someday they will return, but there just isnt a market for it right now. I was saying this since SWTOR beta, and anyone who thought TSW shouldnt have been released as F2P from launch is just in denial. If the game has any chance at all of staying around they have to drop the sub fee. And that goes for any new released either, if they launch with a subscription they are shooting themselves in the foot. I hope ArchAge takes note of all these failures.
VERY few MMOs are not even worth the box price when you just consider content. Most single player games that charge $60 can be finished in a single weekend so to say a MMO is not worth the box price is pretty ridiculous. May not be a game you like but for the amount of content its worth the box price more than most any single player game. The monthly sub on the other hand is a differn't story.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
I'd rather pay for content if and when it becomes available than pay a sub on a promise. The DCUO and TSW model leaves much to be desired.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119015-Funcom-Blames-MetaCritic-For-Share-Price-Drop
News headlines...does that answer your question?
I'm not sure people realize how serious this part is.
The stock is down another 20% today. It made a new 52 week low. It's share price has dropped from a high of $4 US in mid April 2012 to $.51 US today.
Companies use stock for many things. Stock price influences access to debt markets. It dictates a company's ability to raise equity through stock offerings. It impacts a company's ability to use stock as compensation for employees and how much dilution it creates. It leaves companies vulnerable to takeover.
Funcom has already stated that there will be cutbacks based on the failure to meet financial targets. This could impact the quality and frequency of content updates for the game and the quality of customer support. The severity of these issues should be clarified in their earning's release at the end of the month. It seems that they have plans to try and address some of these issues. For example, I think going to Steam will be helpful.
"Loading screens" are not "instances".
Your personal efforts to troll any game will not, in fact, impact the success or failure of said game.
Wrong.
Just because it is fun does not mean I accept the price.
To make one pay, he needs to feel his money are worth and as said before, there is more people out there that do not find subscription fee to be worth their money.
The worth of the money then is determined by subjective perception of value and comparable products. If I see a product of about same value for lower price, you can guess where my money goes.
That does not mean the other product was "bad", it is called market competition. Same goes for TSW or TOR, those games are released with "above-average-price" on highly competitive market and that is a rather case of bad pricing rather than product value - either game is no worse than average MMO.
P2W and F2P are often terms used in the same sentence, justly or not, but overall that is the 'perception' of the whole F2P genre, as is, the whole failing game goes F2P thing, having said that, any game that started out P2P and ends up F2P generally ends up being head and shoulders above games that were designed to be F2P from the offset. Archage might be a game you end up waiting years for though, if it ever gets released in the west, which is doubtful, they havent even started working on a translated version last i heard so largely irrelevant. If a game is good enough for a subscription model, then it will have one, if not.. then F2P or B2P is definitely an option, however, either of those routes will mean a cash shop is a necessary evil, P2W or no. Unfortunately, going F2P is no guarantee of survival, lots of F2P games fail on a regular basis, they just never hit the radar.
I did not see any other threads discussing this update to investors which was just posted this morning to the best of my knowledge. There may be other threads discussing TSW going F2P, but my main focus was the investor report. If I'm wrong and have created a duplicate thread. My apologies.
Steam: Neph
The subscription model is finished for everyone other than Blizzard at the moment. The market preference has moved decisively away from it for pretty much all other games. Hybrid models are possible (B2P+ cash, B2P+freemium/optional sub, etc), but the full on sub model that WoW has is dead, dead, dead.
The game failed to attract attention because of its lack of IP, lack of marketing, and its niche theme (not that many like horror/occult theme), as well as Funcom's terrible reputation after AoC. All of that is true. But at the same time, had the game been F2P, or even cheap B2P+cash, more people would have tried the game than with the $50 box price and mandatory sub after 30 days. In other words, these things do really go together. If your game is already going to be a bit off the radar screen for various reasons, it's smart to remove other barriers to entry to maximize the market potential -- and FC didn't do that, so their initial sales were terrible (they warned that they now see a big risk that 12 month sales will be less than 1/2 of the worse scenario among two that they forecast to shareholders before the release). Sure, in their model it's about subs rather than raw sales, but without sales you don't get subs. And even if they have a sky-high retention rate of, say, 60%, with such low sales numbers the game is financially a mess right now, and that will create even more pressure on the sub requirement because it implies staff reductions and eventually slower content updates. Much of this could have been avoided had they embraced the market move towards B2P/F2P hybrids and not the very disfavored sub model.
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/360057/TSW-sales-and-subscriptions.html
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/360120/So-Swtor-sells-2-million-at-laucnh-and-TSW-doesnt-sell-500k-wtf.html
Your right about one thing no game is worth a box or sub if your a tire kicker that has no interest in real end game. Those of us who are know the F2P model is far more expensive in the long run if you consume all he content.
WoW got away with it because it already had a stablished player base and they did it ions ago.
don't mix apples with oranges....
TSW is an interesting concept granted, still it has some big issues to overcome.
on top of those gameplay issues that have been discussed to death, I agree that their choice of sub+cs is a bad one.
it's not about being able to pay the sub or NOT, it is about the principle of the thing.
they are NOT wow, NOT that I like wow anyway I hate it's guts, but gotta give credit where credit is due and 10 million people say it's a good game, so good for them, that doesn't mean because wow has a sub+cs TSW can do the same.
they still have a lot to prove before they can blatantly try to rob players in plain sight.
B2P is the future.
Angry Joe's Guild Wars 2 video review
Aerowyn's Video Compilation of ALL things Guild Wars 2
@Taugrim explains why the fanbois don't get it
E D I T E D
I only posted because this thread was on the general (pub) forum. Since it has been moved to the TSW specific forum, I'm removing that post, since I don't post on forums of games I don't play anymore.
Peace, and have fun.
Respect, walk
Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?
- PANTERA at HELLFEST 2023
LOL! Maybe you should get a clue about what F2P really is about.
If you get the "real" taste of F2P.... don't come back crying to the forums begging for Subscription model to return!
They have to make money. When a title goes F2P it will inevitably have a serious negative impact on gameplay and enjoyment! You will have to start forking out money and more money to make the game bearable and fun!
For nothing the sun rises up in the east every morning! That's pretty much the only thing left in the world that comes free these days.
Cheers.
lol... wow
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