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Earlier this month it was announced that Perfect World Entertainment was acquired by Embracer Group, though will operate independently under Gearbox. Now we know a bit more about Perfect World and why Embracer purchased the company. Notably, we have some metrics from some of the ongoing MMOs from Cryptic, including revenues and player numbers for games like Neverwinter and Star Trek Online.
Comments
Yeah, right. Even the most "innocent" MMO's are predators. In fact every MMO that has some sort of "Store" has whales. NW isn't the only MMO here.
https://biturl.top/rU7bY3
Beyond the shadows there's always light
How original.
Also the company whose MO is to release games as "don't judge us, it's only beta" but with the full cash shop experience.
Trash for the wallet warriors.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
To be truthful though. Any metric can blow it out there...wherever. If I'm enjoying a game, I could care less (unless it's headed towards shutting down soon, of course). So for those who play this game, tell us we can blow it, because you're having fun!
Fishing on Gilgamesh since 2013
Fishing on Bronzebeard since 2005
Fishing in RL since 1992
Born with a fishing rod in my hand in 1979
You don't get how these stats work. Todya's lifetime subbers are not today's players becuase this is not what they want. Your argument makes sense if they were not sneaky or hiding their active concurrent players and average revenue they spend today which is obviously abismol as the quality of game developùment has tanked,and many regions shut down to consolidate. There is not "big suceess of small groups hapilly playing". Usually anyone sticking around have addiction problems. I know because I was part of the big investment top guild dominating in Perfect World (which topped all these charts back then). This also is not region specific. So it's like saying DFO (the worlds most poppulated mmo) is the best game ever because "people play what they love"....No, they are region locked in their country of development, and the low end entry specs make the poor countries with high populations have easy access. How much fun they having? I dunno, go ask when the power generator is up to run the cyber cafe. XD
tl;dr,
Our Guild leader was a canadian female farmer in PW. MY group of guidlies were addicted, 24H players that thought we could get far free...small investment when we could. It worked. WE actually learned a lot in Perfect World (as it is daunting between broken translations and bugs etc, again, very poor quality, but hey, core stuff worked right? (until you find those hole in dungeon walle xploits etc).
It got to the point you make a reputation for self and it becomes very socially real. Pepole emailign you every day for questions and help and market stuff. Your rivals are very real etc..
I mention the farmer, becuase in farming, in off season you get Gov subventions for no crops. So it's like saying "thansk for feeding out country, heres money to keep you alive in winter, produce in summer".
She made a few million due to her mass production of premier ressources in Canada in wheat and livestock etc. She invested this heavily into this game (yes a whale, a nice one). With snow in village, you do nothing but sit and play all day and night. We purchased our way to the top.. but not after skillfully wasting a few years of our lives getting far free. And to be fair it is not constant investment, you can plop down 500,000 dollars easy and be set to run the end game dungeons without issues, (except not being skilled. SKill still a factor, not pay to insta win). The biggest difference was PvP, no one can really touch you, and in these kind of games you drop loot on death lol, so all that cash gone so fast.
That was early 2000's, we had a start - A height of fame and reputation to where even GM's bowed before us and the parent company gave us a few "wink wink, we know you exist" attention. I mean who wouldn't when you paying for their life styles by your addiction.
And finally the fall. People grew up realized their lives are not being paid by others, so certain left to get jobs, get a social life, and the guild leader back to her crops and less game time which leaves room for in game drama when things are not tightly run...Human nature. And eventually people fell off. It took a lot of my close friends almost 5 years or more to stop logging in and let the game go. It was an addiction that cost certain ones their car, home, living with fam on couch.
The nail in the coffin that had everyone log off was when updates came that made, what you did in early to mid 2000's, easily done in a week....Years of grinding and learning now all turned ez mode, and new classes and fast level ups to near end game in just months...that hits you HARD. Especially when no one caters to your end game experience, its all about glossing the entry access and then "look, the old end game requires X investment. hahaha we aren't the speed level game we presented self as". And it comes to a halt. It is smart, in a sneaky dev point of view, your core whales left, better get the new kiddies something to do. See if we can make them addicts or not.
So we never touch this company again, but that does not mean you will not have fun. In fact I recommend at least one fast romp through these games, especially Perfect world, just to see the scope and size and depth games CAN have. Just know its over soon enough and your time probably best spent else where.
**small edit** the dude that was addicted finally did quit, got a stable job, moved out, and his social skills in game got him his GF to leave her country to come over and marry and have kid now, so I guess you can say the time he put in, he got something out of it in the end, and learned to turn it all off.
The game did not grasp any of us.
Same friends I played pen and paper DnD for about 15 years with. Should think that at least one of us got hooked.
Have not yet though. Maybe there is hope?
Nah there is really none for me or the human race.
At the start it was an OK 'wack a mole' type game play game, if you wanted something easy to play.
Even now it's an OK game to play totally free and just drop once you hit the paywall in the middle of the campaigns.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
Other games even F2P like DDO don't do this badly.