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"...greater the opportunity to also generate income and have a long tail behind Diablo"
marinrider
Member UncommonPosts: 1,556
in Diablo 3
Blizzard now says that they expect to make a profit from the auction house. So there you have it folks. At least part of the Auction house is for making blizz more cash, and the other part is for players. Not 100% for players like some people have tried to claim
Comments
Blizz is a company with huge costs and a long list of employees that need to be paid every month; why do people forget this? I don't understand why people get in an uproar when a company tries to increase their profits. If its a good product then its worth the money, if it's not then don't buy it and don't pay for it.
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Well, if blizzard can't pay for a games development with the $60 box cost (since it isnt an MMO after all) then they are doing something wrong. The article says that at one point blizz said they would have it even if they only break even, so why not lower fees so that they break even? Oh thats right, because its not for the customer, its for profit.
Once upon a time, games were profitable without having to pull money from ever crevace. Blizzard makes 1 billion in revenue a year. If they cant pay employees then they have hired too many people anyway.
Ten years of development... I'm surprised they're not selling their blood at this point.
“The general acceptance of gamers for a different type of business model has increased substantially over time. We’re really looking for upper benchmarks outside of currently relevant microtransaction-based games so those trends have been very encouraging,” continued Tippl. But for us, we’ll have to see what happens when we get into the marketplace. If we didn’t think there was a significant opportunity, we wouldn’t be doing it.”
Translation: "You suckers gave us a few Inches, now we're looking for the Mile."
Smells like Kotick, talks like Kotick, dreams like Kotick. Stinks of SoE too.
P2W Cash Shop in WoW by the end of 2012?
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Did they mention in their report that L1: E might eat into there projected profits for D3
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Yep, I really expect to see things like EXP boosts or Honor boosts. I'm surprised they have not done weapon skins yet. Even if its not gamebreaking its such an obvious thing that even Aion has it.
Just wait until they start selling you dungeons.
Ummm, I'm not seeing any news here. They've planned all along that they'd take a cut of the AH funds. They initially said they were good with just not losing money. Now they've said they think it'll turn profit. Big deal. It's called market analyzing. Market outlooks change daily for any business.
I'm not sure anyone claimed it was "100%" for players. It is a service for players, but like any service. the overseer takes his cut.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
There have been people up and down this forum saying blizz only takes the cut they need to keep it running and that this is purely for the players to trade safely, etc etc. If they are okay with breaking even on this small thing, then why not break even on it and make everyone happy? They already charge us $60 for the box, isnt that enough?
Any for-profit company will charge as much as they can until there is a point at which they lose more money at a higher price vs. a lower.
Stop making QQ threads about specific companies and being so naive to think no other company would do the exact same thing if they could. This doesn't make Blizzard the Devil, it just means they are better at marketing than other companies.
Getting a B or higher in both Macro and Micro Econ should be mandatory prior to obtaining a drivers license and a cell phone.
Im not saying they are the only company that does it. I'm just brining it to light that contrary to what people think, this company wasnt given to earth by the good graces of god. That they are just as greedy as every other company. Never did I say that this company was the only one. Because if I did then feel free to correct me, but dont put words in my mouth.
Better at marketing? You mean better at milking the customer and finding a way for them not to notice.
And dont insult my intelligence. I understand economics perfectly fine. I understand what they are doing and that they are doing it to make a buck. But there is also that bit about being a respectable company who actually cares about its consumer, and blizzard is not that company any longer.
Look at ANET. Makes their game B2P, makes the game awesome, and only charges for the same things that blizzard charges for. Oh yeah, and ANET doesnt give us the same crap over and over again. I'm sure there may be some spots where anet tries to make a little on the side (costumes) but thats nothing like saying one thing and doing another like companies like Blizz and SoE do.
I knew you were going to bring up ANet, man, that was more predictable than the sun rising.
You're blasting Blizzard for charging their customers in and at a price they will accept while making Blizzard the most profit for the demographic while white knighting ANet ... lol.If ANet could do it, they would too, you can bet your little ANet angelic halo they would.
Marketing encompasses "milking the customer at every turn".
Tell me then, why can ANET not do it? I think a lot of people would very happily pay 15 a month to play GW2. Please, explain your logic to me. I would love to know.
And I'm blasting blizzard for saying "yes we are pefectly fine with breaking even on this" which is something that I'm okay with. I'm not going to ask a company to lose money for the sake of the customer. But to come back 3 months later and say "Yeah, we were okay with breaking even, but now that we realize we are going to profit we will take that route instead."
Yeah pay for box + cash shop .....awesome
not
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
You asking me that question is a sure sign you don't understand economics or your are just an intensly loyal fan with horse blinders on.
I think ANet is awesome because they produced a fan that will blindly follow them into the void while similtaneously bashing other people for doing the same thing with another company. o/
Blizz has a Box cost, sub, cash shop, and a 60 dollar expansion. How is that better at all? Nothing in GW's cash shop is pay to win. Over the past few years I've logged about 1000 of guild wars and never had to touch the cash shop. Not for bank space, not for character slots, not for costumes, and not for skill packs. Why? Because I get slots with each of the expansions, the bank space is plenty, costumes are just cosmetic and I like the in game armor better anyway, and on top of that all skills are available in the game.
Would you rather it be F2P with an insane cash shop similar to what EQ2X has? Or rather a P2P akin to WoW?
You really didnt answer my question though. Like I said before, I understand economics just fine. Anet can do it because, like I said, people will pay. So tell me why you think ANET can not do it? Or do you not have a reason?
Edit: And you completly missed the point. Your now down to personal attacks with no proof to back up anything you say. Blindly follow them into the void? You mean that void where I have fun? I'll gladly go there. I'll go there with Bethesda, I'll go there with ANET and I'll go there with any other company that still makes games worth buying.
The economics of it is one thing, the reality of it is another.
It stinks
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Ok buddy, here we go.
If ANet's profit model was sub based and they thought they could make more money with less subscribers, they would do it.
FOR EXAMPLE
If they think they can get 10 people to pay $5 a month, their total revenue would be $50 per month. However, if they looked at their profit model and said, "hmm...I think we can get 20 people to give us $3 per month from the cash shop", equalling $60 per month, they do that. Now, this is of course very basic and doesn't consider other things but you get the gist.
IF Anet COULD they would. You stating they "could but don't" is just wild opinion using nothing but emotional loyalty or excitement to state such. You have absolutely no idea if they could but the economics of a for-profit company DICTATE that they would if they could.
ANet has done to you what they wanted. By stating that the "archaic payment models" are doing nothing but ripping you off, they have planted a seed in your mind that they are somehow more honest about their intentions while standing upon Mount Sinai dictating to you the rules of the "new game". ANets most basic purpose is to make money and they will do that in any way they can and if painting themselves as Moses gets the job done, bravo - marketing skill +1.
Or they do what most companies do now and do P2P with a cash shop? Saying they cant is just the same speculation but on the other side of the fence. You have this crazy notion that all companies are evil, and that they dont care for the consumer. And did you think to realize that not every company out there looks to maxmize profits? If they did then we wouldn't have certain companies trying to put out the very best games they possibly could. We would end up with a whole bunch of CoD's and DA2's.
No, YOU have the crazy notion that Blizzard is evil because it's able to make alot of money from people doing things YOU don't approve of. The only assumption is that ANet could but won't because they are the "better company" when it has nothing to do with that. Why do you think companies are going F2P with cash shop? Why do you think ANet has a cash shop? Why do you think other companies have cash shops? Because they wanted you to be able to get cutsie little items for your character?
And did you think to realize that not every company out there looks to maxmize profits? If they did then we wouldn't have certain companies trying to put out the very best games they possibly could. We would end up with a whole bunch of CoD's and DA2's.
Lol, you truely are the perfect customer.
Except I dont buy anything from cash shops, I dont buy games on day 1 that are obviously underdeveloped (like Portal 2 with less than 10 hours of content) or dragon age 2 with DLC's on the first day. I dont keep my sub when I'm not playing to "support the game" like the MO fanbase thinks people should do. I always buy boxed copies of games because the game price shouldnt be the same if your only giving me a download. How am I the perfect customer because I'm against companies going back on things they say?
Blizz is a greedy corperation, you know it and I know it but lets go off topic and talk about Anet and whey they chose the b2p route.
There are only a few reasons why they chose that model. maybe they feel that its not good enough for a sub model, there are quite a few examples of p2p games that failed and in order to recoup there investments they went f2p with CS. Anet is a company and a company is in the business to make a profit. Box sales alone will not cover the cost of developing the game so they must be banking heavily on its CS for its viability. Or else they may even change for downloadable content.
I don't know what the finial outcome will be but one thing is for sure, if they could sell it as p2p they would because they know a game that is a smash hit with players will always be more profitable as p2p, not f2p or b2p.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Your purchasing behavior is contrary to what ANet is counting on. They count on people buying DLC's and little items to make them money. In fact, they were so confident that they'd make money on it that they did that payment model instead of the sub model.
You are the perfect customer because you have a naive view of the world we live and play in making you easy prey to creative marketers like ANet pulling trump cards like "games don't need to charge sub fees anymore". While that may be true it's not because they think sub-based games are ripping the customer off but because another payment model will make them more money.
Anyone who believed blizzard wasnt going to take a cut or believed it was going to be 100% for the players isnt to bright. Actually the bulb exploded and I wouldnt really pay any attention to what they thought in the first place.
Once upon a time there was a thing called ethics. Now a days it is quite plain to see that Blizzard and many other companies have lost theirs.
At one time it was "how much money should we take from our customers" and now its " how much money can we take from our customers"
Today's corporate culture at its finest.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
What's naive is believing the spin Blizzard put on this. Remember when it was all about the best interests of their customers? How it would combat gold sellers and make everyone's experience better? That was the cover story and a lame one at that. I thought it was pretty transparent, but apparently many bought into it.
This has always been about squeezing more cash out of gamers. I don't begrudge them for trying. It's what businesses do. I reserve my scorn for the drooling multitudes who not only agreed to it, but defended it . Gamers are the only consumers who beg their suppliers to charge them more for their product. Not even drug addicts are that irrational. What a bunch of suckers.