Jump to content

DCUO: Who's playin'?

Remianen

By Remianen
in The Dog Pound

Recommended Posts

Remianen Apprentice

Remianen

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Not surprised this happened, little surprised it happened so soon. Most of the games that have tried to be a subscription based MMO recently have gone free to play. Sucks for those that bought it and paid any sort of subscription fee's and how now the game is basically given up on as I doubt they will be constantly fixing/introducing new stuff for a game that won't be bringing in the subscription money.

 

This is false. Patently.

 

The reason so many games are going the free to play route is because so-called "freemium" plans are MUCH more profitable when you don't have a ridiculously large subscriber base (which is why WoW has not done it). I'm talking an order of magnitude more profitable. It's basically double dipping. Your subscribers pay their sub fee AND buy various bits and pieces from the store whereas with a vanilla subscription model, you're only getting the cash from the subscription fees. Do the math. 100,000 players paying $15 a month OR 100,000 players paying $15 a month AND an average of about $8 a month in cash shop purchases on top of perhaps another 100,000 players NOT paying $15 a month but giving you what often amounts to an average of $10 a month via straight cash shop purchases. Which produces more revenue?

 

Did LOTRO stop producing content when they went freemium? Did DDO? Did Age of Conan? Did Champions? No, no, no, and no, quite the opposite, in fact. The same dev team that creates content finds they can SELL that content to "free" players producing more revenue than with a vanilla subscription model. Seriously, do you really think so many games are moving into this area because it's NOT profitable?

 

This shows me 3 possible things.

 

1: The highly talked about D/C online game is not doing that great.

 

2: Free to play MMO'S are picking up in popularity.

 

3: Both of the above.:p

 

I wonder if city of hero's will ever go the free to play rout. Or is there cult like following enough to keep em going.

 

1. If by "not doing that great", you mean "didn't attract half a million subscribers", then yes, it's not doing that great. According to John Smedley, PS3 players outnumber PC players in DCUO by 3 to 1 (source), and with the segregated playerbase (PS3 and PC people play on different servers), it makes the PC side seem barren. But the game is doing very well on the console side.

 

2. No. Free to play has ALWAYS been popular, in Asia. It's just started to catch on in the West recently but this isn't a new thing. F2P goes back to the late 90s, in fact. The difference is, Western audiences have no problem paying BOTH a sub fee and a couple dollars here and there for supplemental items (potions, vanity items, etc). That's where the misnomer is (it's not really free to play like its definition in Asia, it's why the 'freemium' tag fits better).

 

Um, Mike? CoH announced they're going free to play months ago. :) Go to the City of Heroes site and take a gander. Subscribers have had Issue 21 since last Tuesday (the 13th) and "Freedom" starts next Tuesday (the 27th). Hell, my /regen brutes and Beam Rifle/Time Manipulation characters are closing in on 50 already. :)

 

And no, it's not because the game is dying, it's because the freemium model is SO much more profitable for a publisher/developer. Again, WoW won't go that route because of the size of their subscriber base but everyone else probably WILL. (Not Warhammer because Games Workshop won't allow it. Morons). Smedley alludes to the fact that ALL of SoE's current titles are moving toward that model (not that that's saying much. Only EQ1 remains as the top shelf MMO in their stable that isn't already freemium. Vanguard isn't top shelf by their estimation). Planetside 2 will be freemium from launch.

 

Publisher: "How can we generate more revenue from our smaller playerbase?"

Wunderkind Marketing Dude: "I know! We can give them the "option" of paying for a subscription and a little extra for doodads from the shop OR paying "for free" and paying for EVERYTHING individually. It should also bring in lookie-loos who don't want to pay for a box or pay for a subscription!"

Publisher: "That's pure genius!"

Wunderkind Marketing Dude: "I know, right? I just got the idea while in the shower this morning. It's like an endless trial except you can't do most of the things in the game."

Developer: "Um, they've been doing something similar in Kor-"

Publisher: "So, when can we make this happen?"

 

That's pretty much the whole thing in a nutshell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 77
  • Created
  • Last Reply
mike b Newbie

mike b

Posted
Posted

Wow thanks Remianen i did not know that about COH going that rout.

Guess i have been out of the loop with that game for awhile.

 

And you are so right about WOW. There is no real need to go the freemium rout as you call it when you have over 13 million subs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Remianen Apprentice

Remianen

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Wow thanks Remianen i did not know that about COH going that rout.

Guess i have been out of the loop with that game for awhile.

 

And you are so right about WOW. There is no real need to go the freemium rout as you call it when you have over 13 million subs.

 

Heh it's not 13 anymore. It's closer to 11 (11.1 actually). Mike Morhaime was called onto the carpet when it was announced WoW had stopped growing and was starting to find itself on the wrong side of subscriber churn (i.e. losing more players than they're adding). But by the time it gets really serious, TITAN will be out so they can wind down WoW.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mike b Newbie

mike b

Posted
Posted
Heh it's not 13 anymore. It's closer to 11 (11.1 actually). Mike Morhaime was called onto the carpet when it was announced WoW had stopped growing and was starting to find itself on the wrong side of subscriber churn (i.e. losing more players than they're adding). But by the time it gets really serious, TITAN will be out so they can wind down WoW.

 

Yea that's right i remember reading that WOW had lost like over 6 hundred thousand subscribers.

 

I think people are finding that there are a few actually quite good feemium(there is that word again) games out there. I have seen some that have pretty darn good graphics and good content also.

 

Have you ever been to this site

http://www.mmorpg.com/

 

Good MMO coverage online mag.i have a thread there in other games section under pc games covering CBH. Over 800 views and rising. Mostly good feed back but there are some as one person called em "mmo diva's" who are only into games with moving pictures lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Timber Newbie

Timber

Posted
Posted

<p>I know this is the DCUO thread.. but IF you have or had a City of Heroes account, it's now open to premium players.. should be F2P in about a week for everyone else. </p><p> </p><p>

I;m @Timber Bear if anyone plays. Currently a premium player, but will go back to VIP once i get some free cash.</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...
Purple Cowboy Newbie

Purple Cowboy

Posted
Posted
<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Clarity" data-cite="Clarity" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="30356" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Sorry for the bump, but for anyone interested in actually playing the game, its now gone Free-To-Play</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Interesting... I have it but dropped my sub after the first month. Guess I'll dust it off at some point this week.</p>
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Clarity Collaborator

Clarity

Posted
Posted
I'm sure it will die down , especially with Skyrim coming out at the end of the week. I had a trial account I didn't bother to renew as I wasn't sold on the gameplay , but now that its on a Free to play model, I may go check it out again.
It had better.

 

You spend all that time in a queue only for it to crash loading and you have to do it all again

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 8 months later...
Remianen Apprentice

Remianen

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I have this weird habit.

 

The games I put out for lifetime subs on, I rarely play after the first few months. I always seem to have things to do in other games (that I pay month-to-month for) and always think "I can get back to Champions/DCUO/STO/LOTRO since I'm a lifer!".

 

Let's see what happens after I start with Guild Wars 2 on Friday. Buy the box and never pay again might work the same way with me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...