In your educated opinion, what's the fate of this game?

[Soluss]

I'm one who will, politely, disagree with you. There isn't a single MMO company doing great with the freemium model, most only survive. And before Turbine is brought up in response to this again, I have been a long term shareholder in TW and Turbine is NOT doing great with F2P, they are surviving. Big difference.

 

F2P only seems like it does okay because of so many companies using the model so the overall market numbers skew the actual results. However, the industry leader still holds a sub model and SWTOR had the best launch (in terms of numbers) of any MMO with 2.4 million people knowing it had a sub fee.

 

I contend that F2P is not a successful business model, not when you dig deeper than the surface of we doubled or tripled our revenue. For example, everyone likes to point to Turbine. When you dig deeper you first ask why did Turbine get sold? Because they weren't making money to begin with and were still supplementing existence on burn from their last $43 million venture investment. So they were sold as investor's had tired of not turning a healthy margin after years of existence. So F2P came in to fix things, but Turbine's reputation as a company is also in the trash because of the rather questionable business tactics they have used in an effort to make 'the numbers'.

 

As a long term venture investor, when I hear statements like we doubled or tripled our revenue without numbers attached, here is the first thing that comes to my mind and usually turns out to be true when I dig deeper on the financials. "We were making $250k a month with expenses of $650k, now we doubled our revenue to $500k a month and only increased expenses to $750k (all those free people still cost money and resources to support). Isn't that great! Yeah, except that you are STILL burning through $250k a month in invested capital and not turning a profit so the business model still doesn't work." So, you see, doubling revenue does NOT mean you are turning a profit. I'd rather hear statements such as we doubled or tripled profits, than revenue. But, you don't hear that at all in relation to the F2P model - and for good reasons as I have noted above.

 

I believe the sub model is still preferred by most MMO gamers. The two issues, however, are that (1). the sub fee needs to be adjusted to broaden the market appeal, maybe to $5 to $7/month or (2) the delivery of quality and content needs to be increased to the market's expectations of what they are getting for their sub fee.

 

F2P is NOT going to save this title. The fundamental problem is not solved with F2P and that is that EA/BioWare doesn't know how to run an MMO, what MMO customers want (nor do they care to listen) and, quite frankly, is run by people with far too much hubris to be humbled enough to correct the course.

 

Lastly, this is a big one that everyone is missing with SWTOR. Shareholders are holding this title in their sites and their are senior management jobs on the line now. It's no secret that many want the CEO of EA replaced now, and SWTOR is a big reason behind it. So, F2P in this case is simply about recovering as much as possible to save some senior exec tail ends - nothing more, nothing less. Which means little investment in the future and extracting as much capital return as possible.

 

This guy gets it

[CorellianWannabe]

Case in point. All the remaining servers are stable and very heavy to full each night. The player base that remains is strong and healthy. Many of us are still very much enjoying the game (even if we have a complaint or two). The game is currently viable and could continue earning profit just as it is....but we still see this sort of thing posted through-out the internet.

 

Heck, even I get this feeling.

 

The remaining servers-you mean the 10% of the total serves Bioware created? Remaining playerbase-are you including those that still have time on their accounts, or only the few hundred you actually see in game?

[LordNyxus]

if they ever add Jump To Light speed style space combat and exploration. Then yeah I could easily see this being bigger then it was at launch.

 

oh also DDO and LotrO are doing better now then they did at launch. They actually had to add servers because they became so succesful.

 

I agree that a JTL-like system would reinvigorate SWTOR, however, it will not make it as popular as it was at launch. Even though LotRO and DDO are doing well, they still are not titanic MMOs. Aion has the second highest subscription base, while WoW remains king of the hill (only as far as subs are concerned). SWTOR is dropping more rapidly than SWG did, though maintaining a very high 600K subscriber base (though this includes people how have discontinued their SWTOR journey, but paid for an extended sub).

 

As it stands for August 2012 these are the approximate subscription numbers:

 

World of Warcraft 9.2 million subs

Aion 1.7 million subs

Lineage 2 920,000 subs

Star Wars: TOR 740,000 subs

Runescape 720,000 subs

Eve Online 490,000 subs

LotRO 215,000 subs

Rift 250,000 subs

Everquest 2 130,000 subs

DDO 110,000 subs

 

This does not take into account the F2P systems founf in LotRO and DDO. Only people who have subscriptions (Premium).

Edited August 25, 2012 by LordNyxus

[jarjarloves]

I agree that a JTL-like system would reinvigorate SWTOR, however, it will not make it as popular as it was at launch. Even though LotRO and DDO are doing well, they still are not titanic MMOs. Aion has the second highest subscription base, while WoW remains king of the hill (only as far as subs are concerned). SWTOR is dropping more rapidly than SWG did, though maintaining a very high 600K subscriber base (though this includes people how have discontinued their SWTOR journey, but paid for an extended sub).

 

As it stands for August 2012 these are the approximate subscription numbers:

 

World of Warcraft 9.2 million subs

Aion 1.7 million subs

Lineage 2 920,000 subs

Star Wars: TOR 740,000 subs

Runescape 720,000 subs

Eve Online 490,000 subs

LotRO 215,000 subs

Rift 250,000 subs

Everquest 2 130,000 subs

DDO 110,000 subs

 

couple things

 

WoW is probably more around 2 million US and EU. The rest come from Asia

Aion is also a Asian MMO and the bulk of its subs come from there. It's impossible to know what it's western subs are.

Same with Linieage 2 Allthough I am willing to bet Aion has more Western subs then Linieage 2 does

 

Runescape is also F2P So I wouldn't put it on that list.

 

But still SWTOR still with 700k subs is damn impressive. If they made a spanish langauge version and a asian version then it could easily get close to WoW world wide numbers.

 

Also no way in hell SWTOR is dropping faster then SWG. Not to mention SWG never came even close to 700k subs.

[LordNyxus]

Case in point. All the remaining servers are stable and very heavy to full each night. The player base that remains is strong and healthy. Many of us are still very much enjoying the game (even if we have a complaint or two). The game is currently viable and could continue earning profit just as it is....but we still see this sort of thing posted through-out the internet.

 

Heck, even I get this feeling.

 

According to the SWTOR website, under server status, there are 153 US servers. Of those servers, in the last week, the same 3 servers have gone to heavy for an average of 2 hours (guilds jumping on to do a raid after work?). Only 5 servers have gone to "heavy" at all during the week. Also only 10 servers have gone to "standard" this week, and every other server has remained a consistent "light" status.

[jarjarloves]

According to the SWTOR website, under server status, there are 153 US servers. Of those servers, in the last week, the same 3 servers have gone to heavy for an average of 2 hours (guilds jumping on to do a raid after work?). Only 5 servers have gone to "heavy" at all during the week. Also only 10 servers have gone to "standard" this week, and every other server has remained a consistent "light" status.

 

considering we haven't seen new content since what? May? I would say thats extremely impressive.

[LordNyxus]

couple things

 

WoW is probably more around 2 million US and EU. The rest come from Asia

Aion is also a Asian MMO and the bulk of its subs come from there. It's impossible to know what it's western subs are.

Same with Linieage 2 Allthough I am willing to bet Aion has more Western subs then Linieage 2 does

 

Runescape is also F2P So I wouldn't put it on that list.

 

But still SWTOR still with 700k subs is damn impressive. If they made a spanish langauge version and a asian version then it could easily get close to WoW world wide numbers.

 

Also no way in hell SWTOR is dropping faster then SWG. Not to mention SWG never came even close to 700k subs.

 

My statement about SWTOR : SWG is not about numbers...it was rather percentage of subscription base. SWG never saw more than 300,00 subs and did not drop below 150,000 subs (half its subscriber base) until 2006...4 years after its release!

 

It is projected that SWTOR subs will be less than 300,000 after the next quarter. The F2P model will push subscriptions lower, though it will create more active accounts.

[Andryah]

This guy gets it

 

As much as I know you want to be right, you are wrong.

 

http://casualconnect.org/mag/summer2012/CGA_F2PGames_Report.pdf

Edited August 25, 2012 by Andryah

[Andryah]

I'm one who will, politely, disagree with you. There isn't a single MMO company doing great with the freemium model, most only survive. And before Turbine is brought up in response to this again, I have been a long term shareholder in TW and Turbine is NOT doing great with F2P, they are surviving. Big difference.

 

F2P only seems like it does okay because of so many companies using the model so the overall market numbers skew the actual results. However, the industry leader still holds a sub model and SWTOR had the best launch (in terms of numbers) of any MMO with 2.4 million people knowing it had a sub fee.

 

I contend that F2P is not a successful business model, not when you dig deeper than the surface of we doubled or tripled our revenue. For example, everyone likes to point to Turbine. When you dig deeper you first ask why did Turbine get sold? Because they weren't making money to begin with and were still supplementing existence on burn from their last $43 million venture investment. So they were sold as investor's had tired of not turning a healthy margin after years of existence. So F2P came in to fix things, but Turbine's reputation as a company is also in the trash because of the rather questionable business tactics they have used in an effort to make 'the numbers'.

 

As a long term venture investor, when I hear statements like we doubled or tripled our revenue without numbers attached, here is the first thing that comes to my mind and usually turns out to be true when I dig deeper on the financials. "We were making $250k a month with expenses of $650k, now we doubled our revenue to $500k a month and only increased expenses to $750k (all those free people still cost money and resources to support). Isn't that great! Yeah, except that you are STILL burning through $250k a month in invested capital and not turning a profit so the business model still doesn't work." So, you see, doubling revenue does NOT mean you are turning a profit. I'd rather hear statements such as we doubled or tripled profits, than revenue. But, you don't hear that at all in relation to the F2P model - and for good reasons as I have noted above.

 

I believe the sub model is still preferred by most MMO gamers. The two issues, however, are that (1). the sub fee needs to be adjusted to broaden the market appeal, maybe to $5 to $7/month or (2) the delivery of quality and content needs to be increased to the market's expectations of what they are getting for their sub fee.

 

F2P is NOT going to save this title. The fundamental problem is not solved with F2P and that is that EA/BioWare doesn't know how to run an MMO, what MMO customers want (nor do they care to listen) and, quite frankly, is run by people with far too much hubris to be humbled enough to correct the course.

 

Lastly, this is a big one that everyone is missing with SWTOR. Shareholders are holding this title in their sites and their are senior management jobs on the line now. It's no secret that many want the CEO of EA replaced now, and SWTOR is a big reason behind it. So, F2P in this case is simply about recovering as much as possible to save some senior exec tail ends - nothing more, nothing less. Which means little investment in the future and extracting as much capital return as possible.

 

We can do this all day long. You present opinion, and I'll present facts on record from actual research.

 

http://casualconnect.org/mag/summer2012/CGA_F2PGames_Report.pdf

 

And of relevance, the industry leader you focus on as your foundation, it's an outlyer to the market, NOT the norm. If you subtract it from the equation, it's not even close today, and the future is even bleaker for the subscription model. As for SWTOR having a great launch. It did. It also did not convert ~20% of box sales to subscriptions, ever. And it's attrtion curve is remarkably similar to every other successful launch after WoW, in other words not great.

Edited August 25, 2012 by Andryah

[Hessen]

Although I understand the points being made. I don't think you can compare the MMO market to Facebook fremium models. The target audiences are so completely different that any stats are largely irrelevant.

 

Developers and end users need to accept what MMOs are like now, and set expectations accordingly. Both EA and SWTOR purchasers failed on that front this time round.

Edited August 25, 2012 by Hessen

[Andryah]

Although I understand the points being made. I don't think you can compare the MMO market to Facebook fremium models. The target audiences are so completely different that any stats are largely irrelevant.

 

The research I reference and share include data and analysis for both MMO and mobile markets. Conversion rate is different in the two markets, and yes the demographics are somewhat different (though not as much as you might think) but how you calculate success, revenue and the model drivers are pretty much the same.

Edited August 25, 2012 by Andryah

[Reble-Dog-Squad]

From what i have read here and on other sites all that F2P does is rip the heart out of the game that player enjoyed.

 

This game will be dead in the water by February 2013

 

All the players here and the friends we have made along with the guilds will no longer be active by January 2013

 

Final server goes offline April 2013

 

Statement EA/Bioware: F2P model implemented to early to save game and nothing new was followed afterwards quick enough as promised and player jumped ship.

[Vyron_Deckard]

The game won't die unless EA kills the servers. But that depends on what your definition of 'dead' is. To me, an MMO dies when the servers shut down altogether.

 

Consider this; Final Fantasy XI has been considered 'dead' for a LONG time but it's still been up for 10 years without going F2P. And I'm fairly certain SWTOR has more subscribers ATM.

 

And I honestly don't care about the F2P change - I just want some quality new story & PvE content.

[Hessen]

The future completely lies with EA. And I can completely understand from a business point of view what the decision is that lies before them.

 

Putting a little bit of effort in to it to keep the servers running and fixing major bugs is the safe option, because the IP alone and the content that already exists will keep a steady chunky of people paying money. And as long as the game doesn't shutdown completely due to insignificant subs (say under 100k), they won't suffer any more reputational damage than they already have.

 

Spending money on supporting the game is ultimately a gamble and a risk. And they've already taken a risk when creating the game, and it didn't pay off. Are they really willing to continue taking risks on it?

 

The game could be exactly the same as it is now, or it could improve on every aspect. It could have anywhere between 100k and 1m regular subs. It all depends what the EA long term strategy is.

 

TLDR: I don't know what the fate is, as it's completely in EAs hands.

Edited August 25, 2012 by Hessen

[Uluain]

I am actually a lot better educated in regards to fate than I am to MMO business practice or game longevity. However, based on what I have seen, I think this game will pick back up again. It won't do so by attracting the flavor-of-the-month crowd -- they have come and gone. I will not be, and should not expect to become, nor be unfairly measured against World of Warcraft, a game whose freakish success was a function of hitting at just the right time with limited competition to snowball into the bizarre phenomenon it became (its numbers are also diminishing and have been for some time. The peak has passed).

 

I do think that a F2P option will get more players to try the game and, as it matures (this is still a very new product for an MMO) it will see its player-base rise from where it's tapered off to now that the content locusts are departing. I think it will be a different crowd -- a Star Wars crowd, which is a much bigger franchise overall than Warcraft was before the debut of WoW. Not all fans of the Galaxy Far, Far Away care for MMOs, of course. But I think we can more reasonably measure how this game will perform by comparison to another game arising from another fandom, Lord of the Rings Online.

 

Turbine seems to be doing fine with LOtRO, and F2P was a big boost. LOtRO has been running for five years and is still running. I believe SWTOR can do equally well, once players stop expecting it to be some other game (WoW, KOTOR, SWG) and appreciate it for what it is. I think there are needed optimizations, but changes with 1.3 to accomodate not-top-of-the-line computers were a good start. More people have average sorts of computers than have big leet gamer rigs -- and those folks will play if they can.

 

So I think, really, BioWare has a good thing that they can make better. Expecting it to be what it isn't is, however, not fair to the game. And the consumer culture of instant-gratification countervails against the success of the game in its infancy to no small extent. But neither is it the end of the world, or the end of the game. The playerbase will change as the game finds its niche, and by and large I expect future players to be more interested and loyal than the hordes that blew through after launch.

Edited August 25, 2012 by Uluain

[DrowNoble]

Going the hybrid model is going to help them in the short term. If Bioware wants to start building up revenue they need to do a few things though....

 

Pick up the content pace. I'm sorry but we've had 3 lackluster content updates in 8 months. Two poorly done world events, a half-baked Legacy system full of pointless money sinks, a group finder and 1 warzone. That's pitiful. Trion, with a much smaller revenue base, has averaged 1 content patch every 2 months. Bioware with all its resources (from EA) should be doing far better.

 

Get the Stories progressed. Many people have been stuck in the post-Chapter 3 Interlude for several months. They need to get a Chapter 4 going asap, as it was the Story that set this game apart. Remove the Story and we have a standard nothing-special mmo.

 

SGR were promised "soon" after launch. Well it's been 8+ months, what is Bioware's definition of "soon"? There are some people that do want this feature and they are getting impatient.

 

Expand companion side missions. I'm tired of the "fade to black" companion missions. They say they need to do something, I agree, then fade to black and "Ok I'm back and done!". Make them actual missions that I go with them to do.

 

There are more but I think I've said enough for now.

[Mallorik]

I have never really been into computer games and I have never played an MMO in my life, but I'm really loving this game. True, it has its flaws, but I can overlook most of them. I will be honest, though. I'm pretty concerned about the future of SWTOR. I've heard it's losing subscriptions at an alarming rate, and I don't see how this Free to Play option could be anything but an ominous sign of the future to come.

 

I don't stay caught up with news, so I was hoping someone could fill me in. What does the future of this game look like?

Are the developers optimistic? Pessimistic? Indifferent?

Could SWTOR bounce back, or has it had too many blows in its short existence?

 

I'm looking at this game like a relationship. If the game has a future, I will stick around. If the game is doomed, I would rather bail sooner than later, before I become even more attached.

 

There is no way to give an educated opinion on the fate of this game without knowing anything at all about what is actauly going on at bioware. Nobody knows if bioware is getting its act together and working on fixing this game or if theyre just working on turning it into f2p. Without knowing that theres no way to tell.

 

Now guessing is another thing. Despite my desire to see this game do very well, i just would not bet money on it anymore, bioware has given us absolutely no examples that they are getting their act together and fixing this game and i have a very strong suspicon that the only progress bioware is working on right now is the cash shop and f2p model.

 

Nobody in their right mind beleives f2p alone will save this game, it died for a reason and if those reasons arent adressed before "f2p relaunch" it is just going to die again. I might have a little brighter outlook if they would have fixed the game first, then announced f2p if they didnt start getting people back to the game.

 

F2P is a good gimmick to get people back to your game AFTER you fix it, but if its still the same pile of junk they left months ago fat chance that they are going to magicaly want to pay for it now and lets face it free doesnt pay for anything.

[Droidist]

I LOVE star wars, and I am a big fan of sci-fi.

 

I have really tried to like this game, however, it annoys me a lot. From companions that you are married too, but once the quest line is done, it's over - to skills that really don't mean much, to a very linear quest sequence where you (in my opinion) are stuck in one place too long, to very annoying bugs that remained for weeks and even months. There are all the promises that weren't kept, SGR, etc. The opinion that all jedi must wear robes, etc.

 

This game should have had,

 

Total character customization.

Wear what ever the player wanted.

The ability to make driods, etc.

Scalable flashpoints.

More than one planet to explore at a certain level on. Perhaps path A or B story lines.

Stuff to explore that made a difference (Jedi sage discovering ancient ruins for example).

Open space flight and a profession for ships.

 

I also wished this game dropped the trinity, allowed more sandbox features, etc. My wife, can barely bring herself to log in anymore, and it took a lot of effort to get her to resub - even with me paying the tab.

 

I hope this game lasts, and has more content and less in the way or restrictions on clothing, real companions that change in their responses to you outside of quest lines.... the list goes on.

 

One can alway hope it gets better :-)

[Woetoo]

I see three main dangers for the game at this stage. All of which are just different facets of the same thing... subscriber numbers.

 

 

GW2 and MoP are launching.

 

GW2 has the potential to pull a sizeable portion of the PvP crowd out of the game.

Mists of Pandaria has the potential to pull back the content junkies who left because they were bored of Dragon Soul, but who didn't leave because of the quality of the community had dropped.

 

I think anyone leaving swtor will soon miss the fully voiced story content. Reading quest text is a pale imitation to what we've had. But then all indications are that BW will be scaling back the voice acting too.

 

But when you have the option of a single new operation, a warzone and sometime a companion event and a flash point and you're stacking those up again a whole new game and/or a whole new expansion of multiple dungeons, zones and raids... it's a hard sell. Especially to anyone who still notices all those annoying bugs that are going to be fixed soon™.

 

 

BW/EA have shifted demographic and in so doing, risk losing a large chunk of subscribers who remained.

 

I could be wrong, but making some assumptions based on content at launch and statements made during the guild summit... I think their original target audience was a mix of SWG players and disillusioned long time WoW players. Things like a group finder wouldn't be needed, because people would speak to each other... build communities and not have the attention span of a goldfish with alzheimers.

 

But after launch, things shifted towards players who were more the instant gratification oriented crowd.

 

Now, it would appear BW/EA are shifting even further that way - desperate to get anyone and everyone in playing the game in the hopes that will generate new revenue.

 

Except... there is a potential culture clash between the two groups of players. Where players who felt they stuck with the game patiently are mixed with players who weren't interested in the original game, it's ideology and depth and who are now playing because it requires almost zero commitment. Imagine F2P players rolling need on every piece of loot because... well, why the hell not? Imagine trolls of all ages able to indulge themselves at zero cost.

 

And if the new crowd are a sufficient turn off for "current" crowd... there goes the final pillar of a solid customer base.

 

 

Guilds risk collapse

 

Blame the new drip feeding of content.

Blame the launch of GW2.

Blame the follow up launch of Mists of Pandaria.

 

Lots of guild are tiny. Obviously some aren't. But a lot are.

They've already been through the mass exodus of players between 1.0 and 1.3 and scrambled to keep a core of a guild together.

 

But with small guilds and such small raid sizes, there is a huge reliance on a few individuals. A key tank. A key healer. A key raid leader. Even a key DPS. If any of these players choose to leave the game for any of the above reasons - guilds are left with gaping holes in them. Sure, there's recruitment... but it's a blow and a hassle at a time when people may have had enough. Which risks a snowball effect of demoralisation. Keep that going across multiple guilds, conversations in /1 about so many people leaving and it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

 

 

Falling revenue = no more game.....

 

At this stage my expectations are so low, it might as well be The Expendables 2 - The Video Game. If any of these scenarios have a significant impact, without the F2P transition bringing in an increase in revenue... I can see subscribers numbers dropping below the magical 500,000 figure. F2P will mask the numbers and the smaller studio headcount at BW Austin may save some cash... but if the game isn't making enough profit... well... EA are held in such high regard for a reason.

 

This line intentionally left blank

Edited August 26, 2012 by Woetoo

[Hessen]

Imagine F2P players rolling need on every piece of loot because... well, why the hell not? Imagine trolls of all ages able to indulge themselves at zero cost.

 

If they attract the same F2P demographic as Lotro, this really isn't an issue at all, the community remains very mature.

 

I'm not sure sure why or where F2P players have got such a bad reputation from (LoL probably doesn't help). And considering the goldfish brained WoW kiddies we had at launch, the playerbase can't get any worse.

[Cordelia]

I agree that a JTL-like system would reinvigorate SWTOR, however, it will not make it as popular as it was at launch. Even though LotRO and DDO are doing well, they still are not titanic MMOs. Aion has the second highest subscription base, while WoW remains king of the hill (only as far as subs are concerned). SWTOR is dropping more rapidly than SWG did, though maintaining a very high 600K subscriber base (though this includes people how have discontinued their SWTOR journey, but paid for an extended sub).

 

As it stands for August 2012 these are the approximate subscription numbers:

 

World of Warcraft 9.2 million subs

Aion 1.7 million subs

Lineage 2 920,000 subs

Star Wars: TOR 740,000 subs

Runescape 720,000 subs

Eve Online 490,000 subs

LotRO 215,000 subs

Rift 250,000 subs

Everquest 2 130,000 subs

DDO 110,000 subs

 

This does not take into account the F2P systems founf in LotRO and DDO. Only people who have subscriptions (Premium).

 

Did they release actual sub numbers since they said 'more than 500k but less than 1 million' ?

[LordArtemis]

A primary point in his post was F2P won't help the game... followed by the usual repetative and subjective yada yada negative game commentary.

 

Rather then target the repetative yada yada, as you acuse me of so often doing , I provided a contrast on the matter of F2P.

 

Please don't tell me how to post, or what to post.

 

In all fairness, I believe she simply "described" how you post in her opinion, accurate or not...she did not tell you how and what to post as far as I can tell.

 

And also in fairness I have seen you on plenty a lurking day defending this game against all others, even sometimes rather harshly against critics, railing against reason IMO. Not everyday, not all the time mind you, but quite a bit, especially early on after launch.

 

Quite a few of your early defenses turned out to be inaccurate. Now if that speaks to your agenda, I don't know. But I think some might draw conclusions, and I'm not sure they are as far fetched as one might think.

 

I am a VERY harsh critic of this game, was a harsh critic in Beta, even more of a critic now. I hold feet to the fire. If there is one thing I know for sure, agenda or not, you have every right to express your opinion in any manner you see fit and defend this title to the nines if necessary.

[LordArtemis]

If I could add a critical but realistic opinion I really don't think the game will die per say...as others have indicated, games have continued to exist with very low populations...It all depends on how expensive it is to maintain the game.

 

So that is the rub. Assuming they have already broke even, it is likely the game will continue for many days to come. If not, depending on how far it's in the hole, it could close shop as soon as the 8th to 12th fiscal quarter, which means any time from now until 26 -27 months from now. Most business models are shut down in less than three years if unprofitable, plenty of examples online.

 

The layoffs and F2P announcement is telling IMO. It speaks to cost cutting and streamlining, which actually bodes well for a title. Selling a game to another studio is a far darker omen. And the 15 dollar drop in price can be attributed to the F2P announcement, a short term cash grab while they can, so to speak.

 

Overall the game has healthy financial position IMO. It is not, however, financially sustainable unless drastic changes are made...again, just my opinion.

 

Content is far too expensive to produce. That HAS to change.

Edited August 26, 2012 by LordArtemis

[Tuscad]

Expressing an opinion that in definition defends your opinion by default tends to fail in serving it's purpose. It ends up, IMO, looking more like saving face then actual reasonable dialog.

 

Maybe but I just wanted to go a day without having people come in a rip my posts apart and sectioning a long post off like

 

This future of this game is bleak because...

"you are presenting opinion as fact"

 

I don't think that this game was meant for f2p and it is going to suffer for that

 

"Freemium is a successful model http://www.f2pdoesntmeanthisgameisfail.com says so, stop acting like your opinion is fact."

 

So that is why I didn't post a long post explaining everything that I perceived as a fault with this game. I knew that people would come along and say exactly what I thought. Whatever though, I'll never understand these forums.

[LordArtemis]

Maybe but I just wanted to go a day without having people come in a rip my posts apart and sectioning a long post off like

 

 

"you are presenting opinion as fact"

 

 

 

"Freemium is a successful model http://www.f2pdoesntmeanthisgameisfail.com says so, stop acting like your opinion is fact."

 

So that is why I didn't post a long post explaining everything that I perceived as a fault with this game. I knew that people would come along and say exactly what I thought. Whatever though, I'll never understand these forums.

 

Well, now, listen.

 

Folks have strong opinions here. It's the name of the game. Never EVER take it personally. Putting words on the screen does not make them accurate, two or three people does not represent a consensus, and a good or bad idea does not require support or derision to remain exactly what it is.

 

Every opinion is needed, pro and con. The forum would die if everyone was in agreement I would expect. Opposition keeps the forum healthy and sparks debate and forward thinking.

 

Just keep at it, keep posting your opinions and let the derisions fall where they may.