Yoshi-P talks swtor and why Final Fantasy XIV will be sub only.

[TheNahash]

Here's another monkey wrench. For people like myself, that do not have hour upon hour to grind items in game....and basically will not play a game that requires such, the cartel market does afford us the ability to play the game through different means then, say, some college on vacation with hours of time on his hand.

 

I'm wondering if this is a really wise choice to begin with as the cartel market type of option (provided it is done with a modicum of common sense and within reason), does afford the opportunity to tap into a demographic that does have disposable income and a willingness to exchange that cash for convenience.

 

In short, what I am asking is why these game companies do not afford both options to players as a norm. More options usually equate to more prospective customers.

 

I agree but I think that it's important to keep in mind that ESO will be available for consoles, too.

The advantages of that over a PC-only MMO are that you obviously have a bigger player pool (and therefore you could stand to lose some PC subscribers because you still have PS3/Xbox subscribers), the lack of saturation in the console MMO market and that you don't need an up-to-date PC to run the game with the best possible graphics/sound etc.

 

A sub-only model COULD work for a cross-platform MMO. And if there is a game that has the potential to make it, based on its lore and people's love of the IP, it's ESO. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be a good enough game to keep people interested in the long run and I personally fear that it will soon end up like DC Universe Online.

Edited August 22, 2013 by TheNahash

[TravelersWay]

Here's another monkey wrench. For people like myself, that do not have hour upon hour to grind items in game....and basically will not play a game that requires such, the cartel market does afford us the ability to play the game through different means then, say, some college on vacation with hours of time on his hand.

 

I'm wondering if this is a really wise choice to begin with as the cartel market type of option (provided it is done with a modicum of common sense and within reason), does afford the opportunity to tap into a demographic that does have disposable income and a willingness to exchange that cash for convenience.

 

In short, what I am asking is why these game companies do not afford both options to players as a norm. More options usually equate to more prospective customers.

 

Because F2P still has a stigma attached to it that many in the gaming industry fear. Just look at any forum on the subject that brings this up. You will have people on both sides of the equation arguing endlessly about its merits. The difference is that those supporting a sub based model usually rely on mechanics and issues (P2W) for arguments against F2P that are no longer valid in many instances.

[lorelthesecond]

So much for this game failing because it is sub based. The game now has over 1mil subs and they even had to stop selling the game for the past two weeks as they had so many players more then the servers could take.

 

http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/09/21/tgs-2013-final-fantasy-xiv-has-over-a-million-players-info-and-relevant-screencaps-from-the-live-letter/

 

This makes Final Fantasy Online A Realm Reborn the number 2 MMO in subs behind only World of Warcraft in the west.