Q RE: The Data Posted

[TravelersWay]

Their continued inability -- or unwillingness -- to share how many are F2P, Preferred or subscribers after all this time is quite telling.

 

Not really telling of anything when a game is not pure subscription (very few companies share that information). The only telling figure is how much income those players are generating for the game. By last report, SWTOR is in the top 10. Not too shabby there for a game that "failed" a couple of years ago, and much better than many others, like say Matrix Online, CoH, Vanguard, or (gasp) the Holy and Almighty SWG.

 

Oh and @LA - they have said that sub players tend to be the biggest buyers of CC.

Edited November 27, 2014 by TravelersWay

[LordArtemis]

Hehe.

 

Yes, I know it's odd, but it is standard fare for 2 to 7 percent of the F2P population in a game to spend up to 4 times as much as 90 to 100 percent of subscribed players in the market. In most hybrid games (but not all hybrids, this being one of the most recent examples) F2P player revenue actually exceeds subscription revenue.

 

This speaks to the whales, those that would pay out large lump sums to make market or game purchases.

 

In this game however, subs seems to be the whales more often than not, and they also do not seem to spend as much as whales in other games....at least based on item availability on the GTN. The first contention is not as speculative as the last, as Bioware has confirmed this.

 

This could speak to the quality of the game itself or the punitive nature of F2P which in the end may....may mind you....actually stifle revenue opportunity instead of encourage it.

 

However, that is another discussion. The point I was making is that in most hybrid games, according to market studies F2P revenue is higher than sub revenue. This game is one of the few exceptions.

 

Superdata research has some great studies in this regard.

 

Oh and @LA - they have said that sub players tend to be the biggest buyers of CC.

 

Yes, I remember seeing that, though I don't remember the exact source of the quote. Naturally there are plenty of folks that claim it is a fabrication, as usual.

Edited November 27, 2014 by LordArtemis