business-models
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Guild Wars 2 selling well in China [Updated]
Chinese MMO players love Guild Wars 2, according to an NCsoft census that was translated on Reddit. The two-year old fantasy MMO has eclipsed 3.8 million Chinese users, which indicates far faster growth than the game has exhibited in the rest of the world. The title launched in August of 2012 and topped the 3.5 million sales mark a year later. China's 3.8 million sales happened in just two months. GamesIndustry.biz posits that GW2's Chinese success is an indication of a lucrative and untapped market for Western developers as well as evidence that buy-to-play business models can succeed in an area dominated by F2P. [Thanks 7BitBrian!] [Update: ArenaNet has disavowed these numbers as of July 11th. "We'd like to clarify recent news of GW2 China sales: it's inaccurate, from a Chinese fansite, and they could be estimating characters," the studio said via Twitter. Thanks to Martin for the tip.]
Has the free-to-play bubble burst?
Richard Bartle isn't alone in thinking the free-to-play bubble is soon to burst. Talking at this week's Develop Conference in Brighton, UK, three mobile game designers with an expertise in free-to-play discussed the negative direction that F2P titles are headed and why that may be coming to an end. "I would rather have 10,000 people who play my game for two years, than a million people who only play for a short time," Matthew Wiggins of mobile studio Jiggery Pokery states. The discussion, as reported by Gamasutra, focused on the unsavory practices of quick in-and-out publishers who were only out to make gobs of cash as quickly as possible. But one industry vet thinks that the F2P bubble has burst. "I think we're moving away from the aggressive initial monetization," CSR Racing studio boss Jason Avent says. "Those people who love your game are happy to pay for it. It's getting people into that longer game... We need to move away from exploiting a small number of people, and instead work to make lots of people stick around."
Richard Bartle predicts that free-to-play will decline
Free-to-play as a business model stirs a lot of passionate opinions in both gamers and developers. According to Richard Bartle, well-known gaming researcher and co-creator of the first MUD, free-to-play as a business model has a certain half-life and is going to hit a point when it's just not viable any longer. Bartle spoke on the topic at the Develop conference in Brighton, explaining that the lack of standardization across the industry is part of what will hamper the model, with different games placing different cash gates at varying levels of restrictiveness. Bartle went on to state that the model also relies upon a fixed number of people willing to pay a large amount of money to make up for the users who pay nothing, and designers themselves will be unhappy with developing content for free-to-play titles. It's undeniable that the free-to-play model has had a massive impact on MMOs; whether it's a temporary thing or a consistent feature of this particular genre is still up for debate.
Make My MMO: June 29 - July 5, 2014
This week in MMO crowdfunding... not a whole lot happened, to tell you the truth. Oh sure, the usual space sim suspects made additional bank, and despite a failed Kickstarter drive, indie sandbox MMORPG Shards Online soldiered ahead with its development roadmap and a plan to release a playable alpha by the end of the year. Other than that, though, it was fairly quiet. Indie firm Universe Projects did alert us about its Voidspace Kickstarter, which looks to fund a sci-fi sandbox MMO that has already been Greenlit on Steam. Further details are available past the cut.
Perfect World Entertainment buys Digital Extremes
Perfect World Entertainment is adding another studio to its cap. Digital Extremes Ltd., the studio behind Warframe, is having all of its outstanding shares purchased by PWE in cooperation with Sumpo Food Holdings Limited. This agreement is non-binding and was first announced on June 30th, although nothing has come up since to indicate any sort of a change or reversal. Players have taken to the forums voicing a certain amount of displeasure with the deal, with several comparisons to PWE's acquisition of Cryptic Studios when it was sold by Atari. As it stands, no official statement beyond the business dealings has been made by the studio. [Thanks to Clinton for the tip!]
Age of Empires Online shuts down tomorrow
After tomorrow, Age of Empires Online will be no more. The online adaptation of the popular Microsoft RTS franchise will be shut down along with the PC Marketplace as of 7:00 p.m. EDT on July 1st. "On July 01, 2014, Age of Empires Online will shut down permanently. We thank the loyal fans for their support and commitment and look forward to many more battles before Age of Empires Online is retired," the studio posted on Facebook last year. This will come as a shock to no one, as Age of Empires' population decline was well-known and acknowledged by the dev team itself. The studio hasn't been developing new content for the game since January 2013.
Make My MMO: June 22 - June 28, 2014
This week in MMO crowdfunding news, Star Citizen made more money. At this point I should probably go ahead and add that as a permanent part of Make My MMO's opening paragraph. Elsewhere, Pathfinder Online formally flung open its doors and invited backers into its alpha. If you supported the fantasy sandbox on Kickstarter or purchased access through the GoblinWorks store, you should be getting an email invite. Finally, indie outfit Nesoi Tech revealed Bone Gulch, which is some sort of online multiplayer Old West thing built with the Unity engine. Though its Kickstarter page labels it an MMO, I'm not sure how MMO it really is, but I'm desperate enough for a Red Dead Redemption-style persistent world to be cautiously optimistic. As always, the rest of our crowdfunded MMO roundup is just past the break.
The Daily Grind: Is PLEX/APEX/C.R.E.D.D. risky for developers?
Trion announced ArcheAge's APEX system recently, and while I'm sure it has its own wrinkles, my first instinct was to compare it to EVE Online's PLEX. It's a fascinating idea, allowing players with knowledge of an in-game economy to leverage said knowledge into enough currency to buy tradeable items that can be redeemed for subscription time. It's always struck me as a bit risky, though. We can only guess at the number of EVE fans who play the game for free thanks to PLEX, but I imagine it's a pretty significant slice of the game's old money crowd. And while newer games like ArcheAge and even WildStar are aping the system in some fashion, it's too early to tell what sort of effect APEX and C.R.E.D.D. will have on developers' bottom lines. What do you think, Massively readers? Do these sorts of systems seem risky to you if you put yourself in a dev's shoes, or do you think the number of players taking advantage of these systems is relatively small? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Swordsman opens up sales of its Hero's Pack
Swordsman is currently in closed beta, but it's moving into open beta soon, and as is now the tradition, that means it's time to offer players a chance to buy the game. Sort of. The game is free-to-play, but if you feel like dropping $60 on the game before it launches, you can pick up the Hero's Pack, filled with all sorts of nice little prizes for your future martial artist characters. Purchasing the Hero's Pack nets you a special mount, costume, and apprentice. You also nab 10 Mithril (which can be sold for a mountain of in-game currency), 600 East Sector Treasures (used for summoning a boss), and a ring (used for wearing a ring and getting a stat boost). Players who purchase now will get early access to the open beta as well. If you're enjoying the closed test or just like the idea and really want to buy into the game now, the option is open. [Source: Perfect World Entertainment press release]
Make My MMO: June 15 - June 21, 2014
This week in MMO crowdfunding news, golden oldie World War II Online assured itself of a new client update thanks to a successful Indiegogo campaign. The genre's first and arguably best MMOFPS raised over $10,000, which it will spend on a new test server as well as PC and Mac client updates. Elite: Dangerous developer Frontier made headlines based on the size of its (expanding) dev team, and fellow space sim Star Citizen stirred up some controversy thanks to its hyper-realistic flight model manifesto. Oh, and don't forget to watch that crowdfunded EVE Online documentary when it premieres next month! The rest of our weekly crowdfunding roundup is hiding on the other side of that hypergate.
Make My MMO: June 9 - June 14, 2014
It was a rough week for crowdsourced hopefuls, as Shards Online, Origins of Malu, and The Black Watchmen failed to meet their funding goals. That last one is an ARG inspired by The Secret World, in case you're wondering. Despite the lack of Kickstarter success, rest assured that we haven't heard the last of indie sandboxes Shards and Malu. On a more positive note, Trials of Ascension revealed its plans for playable dragons, while Massively danced with crowdfund darlings Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen at this week's E3 convention in Los Angeles.
Graphical upgrades en route for Age of Wushu
How do you feel about Age of Wushu's graphics? Do you think that they could really use an upgrade? It seems that they'll be getting one. Shi Hai, CEO of Snail Games, was recently interviewed in China, and a translation of that interview reveals that graphical upgrades are definitely in the works. While he declined to specify exactly what sort of upgrades would be coming, he did joke that the rumors about the Unreal 3 engine might well be true. Shi Hai also commented on the potential of a subscription server for Age of Wushu, noting that while several free-to-play games have dabbled with the idea, they seem to inevitably wind up going back to the free-to-play model in time. He stated that the company is currently focusing on porting the game to home consoles rather than exploring the possibility of any sort of subscription server. You can read a few more translated statements at MMOCulture.
Make My MMO: June 2 - June 8, 2014
Cloud Imperium released Star Citizen's dogfighting module this week, and you'd think that Chris Roberts slept with someone's mother or kicked someone's dog. Heck, maybe he did both at once, judging by the amount of shameless boohooing on the game's official forums, on Massively, and generally everywhere the words star and citizen appeared in the same sentence. Outside of cluelesstrollbubbleland, the publish marked a fairly major milestone for CIG and gave the firm's backers something tangible to tool around with while they wait for the space sim sandbox's next module release. Click past the cut for the rest of this week's crowdfunding roundup.
Defiance goes free-to-play
We've known it was happening for a while, but now it's coming to fruition -- as of today's patch, Defiance is free-to-play. On the PC, anyhow. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game will be going free-to-play on July 15th, although they're still getting all of the updates associated with the free-to-play patch. And while the patch contains a lot of the requisite store upgrades and so forth, there's more stuff in there for everyone. For example, players will now receive special lockboxes for each DLC that they own as part of the game's daily and weekly login rewards. Score mechanics have also been trimmed up, allowing players to more easily get credit for participating in events. And there's the usual array of bugfixes and the like to produce a more polished game for everyone, whether you're a long-term veteran of the game or just want to hop in now that you can play for free.
Make My MMO: May 25 - June 1
This week in MMO crowdfunding news, we heard from Pathfinder devs on crafting as well as Guns of Icarus devs on how they managed to pull off two successful Kickstarter campaigns. EVE Online fans paid nearly $100k to Kickstart an internet spaceship history book, and Elite: Dangerous began its premium beta phase while fellow space sim sandbox Star Citizen delayed its dogfighting module release. Finally, indie sandbox Trials of Ascension, fresh off its successful $40k crowdfunding campaign, announced a raffle that includes a demo pass, a Skype convo with the devs, and a free item from the ToA store.
Black Gold opens up preorders
Black Gold Online is launching as a free-to-play game, but there's no reason you should let that simple fact stop you from pre-ordering it! Admittedly, it's not so much the game you're ordering but a retail box that also comes with a variety of goodies contained therein, but still. Pre-orders are now open, letting you plop down $20 to unlock a variety of perks in the game when it goes live this summer. The pre-order package includes a special horse, special clothing, high-end crafting ingredients, and around $20 of in-game currency, which would serve to offset the cost of the boxed edition quite nicely. Aforementioned boxed copies will be shipping alongside the game's full launch this summer. If this is right up your alley, the game's official pre-order page will direct you to the retailers offering this deal; you can also check out the full press release just past the break.
Make My MMO: May 18 - May 24
This week's MMO crowdfunding news was dominated by a familiar trio of gamemaking heavyweights as well as an upstart studio bent on updating the magic of Ultima Online. Star Citizen announced a date of May 29th for its dogfighting module Arena Commander thing, while fellow space sim sandbox Elite: Dangerous released its Alpha 4 client, posted a new progress video, and targeted the end of May for its next major release. Meanwhile, Richard Garriott's Shroud of the Avatar published its Release 6 client this weekend, while UO descendant Shards Online kept its fledgling Kickstarter project in the news with a series of promotions. Click past the cut for the rest of Massively's crowdfunding roundup.
Why F2P won't eliminate paid games
Champions RPG co-creator and former EA and Capcom marketer Steve Peterson has published a lengthy rebuke of conventional F2P-is-the-future wisdom. "The reality is that many game designs don't lend themselves to free-to-play monetization," Peterson writes. "Virtual items in story-centered games like Telltale's Walking Dead series would be ridiculous. Balance is a difficult issue for virtual items in many games, particularly as the variations of items multiply. Blizzard's massive problems with the Auction House in Diablo III show that." He goes on to cite DIII's premium buy-the-client price point as an example of how pay-up-front PC games remain a hugely profitable market, to say nothing of the fact that F2P has made little headway on consoles. "While free-to-play is a very successful business model, it's not the only business model that's succeeding these days," he explains. "Not all games lend themselves to the business model, and not all developers are prepared to deal with the issues involved. Some platforms are less suited to free-to-play games, and there's evidence to suggest that paid games are making a comeback on mobile. Some developers have complained about the model in very public ways. Free-to-play is a fine hammer, but not every game is a nail."
EVE Online phases out time codes, releases Bloodbath of B-R5RB video
If you want to subscribe to EVE Online, you aren't lacking for options. You can sign up for a monthly subscription, of course, but you can also purchase EVE time codes and PLEX. PLEX have the advantage of being tradeable within the in-game market, and you can use them to upgrade from a trial account to a full account. Or you can carry them around in a ship so that when it gets blown up, people can attach a real currency number to how much you lost. Clearly, PLEX have more to offer, which is why EVE Online is phasing out EVE time codes in favor of PLEX activation codes. The net prices are identical, but the effect is that subscription time will be awarded as PLEX, which you can use in all of the many ways you already use PLEX. For more details and a quick rundown of how PLEX work, check out the official blog entry. In other EVE news, CCP has released to its YouTube channel a Recording History video chronicling the events that triggered the Bloodbath of B-R5RB. We've included it below. [With thanks to tipster J!]
Make My MMO: May 11 - May 17, 2014
This week in MMO crowdfunding, Shards Online officially launched its Kickstarter and revealed its gameplay to the world via its first livestream event. Some other crowdfunding stuff probably happened too, but really, we're all Shards all the time in these parts, and we'll be your best friend if you go give Citadel some money so that we can eventually make a Massively server filled with love and world domination. In case objectivity is your thing, we've included the rest of the week's crowdfunding news after the cut.
