Tag: Free to Play

Bigpoint Games Says Better Call The Cleaning Lady…


Philip Reisberger, Chief Games Officer at Bigpoint Games, is a complicated man. I want to hug him, because he turned Battlestar Galactica into an MMO. But Reisberger’s company is consistently cruising for a patriotic wedgie, talking down the status of companies whose chump change amounts to more than Bigpoint Game’s quarterly revenue. Last November, Heiko Hubertz (Bigpoint CEO) stated that The Old Republic will never be profitable.

Not to be one-upped by Hubertz, Reisberger stated in an interview that the big developers just don’t understand monetizing games, and that developers should be pursuing systems where players can pay extra to gain an advantage instead of offering vanity items.

“It’s a delicate balance, though, and that’s why I love my game designers. All of them have understood how to do this. If you have a sophisticated approach to free-to-play games, in the end you can monetise everything.”

Even more interesting is Reisberger’s insistence that it is possible to offer an in-game advantage for cash without altering the balance of the game, which exactly untrue. By selling items that players can attain through normal grinding/leveling, developers have found a way to technically give players an advantage (time) by removing the factor of grind, without unbalancing the game as those items can be attained through standard gameplay anyway.

We’ll see how players respond to Reisberger’s statement as time goes on.

What Star Trek Online Will Offer For Free


Star Trek Online heads free to play later this year, leaving players wondering what will be available with no cost attached, and what players will be expected to cough up some Cryptic points to enjoy. Well, thanks to some much needed love from Cryptic Studios, I can tell you exactly what will be made available:

  • All sectors and missions are available for free. This includes fleet actions, events and dailies, featured episodes, special task forces, and Klingon play.
  • All classes are available for free.
  • Races have the same availability to free players as with members.
  • All ships are available (barring premium ships, which members have to buy as well)
As for limits:
  • Limited to 2 character slots (out of 3)
  • Limited credit storage (unknown amount)
  • Limitations on fleet (guild) creation.
  • Maximum 48 inventory and 48 bank space (out of 72 and 96 respectively)
  • Cannot create foundry projects (can play other player’s creations)
  • Cannot obtain veteran rewards.
  • Will wait behind subscribers in the case of server queues.
  • Limited access to mail and chat (this limitation is waived after 20 hours of gameplay or if the account has ever been a subscriber/made a c-store purchase)
  • Limited forum access (waived for past subscribers)
  • Limited customer service access.
  • Advertisements in vivox voice chat.
You can read the entire list here.

Analysing Fallen Earth Free To Play: October 12th


So GamersFirst have finally announced the launch date for Fallen Earth Free To Play: October 12th. That’s all you need to know, good night!

But seriously, since the announcement is nowhere in the realm of new, aside from the date, let’s take a look at the breakdown in subscription tiers, shall we?

Most prominently, free players will have access to all content. All missions, all skills, all world areas. Free players can create and join clans, have access to PvP, bloodsports, access to the help-chat channel. So unlike many other games, there are no content barriers. Free players even have unlimited access to the mail system, auction house, and trading, which I dare you to find in most other tiered programs.

Where free players will find restrictions is in the game’s crafting system. Foremost, players can only craft 8 hours worth of goods per day, and crafting takes a 20% hit in speed. In addition, your harvesting speed is 20% lower than subscribers, and your leveling/AP/Faction/Death toll gain rates are all clocked at 75%. There is also a limit on your bank size.

Look for me on October 12th, I’ll be the guy looting your sack while you sleep.

Star Trek Online Heading Free To Play


Tell me you didn’t see that one coming? The blokes over at Seeking Alpha have posted an earning’s call with Perfect World Entertainment’s CEO, who has revealed that Star Trek Online will be heading free to play by the end of the year.

And also Star Trek Online, after the acquisition, in fact Cryptic is working on the free-to-play model for Star Trek Online. This is going to be launched by the end of this year as well. So I think free-to-play model we have a bigger potential in US market and also in China market. Thank you.

Kelvin Lau also dropped the release expectation for the Torchlight MMO:

Torchlight from Runic, as mentioned, I think the MMORPG version is going to be – is scheduled to be launched in late 2012 or early 2013, okay?

Yet another MMO going free to play, although it wasn’t like we didn’t see this coming long before Cryptic was ever acquired by Perfect World Entertainment.

Lego Universe Free To Play Today


Check your Calenders, folks. August 15th brings with it the partial free to play transition for Lego Universe. Starting today, players will be able to download the game for free and access two adventure zones and one player property, as well as a large amount of mini-figure customization options and equipment to acquire. Of course this is all an incentive to get players into the game to eventually upgrade to membership, so consider this not much more than an extended trial with no time limits, similar to World of Warcraft’s.

More on Lego Universe as it appears. You can read the whole news story here. A subscription to Lego Universe costs $10 USD a month.

Unsurprisingly: F2P Raises Population, Revenue In Age of Conan


In case you haven’t been following the pattern, when subscription games add free to play aspects the population tends to increase, as well as revenue. Following this trend, Age of Conan opened up its servers to free players over a month ago, and has since seen the related spike in population. How many? 300,000 according to Funcom. The revenues have more than doubled over the first month.

If you take the announcement that activity has more than quadrupled, this gives Age of Conan somewhere around 75,000 active players prior to the free to play transition. At $15 a pop, that counts for around $1.1 million in income per month, meaning Age of Conan is worth over $2.2 million now in revenue, even more since we’re only counting minimum.

This is just a very side thought, but is there even a conceivable future for a game moving from subscription to free to play and still shutting down due to low population? I don’t think there’s been a notable case so far of an MMO going free and managing to continue losing revenue.

Then again I could be wrong.

Compensation or Not: Fee Is Still A Fee


In an article on Games Industry, CCP talks about their upcoming shooter and companion to Eve Online, DUST 514. CCP’s CEO Hilmar Veigar threw out one of the best spins I’ve seen to date on the cost of the game, not calling it a cost but rather a “cover charge,” and claiming players are still getting the game for free.

“In the beginning you have to pre-buy credits, so you pay something like $10-$20 to enter the game and you get the equivalent number of credits in the game once you do that. We call this the ‘cover charge’,”

This goes into the whole argument of allocation of resources, or what your money actually goes to pay for, and was the subject a few years ago regarding mandatory tips at restaurants. In the latter example, it has been decided by courts that a tip must be compulsory, otherwise it is considered a surcharge and must be suitably declared as taxable income. It’s legal as a service charge, but cannot be called a tip or gratuity.

So for all intent and purpose, DUST 514 is not free to play regardless of how much you are compensated in in-game cash, because the charge is not voluntary. You’re not getting the game for free because you have to pay to access it.

“You’re really getting the game for free but you have to pre-buy credits in the beginning. We might go fully free-to-play down the line, but in the beginning we have a cover charge just to manage the initial launch of it.”

Anyone who visits this website knows I almost always side with companies on the art of making money, that is what CCP exists to do: Make money. Not just enough money to get by and provide everything for free, but lods of emone! I understand Sony’s big initiative with pushing free to play games on the Playstation Network, but pushing DUST 514 as part of the program and then requiring an upfront fee not only negates the purpose of the program, but it also damages the image of the program itself.

I’m fine with CCP charging $10 for DUST, even the proposed $20. Just don’t treat me like I’m a gullible idiot by calling the game free to play while requiring an upfront fee. If that’s the case, then Call of Duty is free to play because I don’t have to pay for its online either.

War Announcement Coming…At Some Point


I don’t make myself out to be an expert in the business side of MMOs, although I do try my best when writing articles here at MMO Fallout, even I recognize that the prospect of Warhammer Online going free to play is a tough one. On one side you have monetization, the need to populated the cash shop with items people would want to buy without feeling they need to buy. On the other side, Warhammer is primarily a player vs player title, so placing armor, weapons, or buff potions on the cash shop is a minefield Mythic would have to tiptoe quite carefully over. With a cash shop, Warhammer takes the risk of bringing in new (albeit less loyal) players at the risk of alienating their current base.

But this article doesn’t have much to do with free to play, at least not presumably. Earlier this week, Mythic took in a few WAR bloggers to see some interesting material regarding some upcoming patches. Thanks to the j0y of a magical document we call a non-disclosure agreement, we won’t hear about what that information is until some point in the near future.

From what we do know so far, it appears there will be a focus on fortresses, incentives to defend, and new zones. Other than that, as blogger Werit posted:

It is substantial news.  However, it is probably not what you’re thinking it is.  I was quite surprised when they told us about it.  Is that cryptic enough?  Don’t worry about it too much though, as we may see an official announcement in a few weeks.
So it isn’t free to play?

Week In Review: Butterfly In The Sky Edition


Given that today is Sunday July 5th and not a Tuesday, it must be time to put out the Week in Review completely on time, and that means another weekly topic to think about. Today I’d like to talk about NCsoft, namely the idea that they are this evil corporation that murders babies (metaphorically) and would sell their own mothers if it meant profit. Take a look at the below graph that I have compiled detailing the sales of all NCsoft games each quarter between Q1 ’05 and the latest release: Q1 ’11.

I know how a lot of you like to claim NCsoft shuts down successful games that they don’t like, but consider this: Look at how low Tabula Rasa started out, then see how low it got to before it was cancelled. The first quarter for Others was listed as Exteel, but the game was grouped in to show higher sales. Dungeon Runners is never even referenced by name, just lumped in with “others.” Auto Assault is also never mentioned, and is presumably lumped in with “others.” It’s pretty obvious looking at this chart that NCsoft sets a bar for when they shut down games, and that bar is far lower than many of us would like to admit.

1. The Star Wars Galaxies Challenge: Week 1.

My first log of the Star Wars Galaxies challenge, or my attempt to level as high as possible by the time Star Wars Galaxies shuts down in December. My character is a Twi’lek smuggler named Qa’ashi currently residing on Tatooine if you’d like to visit me, she is level 17 and was created on server I don’t know. The point of this line of articles is to give my experience playing Star Wars Galaxies during its last months of life, and I hope to make this my staple for shuttered MMOs (I can only hope two games don’t shut down at once) otherwise I may need an IV drip.

So far the adventure has gone with its highs and lows. If you haven’t played Star Wars Galaxies the age really shows on an engine that almost feels like it’s falling apart. I’ve had a few times where missions bug and a creature I’m tracking doesn’t spawn where it’s supposed to, or the waypoint doesn’t update and I have to abandon the mission. Small annoyances, like enemies spawning inside of structures and not allowing me to shoot them, or strange lag bugs where enemies regain health faster than I can shoot them. I love the missions though, and I love my free house (which I am populating with posters) and promotional vehicles.

There are a lot of factions in Star Wars Galaxies, to the point where shooting just about any humanoid is likely to lower your standing one faction and raise it in another. My biggest issue with alignment is the random checks in cities. I’ll be running along and I’ll just see “You have lost 20 standing with the Republic” or “you have lost 20 standing with the empire,” and a quick look in the chat box will show an empire/republic guard has been following me shouting “stop! You must submit to a random security check for illicit goods or you will be suspect!” I get that the game is old enough to not have voice acting, but how about some sort of noise indicator? I only suggest this for the same reason a police officer can’t arrest me because I was walking down the sidewalk and didn’t look over my shoulder to notice he was flagging me down by waving his arms wildly but not saying anything or tapping me on the shoulder.

2. Eve Online: No Non-Vanity Items. Ever.

So the Eve Online scandal comes to an uneventful close with CCP promising to the CSM that there will be no non-vanity items added to the NeX store, there were never any plans, and there will probably never be any plans. Maybe. Perhaps. Now, obviously CCP could change face at any time, and to speculate on a time and date would be a big waste of time given it would add unnecessary flames to a dying fire.

I think the lesson to be learned here is that CCP started the cash shop far too early, putting out the expensive items before they could get out the cheaper items. They also messed up by trying to fight the community rather than explain the system to them right off the bat, and by comparing Eve items to vanity clothing you’d buy from a Japanese boutique.

Perhaps, as one poster put it, this is just CCP’s success getting to their heads.

3. At Least MMOs Are Honest In Their Draconian DRM.

I was looking forward to Capcom’s Resident Evil: Mercenaries on the 3DS, and I was planning on buying it used (or new when/if the price drops), until I learned about the game’s DRM. You can only have one save file, and you cannot delete the save. According to Capcom, you would think this was a restriction out of their control, as they claim that the game saves to the cart and thus cannot be removed:

In Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, all mission progress is saved directly to the Nintendo 3DS cartridge, where it cannot be reset. The nature of the game invites high levels of replayability in order to improve mission scores. In addition, this feature does not remove any content available for users.

If you want to get into specifics, MMOs have the most draconian DRM of any game on the market. You must maintain an internet connection, play on their servers, pay a subscription fee for many or don’t play at all, and if the servers shut down you are absolutely screwed unless someone somewhere maybe leaks the source and a private server is set up that often functions nowhere near the actual game. And God forbid you join a game that doesn’t get off the ground, your $50 and $15 a month for a year or so is gone, down the toilet.

But MMOs are a service, and it isn’t fair to compare an MMO’s DRM to a regular game’s DRM.

4. The Year of F2P And Revival

This has been an interesting year so far, with a decent number of titles being revived while others have gone free to play. We’re only slightly over halfway through the year, so there’s no telling what will happen by December, and then beyond. World of Warcraft debuts its unlimited demo, with players able to play up until level 20 for free forever.

Over at Global Agenda, Hi-Rez has announced that the free to play transition for Global Agenda has resulted in “ revenues are higher than they ever have been before” meaning more content at a faster pace. No doubt Age of Conan will report higher earnings this month, with Fallen Earth following next month, and City of Heroes at some point this year.

5. Speaking of Free to Play: Rock Paper Shotgun Free To Read

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/06/29/rock-paper-shotgun-goes-free-to-read/

Rock Paper Shotgun did a hilarious parody of the free to play announcement, with the reveal of RPS: F2R, a way for the Rock Paper Shotgun crew to take what was once free and monetize the hell out of it.

Of course there will be no need for readers to pay anything at all to read the new Rock, Paper, Shotgun. The first two paragraphs of every post will always be accessible to everyone, and readers can read them as often as they want, wherever they want, unlimited times*. The rest of the post will become available to those who make the RPS patented NanoPayments™, of anything from just $0.59® to only $299.99 per article. And Premium Users will continue to receive the same excellent service for exactly the same price as everyone else.
*Up to a maximum of four times.

You can read the entire article at the link above.

$20 Says Darkfall “Relaunch” Is Free To Play


When was the last time you heard the phrase “this patch is like a completely new game?” In my line of work (work? Blogging), a whole lot. Such is the case with Darkfall, where on the Epic Blog head boss man of Aventurine Tasos Flambouras talks about a complete relaunch of the game. How much of a relaunch is it? Well it is certainly no linguine, and it is without a doubt not just an expansion pack.

This relaunch is not an expansion.

Thank you, Tasos, but we need more information.

It’s a new game we’ve been developing in parallel with the current version of Darkfall. The scope is massive, and it has been difficult to stay on schedule after several unexpected issues we’ve had with the current version, changes and additions we decided to make for the new version, some business developments, and the decision to add the siege system into this version of the game rather than in the relaunch.

That’s more like it. But let’s discuss the title of this post, and my assurance that this is likely a prelude to a free to play announcement, and continue reading the announcement:

There are shifting priorities having to do with business issues for this relaunch, and another part being some Asian developments we also need to take into consideration. We can assure you that everything we’re doing in this regard is in the best interest of our players and of Darkfall, and that the relaunch of the game will be very exciting for everyone.

I distinctly remember Dave Georgeson saying something along these lines shortly before Everquest II went free to play, when they announced big changes coming but wouldn’t actually announce free to play because the service was going to be considered a new game, because the existing community would have flipped the chess board and went home if they had to share space with the freeloaders. By that I’m referring to the comments about making this decision for the betterment of the community.

The current estimated completion date for development is August, which makes release somewhere between now and when Rift consumes World of Warcraft as the most subscribed MMO…In Burundi. At least we can be assured, despite the vague language, that this isn’t a prelude to Darkfall shutting down or being sold to Gamersfirst. It’s a new version being developed, Tasos isn’t in the process of lifting Darkfall up so he can suplex it.