Tag: microtransactions

Of Course NCsoft Believes Subscriptions More Profitable…


I push this idea as much as I can here at MMO Fallout, but the old adage that free to play was a last ditch effort by subscription titles that were tanking died when Dungeons and Dragons Online pulled off the transition, and proved to the industry that throwing in a cash shop wasn’t just a way to stave off death for another few months, but rather a way to revitalize a game, boost the community, and (in the case of Lord of the Rings Online) cause a successful game to become even more successful. That being said, I find myself in a lot of arguments with hardcore loyalists to the Guild Wars games who claim that the business model (buy to play) is “wildly successful,” and is something the entire industry should adopt. What they don’t pay attention to is that Guild Wars brings in a whole 2% income for NCsoft. If NCsoft were to switch all of their games to buy to play, their profits would plummet to around 10% of what they are making now, assuming similar sales to Guild Wars.

So Massively had an article where NCsoft’s Jeremy Gaffney states that subscriptions are “probably” more profitable than microtransactions.

“There’s still a lot of money being made in subscriptions right now. Worldwide there’s a lot of money being made in [micro]transactions, but there’s probably a bit more money really being made in subscriptions worldwide,”

I’m sure the boots are quaking at Turbine (with their paltry double income from LotRO, and 500% increase in DDO), Cryptic (with their laughably small 1,000% increase in revenue), and Nexon (who posted over 50% increase in revenue over last year), not to mention Sony Online Entertainment, Gala-Net, T3fun, GamersFirst, Perfect World Entertainment, and the host of other companies who have found solace in the cash shop model.

Gaffney is correct in one sense, there is still a lot of money to be made in subscriptions, and both business models are equally viable. As for subscriptions bringing in more revenue than cash shops, I’m going to have to request Gaffney show me the money.

Final Fantasy XIV: No Microtransactions


PS3 Compromised.

When Realtime Worlds announced that All Points Bulletin would not feature a cash shop, of course they meant “unless the voices in our heads tell us that the community wants a $25 mount.” Whether or not you enjoy paying over an existing subscription fee, I think we can all agree that the cash shop system is sweeping its way through the MMO frontier, regardless of what you or I may think about it. There are real concerns in your favorite MMO swapping to a Turbine model, or the Cryptic/Sony double-dipping system.

Fans of Final Fantasy XIV take heart: Square Enix will not be putting a cash shop in (unless you ask for it). And even if you ask for it, Square will adamantly refuse to allow a person’s real money equate to how much power they have in-game, meaning that anything added to a FFXIV cash shop will be vanity only. Although there are those who oppose cash shops in subscription games in all forms, vanity or not, this news should bring a sigh of relief to those holding off their preorders out of fear of a Turbine-esque shift some six months to a year in the future post-launch.

More on Final Fantasy XIV as it appears.

Realtime Worlds Says No DLC For Me!


This news may not be relevant to Australians.

Australians may not be able to properly play All Points Bulletin when it launches, but the rest of us can rejoice. For a while now, I’ve seen a lot of complaints by players towards downloadable content (DLC) and microtransactions worming their way into various MMOs, be it the recent goggles/dog in Fallen Earth, the new mounts in Everquest 2 and World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, and the ever-growing Cryptic Store, it seems many MMOs are including a cash shop in some form or another. There are enough of us willing to tolerate it and accept it that the fad is growing, but there is a group (albeit much smaller than many of them will admit to) that does not want anything to do with any MMO that offers cash shop items in a subscription game, whether they be useful or cosmetic.

Well, there is at least one MMO holding out for the time being. Realtime Worlds lead designer EJ Moreland has announced that All Points Bulletin, the upcoming cops and robbers shoot-em-up MMO, will not feature downloadable content or microtransactions in any form whatsoever. Even better, the game won’t even feature small paid “adventure packs” (I’m looking at you, Cryptic), but will only charge when…I’ll let Moreland explain it:

“We won’t be offering items for sale for real money. We have no DLC. Any update we do throughout the cycle is free except when we do a major retail event, which will add almost a completely new game. Throughout the year, we’re going to release both content updates, which are new missions, new clothing assets, new weapons, new vehicles. Basically, new things for the players to earn, customize, or experience. Then we have much larger updates, which will come less frequently, called activity updates. [These will] introduce new gameplay, new rulesets, or new large additions to the game. Then probably once every year or so, we’ll also do a retail event, which will be an expansion.”

Supporters of no-dlc-ever should be giving respect to Realtime Worlds, even if you don’t necessarily like the game. The above was stated in a round table phone interview with EJ Moreland.

Jagex Dips Into Microtransactions…


Play War of Legends, free forever my lord!

Perhaps I shouldn’t have made the connection between Jagex and Evony several months ago, because I don’t think I’ll be able to play Jagex’s latest title to go into open beta, War of Legends, without thinking of microtransactions, gold farming companies, and breasts. War of Legends plays out much like Evony, and similar titles. Players start a city, they become more powerful, and they branch out into other areas of the world. Eventually player vs player combat is allowed and players can ransack each other’s cities, and build new cities, and trade, and pay for everything out the tooth with microtransactions.

War of Legends also happens to be Jagex’s first take on microtransactions in the form of Jcredits (The J presumably standing for Jagex), a move the company displayed interest in several years ago, but noted that doing so in Runescape would not be beneficial to the game’s economy. War of Legends does, of course, set up the possibility for future titles (IE: Stellar Dawn) to incorporate some form of payment system similar to this, however no word from Jagex has arrived.

And before the inevitable comparisons start, yes War of Legends looks suspiciously like Evony, minus being developed by a gold farming company, and advertising with breasts. Micro-payments are nothing new, and Jagex is just one of the many companies to dive into it this year, including Blizzard who many thought would never “sink so low” (their words, not mine.)

On second thought...