Thursday, March 29, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
whelp there goes that video
so I was working on a video for Sega's payment model for PSO2. That is until they posted what it was going to be on 3/26/2012. They basically announced that PSO2 will be free to play.
Here's some of the unfinished script I was working on before the update was posted. Again this script was meant to be heard and not read so its riddled with spelling and grammatical errors I'm sure. Also I was going to beef up my examples a bit more, but the announcement from Sega kinda knocked the creative wind out of me.
"Pay to play. As I mentioned before I personally I don't think this one will work. Essentially you'll will be facing off against World of Warcraft and the old republic with this payment scheme. If this is the payment method you're going to commit to you're going to have give this game your fullest support. Regular updates are a must, people will expect quality if they're paying a monthly fee and if you don't deliver there's almost no limit of alternatives for your audience. One of the perks of this payment method is a more refined pool of players since there is a floodgate to weed out more seedy individuals who would otherwise act like jerks or hack. An important note however, even some people who do pay for the game are going to be a few chromosomes short of a sensible person or they will hack anyway. In either case maintaining order in game with this payment method is paramount to its success. If the community doesn't feel like their getting their money's worth, they will find an alternative.
Financially, pay to play is a fairly lucrative model. Everyone who bought your game and plays it would be paying whatever monthly fee you set. A recurring income from your game is always great and if its worth 10 to 15 dollars a month I encourage you to pursue this model, but if there is any doubt in your mind that your game isn't up to par with World of Warcraft or whatever big name MMO is stealing the spotlight at the moment, you're going to need retool your payment method.
so, the second method is the one I'm personally hoping you implement- free to play- there are two different avenues you can take here, and while the words "free to play" sound like they'll cut into your profits let me give you some sensible options I've noticed from games that are doing things right. First from the completely free to play group- Spiral knights, World of tanks, and APB reloaded, All free to play, free to download, and very inclusive. You'll notice all these games have a large emphasis on skill based gameplay, or more specifically the ability of the player to advance through the game on their own rather than by predetermined stats. Very akin to PSO in my opinion.
alternatively I think there's a better option for you, instead of being completely free to play I personally think you should opt into the Dungeon defenders or Guild wars path. Honestly I've never playd Guild wars but essentially their payment model has the consumer pay for the game itself and afterward its free to play from that point forward with each big expansion being reasonably priced. A better example I think is Dungeon Defenders. They offer up a lot of new content on a regular basis, cosmetic skins and new game modes. They're making some very interesting moves.
If I were in charge here's the path I'd go- retail the game at 39 to 49 bucks, perhaps less if the game is a bit lacking on the content side at release. Then offer premium account status for various kinds of exp or drop rate boosts for 10 or 15 bucks a month. Content wise every 3 or 4 months there needs to be a substantical update, be it new maps, characters or whatever, you're going to want to keep things fresh. You can work these in as mini expansions and charge somewhere less than 20 bucks for them respectively. I'd say 2 or 3 bucks for new character skins/designs and 10 - 15 for expansions. Intermitantly there needs to be free updates, along with the ocassional bugfixes but that's a given. With this model you'll get a return on your inital investment, unless you mix in used game sales, but I'll get to that in a sec. You should also see risidual sales throughout the games lifespan via micro transactions and such. Regarding used games sales On the distribution front you'll want to go digital. Paying server hosting fees means you don't have to print out physical copies saving you a bit on your overhead. If you want a great Digital distribution platform you'll wanna go with steam. I would advise you integrate steam with PSO if not making it compatiable with the steam overlay."
there was also an introduction but you don't need to hear my life story.
Here's some of the unfinished script I was working on before the update was posted. Again this script was meant to be heard and not read so its riddled with spelling and grammatical errors I'm sure. Also I was going to beef up my examples a bit more, but the announcement from Sega kinda knocked the creative wind out of me.
"Pay to play. As I mentioned before I personally I don't think this one will work. Essentially you'll will be facing off against World of Warcraft and the old republic with this payment scheme. If this is the payment method you're going to commit to you're going to have give this game your fullest support. Regular updates are a must, people will expect quality if they're paying a monthly fee and if you don't deliver there's almost no limit of alternatives for your audience. One of the perks of this payment method is a more refined pool of players since there is a floodgate to weed out more seedy individuals who would otherwise act like jerks or hack. An important note however, even some people who do pay for the game are going to be a few chromosomes short of a sensible person or they will hack anyway. In either case maintaining order in game with this payment method is paramount to its success. If the community doesn't feel like their getting their money's worth, they will find an alternative.
Financially, pay to play is a fairly lucrative model. Everyone who bought your game and plays it would be paying whatever monthly fee you set. A recurring income from your game is always great and if its worth 10 to 15 dollars a month I encourage you to pursue this model, but if there is any doubt in your mind that your game isn't up to par with World of Warcraft or whatever big name MMO is stealing the spotlight at the moment, you're going to need retool your payment method.
so, the second method is the one I'm personally hoping you implement- free to play- there are two different avenues you can take here, and while the words "free to play" sound like they'll cut into your profits let me give you some sensible options I've noticed from games that are doing things right. First from the completely free to play group- Spiral knights, World of tanks, and APB reloaded, All free to play, free to download, and very inclusive. You'll notice all these games have a large emphasis on skill based gameplay, or more specifically the ability of the player to advance through the game on their own rather than by predetermined stats. Very akin to PSO in my opinion.
alternatively I think there's a better option for you, instead of being completely free to play I personally think you should opt into the Dungeon defenders or Guild wars path. Honestly I've never playd Guild wars but essentially their payment model has the consumer pay for the game itself and afterward its free to play from that point forward with each big expansion being reasonably priced. A better example I think is Dungeon Defenders. They offer up a lot of new content on a regular basis, cosmetic skins and new game modes. They're making some very interesting moves.
If I were in charge here's the path I'd go- retail the game at 39 to 49 bucks, perhaps less if the game is a bit lacking on the content side at release. Then offer premium account status for various kinds of exp or drop rate boosts for 10 or 15 bucks a month. Content wise every 3 or 4 months there needs to be a substantical update, be it new maps, characters or whatever, you're going to want to keep things fresh. You can work these in as mini expansions and charge somewhere less than 20 bucks for them respectively. I'd say 2 or 3 bucks for new character skins/designs and 10 - 15 for expansions. Intermitantly there needs to be free updates, along with the ocassional bugfixes but that's a given. With this model you'll get a return on your inital investment, unless you mix in used game sales, but I'll get to that in a sec. You should also see risidual sales throughout the games lifespan via micro transactions and such. Regarding used games sales On the distribution front you'll want to go digital. Paying server hosting fees means you don't have to print out physical copies saving you a bit on your overhead. If you want a great Digital distribution platform you'll wanna go with steam. I would advise you integrate steam with PSO if not making it compatiable with the steam overlay."
there was also an introduction but you don't need to hear my life story.
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