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CrimeCraft: Game and Business Model Changes

StraddenStradden Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696

Vogster Entertainment, the team responsible for CrimeCraft, is changing their tactic with their new MMO. MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh recently visited their studio to get the scoop on the changes both to the game's systems and its pricing.

It was a sunny day in San Francisco and I, with other game journalists were in the University Club on Powell, high on Nob Hill, playing CrimeCraft by Vogster Entertainment. CrimeCraft is billed as a Persistent World Next-Gen Shooter (PWNS - cute) set in not-quite a post-apocalyptic world, but one in the near future where devastating ecological disaster has created a near collapse of civilization, cities have walled themselves in and armed quasi-military enforcer groups keep the peace. Play nice in the cities now, your gang may be hot-shit but within the walls of the city, you are a peaceful citizen, talking to the guards, saying hello to Captain Jones who may give you a mission to clean out that dilapidated warehouse on the fringe of the city, just beyond the wall. You can also go head to head against other gangs, but outside the wall, kids.

Read Game and Business Model Changes

Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com

Comments

  • kobietrumankobietruman Member Posts: 105

    uh uh

    will not BUY any game that has a cash shop - period

    free download and cash shop is just fine though

    i'm sure it will get to that point so will be waiting

     

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  • myrrdinirlmyrrdinirl Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 314

    what's the over/under on this game shutting down before 2010?

    Basically CS (with a crappier engine) where you pay (monthly) for a better handicap. A winning formula indeed!

  • Gabby-airGabby-air Member UncommonPosts: 3,440

    Typo: "$9.99 which gives you three skills, two augments and two boosts."

  • CyrosphereCyrosphere Member Posts: 105

     It was fun.. enough. Unfortunately APB will roll this game without even trying, because CC doesn't really have any distinguishing features.

    I'll happily stick to other shooters, a subscription not justifiable with what this game offers.

    Remember, it has to be fun to be a game. Grinding is a bedroom activity, and the point is definitely not to do my wife as fast as possible.

  • Kaynos1972Kaynos1972 Member Posts: 2,316

    For a game that's pretty much ALL pvp to charge a different price for skills package dont make sense.  How can someone paying the lowest price expect to be able to compete vs someone paying the high one ?

  • LongsnoutLongsnout Member Posts: 116

     So the press event was on the last day of September and this report is published 2 weeks later???

    ============================================================

    Nobody is useless, he/she can still be used as a bad example.

  • SkuzSkuz Member UncommonPosts: 1,018

    Free to Play usually equals Pay to Win with any game also having PvP, which to me is a model built on fail, once the egotists get bored the game will tank.

    This game needs to do something radical with it's business model that others are NOT doing to stand out from the crowd because the game itself, while not bad, is simply unspectacular.

    Real-world adverts on the in game billboards, sponsored clothing options from named fashion houses.

    Considering the game's setting I'm surprised they haven't tried that, they could offer advertising space within the game in a non-intrusive way very easily in this way, it's a part of the everyday world we live in anyway, it would fit right into a game like this.

    Start off offering very cheap advertising to companies & then later on as the game's profile increases do what is natural. I mean seriously, in game food could be branded, clothes, vehicles, hell even the weapons lol.

    Cheap item shop for branded goods & ammo, the shops themselves branded even, all this would slot itself into the game perfectly & may even provide a deeper sense of immersion........

  • CursedseiCursedsei Member Posts: 1,012

    This always make me giggle when I read it:

    ""Persistent World Next-Gen Shooter"

    It's as persistent as Call of Duty 4 or Uncharted 2, or any other FPS game with multiplayer and a way to gauge the amount of time/play invested.

    It isn't Next-Gen, if anything, Modern Warfare 2 is next-gen.

     

    The entire model needs to shift to F2P, as it was intended to be, instead of a F2P game with a tacked on monthly price, THAT's why the item shop is there in the first place. The reason they are "Changing" the model is because the game is, to be blunt, sh** compared to its price. 

  • PipwickyPipwicky Member Posts: 63

    The game isn't that bad really.  But it is so horribly shallow it is not worth paying for.

    It will shut down in 2010 or at least change to a f2p with micro transactions.

     

    Why best buy paid for exclusive rights to sell the game I have no clue. I assume they "paid" for this?

    The entire busisness model of the game is wrong and we beta testers all told them in the forums.

     

    You could not keep people beta testing the game. They would dispapear after a day or two. Not because it was laggy, buggy, or anything. Just shallow.

  • Superman0XSuperman0X Member RarePosts: 2,292

    There will be more, and more games trying various Hybrid business models, in an effor to find what best works. One of the best examples of how well this can work is DDO.

    Sadly, developing a game, and producing a game are totally separate skill sets, so you will see a lot of companies trying to drive a square peg into a round hole... because they dont actually understand why things work.

  • OzmodanOzmodan Member EpicPosts: 9,726

    A pvp game that has an item shop that includes items that effect gameplay is looking at a very short life.  The game was bad to start with, now it is just a huge joke on the general MMO playerbase.  I have empathy for those trying to play this game.

    Don't expect it to be around long with clueless developers like these are.

  • Anarchist420Anarchist420 Member Posts: 74

    No the game isn't THAT bad, but, their business model is horrible.  I'll never support any type of microtransaction even if the game is free.  The fact that it isn't free, makes it all the more reason not to play.  Buy it, sub it, and still have to fork out money for gold bars.  Don't think so.

    They really are going for cash though, if you haven't noticed by now.  Mini apps, gold store, in-place system for what "might" (and will) be in-game ads, etc.etc.  Either their player base sucks and isn't making them enough OR it was an experiment to see if MMO players were stupid enough to shell out tons of money on a sub-par game with content under-load.

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  • CapoDeiCapiCapoDeiCapi Member Posts: 1

    Hey guys,

    This is Kevin, community manager over at Vogster, and I just wanted to address a couple of comments I see in this thread.

    When we change our business model on Oct. 26, CrimeCraft will be free to play for as long as you want. You'll be able to upgrade/downgrade your account at will without ever buying the box. If you do buy the box, you get three free months of premium access and some bonus items that make it a pretty good deal, but no one has to buy the box after Oct. 26 to play CrimeCraft.

    Our premium item store, by the way, has no items for sale that effect game balance. Everything for sale in the premium item store is for enhancing the look of your character, not getting an in-game advantage over other players.

    If you haven't given it a shot, or if you haven't tried it since launch, I think you might like some of the changes coming Oct. 26.

    --KevinB

     

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