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Cartel Market rakes in the cash

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  • MyriaMyria Member UncommonPosts: 699
    Originally posted by mikahr

    None will get reinvested, they have huuuuuuuuuge debt to service and interests arent going down.

    Truly, we are fortunate to be graced by so many with insider knowledge of EA's financials and business plans.

    Care to share some specifics, please -- say the size of this 'huuuuuuuuuge debt' and to whom it's owed? You know, the kind of information that's meaningful, verifiable, something beyond the vague claims mindless forum trolls routinely pull out of their arse?

  • RednecksithRednecksith Member Posts: 1,238
    Well, you know what they say about fools and their money... or what's that other one about suckers being born in a certain time period?
  • ObiClownobiObiClownobi Member Posts: 186
    Originally posted by Myria
    Originally posted by mikahr

    None will get reinvested, they have huuuuuuuuuge debt to service and interests arent going down.

    Truly, we are fortunate to be graced by so many with insider knowledge of EA's financials and business plans.

    Care to share some specifics, please -- say the size of this 'huuuuuuuuuge debt' and to whom it's owed? You know, the kind of information that's meaningful, verifiable, something beyond the vague claims mindless forum trolls routinely pull out of their arse?

    http://ycharts.com/companies/EA/debt_equity_ratio

     

    http://ycharts.com/companies/EA/long_term_debt

    image
    "It's a sandbox, if you are not willing to create a castle then all you have is sand" - jtcgs

  • Camaro68Camaro68 Member Posts: 50
    Originally posted by ObiClownobi
    Originally posted by Myria
    Originally posted by mikahr

    None will get reinvested, they have huuuuuuuuuge debt to service and interests arent going down.

    Truly, we are fortunate to be graced by so many with insider knowledge of EA's financials and business plans.

    Care to share some specifics, please -- say the size of this 'huuuuuuuuuge debt' and to whom it's owed? You know, the kind of information that's meaningful, verifiable, something beyond the vague claims mindless forum trolls routinely pull out of their arse?

    http://ycharts.com/companies/EA/debt_equity_ratio

     

    http://ycharts.com/companies/EA/long_term_debt

    Well that proves everything.  I'm sure a company that generates revenue in the billions has you on speed dial for financial advice.

  • baphametbaphamet Member RarePosts: 3,311

    yes and i wouldn't call the people that visit and post on these forums a "sample group" of those who play MMO's either.

  • baphametbaphamet Member RarePosts: 3,311


    Originally posted by cronius77
    Originally posted by ObiClownobi Originally posted by Chieftan Originally posted by FrodoFragins That's going to be a VERY biased sample group.  Hard to read much from it considering it's a Star Wars fansite.  There are also a lot of one time unlocks that will show up with early purchases.
    2500 darthater visitors voted and 26% of them spent $100 to $200... Conservative estimate from that sample group alone:  $70,000    
    I hate cash shops and think people who spend large amounts of cash in em are idiots, yet when ever I see a poll asking how much I spent in the cash shop I always pick the highest value available regardless of whether I even play the game. You can take $100 from your total, that was me.
    i agree wholeheartedly with this statement as well. People who have to spend money on pixels ina  video game to feel ahead of the rest need to go see a doctor seriously. Obviously though there are way more of them than people like me or we wouldnt see the success these shops see in all these annoying games. I know when i was playing SWTOR before i cancelled my account everyone was riding around on thrones and using purple/pink lightsaber crystals from the cartell packs so im sure EA is laughing its way to the bank. But if you think its so bad in SWTOR you are in for a serious issue as EA does this in all their games especially the ones on android like the sims. Hell you have to buy unlocks on the sims on tablets just to get them to sleep faster or eat faster as its super slow if you do not. IMO the shadiest company in the history of gaming. But as long as people have money to burn they will thrieve , i just feel very sorry for their families if they are spending thousands of dollars in cash shops instead of spending it on their wives or kids seriously.

    yes spending that much money is pretty excessive but i could make that same argument about people who spend 1000's on any form of entertainment.

    people can spend more than that on one afternoon of NFL football, are they also neglecting their families?

    i think most people probably don't spend anywhere near that much. i have spent maybe $100 total on CC and i don't think its that big of a deal at all.

    people play the games they like and spend money on the entertainment that they like, there is no need to see a doctor lol

  • jpnzjpnz Member Posts: 3,529
    Originally posted by cronius77

     

    i agree wholeheartedly with this statement as well. People who have to spend money on pixels ina  video game to feel ahead of the rest need to go see a doctor seriously. Obviously though there are way more of them than people like me or we wouldnt see the success these shops see in all these annoying games. I know when i was playing SWTOR before i cancelled my account everyone was riding around on thrones and using purple/pink lightsaber crystals from the cartell packs so im sure EA is laughing its way to the bank. But if you think its so bad in SWTOR you are in for a serious issue as EA does this in all their games especially the ones on android like the sims. Hell you have to buy unlocks on the sims on tablets just to get them to sleep faster or eat faster as its super slow if you do not. IMO the shadiest company in the history of gaming. But as long as people have money to burn they will thrieve , i just feel very sorry for their families if they are spending thousands of dollars in cash shops instead of spending it on their wives or kids seriously.

    If you have to think twice before dropping $$$ for a video game, you have bigger issues to deal with (like not having money) than feeling sorry for anyone.

    Gdemami -
    Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.

  • RocketeerRocketeer Member UncommonPosts: 1,303
    I don't see whats the big deal with spending a couple hundred bucks on a video game, i do however see the deal with getting very bad value for your money. For me the problem is that these cash shops are usually very bad value, you can spend 200 bucks and still have a crippled game, albeit with fancy clothes, buffs, pets and mounts galore.
  • TamanousTamanous Member RarePosts: 3,025
    Originally posted by Rocketeer
    I don't see whats the big deal with spending a couple hundred bucks on a video game, i do however see the deal with getting very bad value for your money. For me the problem is that these cash shops are usually very bad value, you can spend 200 bucks and still have a crippled game, albeit with fancy clothes, buffs, pets and mounts galore.

    The value has yet to be seen. There hasn't been enough time for development since the team changes and the influx of money from teh cartel market. Keeping to their 6 week content schedule and the quality of the expansion will show us if there is indeed an impact. I hope there is but if their isn't the proof will be shown soon enough.

     

    This game requires both end game and lateral content expansion and soon but I also would like to remind everyone that a game out their called Wow raked in far far FAR more cash than Swtor has and over the years put out laughable amounts of content compared to the revenue flow. Where did all that money go? Where did the tens of millions a month (hell maybe even weeks) go in Wow? Why did players have to wait 2 years for expansions, up to a year for major class issues to be addressed and long months between minor content patches? Wow has been out for years and only now Blizzard finally makes promises to push out regular and frequent patches. Hell they don't even pump out that many other games either.

     

    If Bioware keeps to their 6 week schedule and an expansion yearly with even questionable content size it would still double the output Blizzard put in the first few years of their game (all the while ignoring vanilla Wow cotent until a total remake wiped it all out).

     

    Rift may be seen as the content king with even smaller income but only creates greater contrast between Swtor and Wow if there is any proof in the pudding at all between now and March. I'll be highly critical of Bioware if I don't like the quality and size of content but the greater question in my mind is:

     

    Where the f$ck did all the money go from Wow over the years? Why the f$ck don't players question it as much? Why the f$ck did the company who had the greatest golden egg in gaming have to sell out to Activision, have constant delays putting out more or less copy and paste games they previously put out and still not keep up with content other mmo developers can do with a fraction of the budget? 

     

    Bioware spent their money poorly but Blizzard? Where the hell did that money even go?

    You stay sassy!

  • tiefighter25tiefighter25 Member Posts: 937
    Originally posted by jpnz

    If you have to think twice before dropping $$$ for a video game, you have bigger issues to deal with (like not having money) than feeling sorry for anyone.

    Nice philosophy. Do you also enjoy paying ATM fees? Do you feel like a bigger man by overpaying for things in general?

    Do you like to call people entitled? Generation Me?

    It's amusing that a game which has gone freemium because it can't justify a subscription also expects its hardcore playerbase to pay extra money each month. (or day for that matter.)

  • VyethVyeth Member UncommonPosts: 1,461

    If everyone paid a sub, they would be even (for the most part)

    In a cash shop people see spending money as 'getting an advantage' over those who don't..

     

    Kinda silly to say but some people would only spend money on cash shop games where they hope it would give them an advantage.

    Paying for power a lucrative seduction? Who woulda thunk it!

     

    No matter how many people say they hope it isn't, truthfully I think that the larger part secretly or even desperately hope that it IS pay2win..

  • RocketeerRocketeer Member UncommonPosts: 1,303
    Originally posted by Tamanous
    Originally posted by Rocketeer
    I don't see whats the big deal with spending a couple hundred bucks on a video game, i do however see the deal with getting very bad value for your money. For me the problem is that these cash shops are usually very bad value, you can spend 200 bucks and still have a crippled game, albeit with fancy clothes, buffs, pets and mounts galore.

    The value has yet to be seen. There hasn't been enough time for development since the team changes and the influx of money from teh cartel market. Keeping to their 6 week content schedule and the quality of the expansion will show us if there is indeed an impact. I hope there is but if their isn't the proof will be shown soon enough.

     

    This game requires both end game and lateral content expansion and soon but I also would like to remind everyone that a game out their called Wow raked in far far FAR more cash than Swtor has and over the years put out laughable amounts of content compared to the revenue flow. Where did all that money go? Where did the tens of millions a month (hell maybe even weeks) go in Wow? Why did players have to wait 2 years for expansions, up to a year for major class issues to be addressed and long months between minor content patches? Wow has been out for years and only now Blizzard finally makes promises to push out regular and frequent patches. Hell they don't even pump out that many other games either.

     

    If Bioware keeps to their 6 week schedule and an expansion yearly with even questionable content size it would still double the output Blizzard put in the first few years of their game (all the while ignoring vanilla Wow cotent until a total remake wiped it all out).

     

    Rift may be seen as the content king with even smaller income but only creates greater contrast between Swtor and Wow if there is any proof in the pudding at all between now and March. I'll be highly critical of Bioware if I don't like the quality and size of content but the greater question in my mind is:

     

    Where the f$ck did all the money go from Wow over the years? Why the f$ck don't players question it as much? Why the f$ck did the company who had the greatest golden egg in gaming have to sell out to Activision, have constant delays putting out more or less copy and paste games they previously put out and still not keep up with content other mmo developers can do with a fraction of the budget? 

     

    Bioware spent their money poorly but Blizzard? Where the hell did that money even go?

    Hmm yeah i see your point. Then again thats how business works in capitalism. We have a local supermarket/convenience store brand here which grew being known as having the cheapest goods for daily life. Milk, bread, chips, meat, etc. And yet their owners are billionaires many times over. How did that work out?

    EQ 1&2 also had very good content additions over the years i believe, yet never got due respect for it(and neither does rift imho). Personally i think that for all the bazillion MMOs we have there are not enough big titles to foster real competition. And its competition that drives advances, not money(well money helps but you get what i mean).

    Wasn't it the threat of Warhammer online that made blizzard include quite a few features from it? Like archivements, guild levels, leveling through pvp? Thats whats missing these days. The frantic "OMG did you look at the beta previews from upcoming xyz? We have to include abc aswell, dman can't imagine we didn't think about it" going on in dev houses. These days everyone seems to be complacent with his own piece of the pie. LotRO, TSW, SWToR, Tera, Aion, GW2, planetside 2 they all brought cool new ideas to the table, maybe the rest of it was crap for one, but they had some gems and nowadays nobody seems to care copying the good stuff.

    Screw innovation. You didn't see people going around after the wheel was invented saying "oh we have to find some better way to do it, maybe a triangle would be good instead". Lets face it, there are old MMOs out there that have survived their successors because they have been better. DaoC vs Warhammer is just one example.

    Is it really so hard to recognize whats fun and what is not? Like does it take rocket scientists to figure out that if you want FFA open pvp in your game you should pick a gameengine that can handle more than 20 players in a zone? Is it that hard to make a roundtable early on in developement where everyone brainstormes ideas for what players should be able to do once they reach max level?

  • ste2000ste2000 Member EpicPosts: 6,194
    Originally posted by Chieftan

    http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/29/swtor-fan-site-posts-cartel-market-poll-results/#comments

     

    So....if one person spends $100 in the Cartel Market that's the equivalent of 6 people subbing for one month.

    And because I was reminded here SO MANY times that even a small sample is an accurate indicator of what the playerbase as a whole is doing, that must mean EA's making money hand over fist right now.

    It is a Fansite...........which means is a place where SWTOR fans gather to share the love for SWTOR

    These are Bioware customers.............it doesn't surprise me that a fanbase support their favorite game by spending money on it.

    C'mon that is just BS

    It's like asking how many people in an Apple Fansite own an Iphone 5............look I can even guess the numbers without making a Poll

    Get real

  • mikahrmikahr Member Posts: 1,066
    Originally posted by Tamanous

    The value has yet to be seen. There hasn't been enough time for development since the team changes and the influx of money from teh cartel market. Keeping to their 6 week content schedule and the quality of the expansion will show us if there is indeed an impact. I hope there is but if their isn't the proof will be shown soon enough.

     

    This game requires both end game and lateral content expansion and soon but I also would like to remind everyone that a game out their called Wow raked in far far FAR more cash than Swtor has and over the years put out laughable amounts of content compared to the revenue flow. Where did all that money go? Where did the tens of millions a month (hell maybe even weeks) go in Wow? Why did players have to wait 2 years for expansions, up to a year for major class issues to be addressed and long months between minor content patches? Wow has been out for years and only now Blizzard finally makes promises to push out regular and frequent patches. Hell they don't even pump out that many other games either.

     

    If Bioware keeps to their 6 week schedule and an expansion yearly with even questionable content size it would still double the output Blizzard put in the first few years of their game (all the while ignoring vanilla Wow cotent until a total remake wiped it all out).

     

    Rift may be seen as the content king with even smaller income but only creates greater contrast between Swtor and Wow if there is any proof in the pudding at all between now and March. I'll be highly critical of Bioware if I don't like the quality and size of content but the greater question in my mind is:

     

    Where the f$ck did all the money go from Wow over the years? Why the f$ck don't players question it as much? Why the f$ck did the company who had the greatest golden egg in gaming have to sell out to Activision, have constant delays putting out more or less copy and paste games they previously put out and still not keep up with content other mmo developers can do with a fraction of the budget? 

     

    Bioware spent their money poorly but Blizzard? Where the hell did that money even go?

    There isnt any 6 weeks schedule, its now 6-8 weeks with next one being 9 weeks :)

    And SWTOR has one....minor...inconvenience - huge debt to pay off and company that has stock price down the drain.

    If i cared that much i would dig up some of my old posts that deal with what you mention, but it seems that noone really wants to deal with real issues.

    Originally posted by Rocketeer

    Is it really so hard to recognize whats fun and what is not? Like does it take rocket scientists to figure out that if you want FFA open pvp in your game you should pick a gameengine that can handle more than 20 players in a zone? Is it that hard to make a roundtable early on in developement where everyone brainstormes ideas for what players should be able to do once they reach max level?

    They did brainstorm it and came up with - copy WoW. What is vague is was it brainstorming from devs in BW or corporates in EA/LA (i lean to EA/LA having most impact on "copy WoW" mentality, its typical for corporations way of thinking, no innovation just copy stuff).

  • tawesstawess Member EpicPosts: 4,227

    If there is one thing that i can count on is this... People will continue to call DOOOM until they are either right or they die them self.

     

    I think a lot of people would be supprised if they knew what lengths people are willing to go to as long as it is presented as a choice.

     

    Micro-Transactions proves this over and over again.

    This have been a good conversation

  • mikahrmikahr Member Posts: 1,066
    Originally posted by tawess

    If there is one thing that i can count on is this... People will continue to call DOOOM until they are either right or they die them self.

     

    I think a lot of people would be supprised if they knew what lengths people are willing to go to as long as it is presented as a choice.

     

    Micro-Transactions proves this over and over again.

    Thats also one thing that SWTOR F2P did wrong since it gave a choice of "sub or quit".

    Since in first round they got the message of "game is not worth paying sub" which they acknowledged, but still went against it lol

  • kitaradkitarad Member LegendaryPosts: 7,885
    I am so pleased as this means the population stays healthy and I get groups and hopefully till I finish my 8 storylines they add content and things only get better. Go F2P !!

  • ChieftanChieftan Member UncommonPosts: 1,188
    Originally posted by mikahr

    There isnt any 6 weeks schedule, its now 6-8 weeks with next one being 9 weeks :)

    And SWTOR has one....minor...inconvenience - huge debt to pay off and company that has stock price down the drain.

    If i cared that much i would dig up some of my old posts that deal with what you mention, but it seems that noone really wants to deal with real issues.          

    Well by golly if you'll bring some real facts we'll deal with real issues.

    Tell us what SWTOR's debt is.  How much has SWTOR paid back so far?

     

    My youtube MMO gaming channel



  • JetrpgJetrpg Member UncommonPosts: 2,347

    I hate this stuff, cash shops should be cosmetic otherwise theres no actual reason t play the game just work for liek a few months stright in RL then buy end game everythign then /done.

     

    Wow you just won an mmo your great.

    "Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine

  • BigAndShinyBigAndShiny Member Posts: 176
    Originally posted by Tamanous
    Originally posted by Rocketeer
    I don't see whats the big deal with spending a couple hundred bucks on a video game, i do however see the deal with getting very bad value for your money. For me the problem is that these cash shops are usually very bad value, you can spend 200 bucks and still have a crippled game, albeit with fancy clothes, buffs, pets and mounts galore.

    The value has yet to be seen. There hasn't been enough time for development since the team changes and the influx of money from teh cartel market. Keeping to their 6 week content schedule and the quality of the expansion will show us if there is indeed an impact. I hope there is but if their isn't the proof will be shown soon enough.

     

    This game requires both end game and lateral content expansion and soon but I also would like to remind everyone that a game out their called Wow raked in far far FAR more cash than Swtor has and over the years put out laughable amounts of content compared to the revenue flow. Where did all that money go? Where did the tens of millions a month (hell maybe even weeks) go in Wow? Why did players have to wait 2 years for expansions, up to a year for major class issues to be addressed and long months between minor content patches? Wow has been out for years and only now Blizzard finally makes promises to push out regular and frequent patches. Hell they don't even pump out that many other games either.

     

    If Bioware keeps to their 6 week schedule and an expansion yearly with even questionable content size it would still double the output Blizzard put in the first few years of their game (all the while ignoring vanilla Wow cotent until a total remake wiped it all out).

     

    Rift may be seen as the content king with even smaller income but only creates greater contrast between Swtor and Wow if there is any proof in the pudding at all between now and March. I'll be highly critical of Bioware if I don't like the quality and size of content but the greater question in my mind is:

     

    Where the f$ck did all the money go from Wow over the years? Why the f$ck don't players question it as much? Why the f$ck did the company who had the greatest golden egg in gaming have to sell out to Activision, have constant delays putting out more or less copy and paste games they previously put out and still not keep up with content other mmo developers can do with a fraction of the budget? 

     

    Bioware spent their money poorly but Blizzard? Where the hell did that money even go?

     

     

    Let me let you in on a secret.  WoW only has 160 developers.  Yes, that's less than Guild Wars 2, less than Aion in Korea, and probably around the same as SWTOR has left now that ey've cut their team down from 400 after the layoffs. 

     

    A game that could easily support a thousand devs without eating too much into activision's profit has only 160.  

  • Darth_OsorDarth_Osor Member Posts: 1,089

    I've been a subscriber since launch, and I haven't spent a dime in the Cartel shop...only my "free" coins.  I've bought some legacy unlocks and a set of the lvl 31 armor for an alt with those coins.  I hate HATE gambling boxes and keep hoping people wise up and stop buying those, but to no avail.  I am glad that I've only seen one frickin Christmas tree speeder on my server.

     

    If anything, the Cartel market is getting even more money grubbing.  They went from a set of purp modded lvl 31 armor for 1200 CCs to lvl 1 armor with no mods for 1200 CCs to now lvl 1 armor with no mods for 1440 (IIRC) CCs.  Of course now you have the P2W space ship parts, and if they sell, we'll probably see other end game gear in the shop soon.

  • simpliussimplius Member UncommonPosts: 1,134
    Originally posted by baphamet

    yes and i wouldn't call the people that visit and post on these forums a "sample group" of those who play MMO's either.

     

    awww,,i was hoping for a promotion,,i  already chose my new job title,,"specimen 1600"

    but we are a sample goup,,we just dont represent the factions as in real life

    GOTY awards showed that,,also the fact, that EVE apparently won several times before

    no im NOT dizzing EVE,,its a great game,,but it still doesnt have anywhere near the numbers of the

    biggest(= most succesful) games

  • MurlockDanceMurlockDance Member Posts: 1,223

    I am surprised that some people here think that any cash spent on the cash shop is a waste since at least some of it (the stuff I care about) is unlocking things.

    I would not buy pixelated stuff myself, just unlocks since I am in the game only as a casual player.

    If subbers want to buy cosmetic stuff, that is up to them.

    As a 'froob', I prefer to pay less than 15 USD/month to unlock what I feel I need for the 4 days or so a month I play the game.

    Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.

    image
  • simpliussimplius Member UncommonPosts: 1,134

    if they made such a big pile of cash with cartel,,why charge for makeb?

    this content has been in the pipe for a very long time now,,but suddenly ALL have to pay real $

    this looks like the last moneygrab, before skipping town

    and even if that isnt enough,,soon disney will be knocking on the door for their cut

    now that disney owns the IP, they will prolly have a hard look at what theyre getting from EA, contra

    what they can do themselves,,also to protect the IP from further harm

  • jpnzjpnz Member Posts: 3,529
    Originally posted by simplius

    if they made such a big pile of cash with cartel,,why charge for makeb?

    this content has been in the pipe for a very long time now,,but suddenly ALL have to pay real $

    this looks like the last moneygrab, before skipping town

    and even if that isnt enough,,soon disney will be knocking on the door for their cut

    now that disney owns the IP, they will prolly have a hard look at what theyre getting from EA, contra

    what they can do themselves,,also to protect the IP from further harm

    Makeb was free when it was on a sub-model.

    SWTOR is now on a F2P model so not sure why charging for Makeb is surprising.

    Gdemami -
    Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.

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