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[Column] Elder Scrolls Online: F2P or P2P? Keeping Hush on the Business Model
BillMurphy
Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565
Zenimax Online has been a bit hush-hush on the business model for Elder Scrolls Online and we're finding this all a bit concerning. Read on and learn why in this week's Elder Scrolls Online column.
It really doesn’t matter how good The Elder Scrolls Online ends up being at launch. Subscriptions, even in their heyday, were always a losing proposition. For one, MMO game design suffered to keep paying players playing by padding out content and utilizing numerous arbitrary time sinks. But for the most part, players were willing to pay, as long as the game was good and could hold their attention. Back then every MMO developer out there was competing for your $15, but in today’s world, they’re really competing for your attention.
Read more of Michael Bitton's The Elder Scrolls Online: F2P or P2P? Keeping Hush on the Business Model.
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Because F2P games suck and get little development when they are F2P. Look at DDO and LOTRO, it takes them forever to get expansions and fixes because they do not have the money to pay developers. For all the bosting about F2P earns you more money than P2P that is not true for all games. The Truth is only a few F2P games (Mainly P2W games) earn more money than P2P games.
Haha, nice one.
But despite that bit of wit, people seem to be digging the cash shop based models more and more, which is a bit sad to me if the trend is forcing more and more developers into going the cash shop way.
I do play a couple of F2P games, but only as long as they have some subscription option as well - meaning, one that you can just pay and play without feeling the need to spend on top of the sub price. Though I'd still hugely prefer the "just sub and no cash shop" way.
I'm kind of looking forward to WildStar and even TESO, but if either turns out to be F2P (not B2P) with pure cash shop model, I don't see myself playing it for more than a month.
Could the answer be.... both? Offer different tiers, including a sub model with access to most (if not all) content and then F2P models where you buy content packs, extra bag space, mounts etc?
I think hybrid with multiple options is the way of the future.
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How many expansions does lotro have since 2007 and how many expansions for wow since 2004?
I like the Elder Scrolls series... but even if I am in the minority, I will not play it if it is Free to Play.
I can't afford Free to Play games.
Source? I haven't seen an announcement for either and it's quite a heated debate for Wildstar at least.
Also, I didn't know TESO was releasing this year... seems like it was just announced. I thought it'd be '14 or '15. Then again, I haven't followed that closely.
just because there is a f2p game, no mattter how good, doesn't mean I would want to play it.
The way I'm wired is to say "hey, I want to play that game, it's p2p, no problem, as long as I feel I'm getting my money's worth I'll play it.
These subscrption fees are a pittance when compared to what people throw away on a daily basis. Coffee, soda, snacks, extra breakfast bar, etc. $15 adds up quickly, one can do it in one day without thinking about it. So why would $15 be a bother to me?
But one thing the article did get right is that they are competing for my attention. The money doesn't matter but what matters is how good their game is.
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Really bad article.
SW:TOR couldnt sustain a subscription payment model because it was a really bad game. People beat the singleplayer portion of the game then quit rather than stick around for the horribly buggy and unfinished endgame.
A good article would have expounded on that rather than just say "subs failed for TOR which automatically means that subs will fail for ESO".
And to say that subscription based were always failing is just ....laughably bad. I dont even have the words to express how wrong that is. "Always a losing proposition" is definitive statement which means he's saying that WoWs subscription are a failure ....I mean ....really ...how can you
*brain explodes*
Name one "quality" F2P MMO.
Neverwinter that you oh' sooo blindly praise is really a mediocere MMO AT BEST. Neverwinter relied heavily on the IP to carry it through. Foundry is limiting, combat doesn't even resemble D&D, many features that are staple in MMOs are missing, nickle n diming every where, WAY to casual and combat is a complete faceroll.
DDO a game I have played extensively is severly lacking in competency in the Dev dept, age old bugs not fixed and see no effort to fix (a numerous feats that are bugged for archery they they acknowledge and yet still have yet to fix or state any intention to fix which have been out for close to a year now), cotentent have to purchase that is so burdensome that one tends to go VIP for a bit first, combat is just plain bad in regards mobs moving around even when at a stunned state or how lag is a constant issue.
SWTOR...lol, need I even go into that game's piss poor implementation of F2P?
AoC might be the most decent F2P MMO.
After Neverwinter I will never touch a F2P game again as the nickle and diming is jsut ridiculous and the quality is certainly lacking. P2P games are successful for a QUALITY game. Isn't Rift still P2P even though its a definition of a WoW clone? WoW is still strong, EVE is sub based and a very successful MMO, SWTOR failed because it was a horrible MMO (great CoOp game, but lousey MMO).
I suspect the payment model wasn't the reason it couldn't retain subs and I would suspect it wouldn't be the reason that, if ESO follows the same path, Elder scrolls couldn't retain them either. Doesn't take much to look at the outrage over the PvP focused end game to see that quite a few players are upset over the direction of the game. If ESO fails to retain subs if launching as a sub game, it won't be the payment model here either that did them in but alienating the core of their fan base with their game design and execution.
People are willing to pay for good MMOs, that hasn't been the issue here for quite a while.
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Nytlok Sylas
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"Subscriptions, even in their heyday, were always a losing proposition."
I'm sure the folks at Blizzard would contend with that statement right there.
Give us a good solid game that is updated regularly, robust in what you can do, and folks will pay subscriptions. Quit throwing junk at us and expecting us to stick with it.
I expect it to be P2P with a sub and frankly if it’s a solid game I don’t mind paying.
I would rather play a P2P game that is good like Rift. The problem with TSW and STWOR was that the majority of people bought the game expecting something totally different or better than they were. I'm not saying they are bad games, just for alot of the people that bought the game. If you have a good game that alot of people will play, then P2P still works...look at Rift. I know the EU servers are supposedly dead, but the NA servers are full. My desktop lags in Meridian since there are so many people there lol.
P2P also lends itself to a sense of obligation to play and like the game. People that don't like the game won't pay, so they don't get to play. Something I noticed in F2P games, the general and world chats are full of people spamming how bad this game is (the game they're playing, not ESO). You rarely see that in games like Rift, WoW, DAoC which are P2P. Lotro and DDO is the only F2P title I've played that you don't get alot of "omg this game sucks" spam.
" It really doesn’t matter how good The Elder Scrolls Online ends up being at launch. Subscriptions, even in their heyday, were always a losing proposition. For one, MMO game design suffered to keep paying players playing by padding out content and utilizing numerous arbitrary time sinks. But for the most part, players were willing to pay, as long as the game was good and could hold their attention. Back then every MMO developer out there was competing for your $15, but in today’s world, they’re really competing for your attention. "
What a ridiculous statement. If you don't like the pacing of MMOs, then don't play them, and I don't see how cash shop models are any different. In fact, they take those arbitrary time sinks, make them twice as long, then add a cash shop item that reverses their design for an hour.
F2P games I have enjoyed: AOC, TERA, DDO, COH, EQ2, AO, Vindictus, Second Life, Vanguard, probably a couple more around that I'm not remembering.
My personal guess would be B2P, anything subscription in this economy with this competition will die before it releases. Even if it was amazing I doubt most people would even look at it. Personally I would be ok with a sub for a super amazing game.