STO price slashed to $39 plus 60 days gametime.

xx19kilosold

I have not seen a brand new MMO do this before this early, less than a moth post launch. Not sure if its a red flag or not but its very interesting. Its causing a pretty big uproar on the STO forums. WHat do you all think, is this a sign of a game in trouble or not?

Miles-Prower

Originally posted by xx19kilosold


I have not seen a brand new MMO do this before this early, less than a moth post launch. Not sure if its a red flag or not but its very interesting. Its causing a pretty big uproar on the STO forums. WHat do you all think, is this a sign of a game in trouble or not?

 

Cryptic's STO isn't the only one to slash prices extremely. Champions Online Collector's edition is now $20. Check it out on Wal-mart's Website. Huge deal if you like CO

 

~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!

Darth_Osor

If it wasn't in trouble before, it is now.  Even well known diehards are outraged.

demented669

well any pc gamer will tell you that good games prices stay high or close to launch price for a long time.

to see a brand new game drop it's price this fast after launch... well not a good thing for them but good for gamers on a budget

championsFan

Thanks for he heads up on the forum rage, here is a direct link :-) 

Kordesh

 Way to dick over everyone who bought the game at launch. Hell, free month wasn't even over yet. I don't think they'll be seeing very high retention...

Chuckanar

 So glad I got to see the game in OB  and realized that the game had no vision and way to little actual gameplay. I am very happy that I didnt spend a dime on this game.

AgtSmith

Can we say it?  ...Epic Fail.  Now two in a row from Cryptic - firmly seating Crytpic as the new SoE, where IPs go to die.  The fast food MMO engine is a joke and their games are shallow and simplistic, and even with a self described 'AAA MMO' they are having a fire sale just three weeks in, wow, epic fail really does apply.

TheAesthete

 I still can't tell if "extra 60 days free" means in addition to the standard "30 day trial," or 60 day trial instead of the 30 day trial. The outrage is silly and amusing, as is so much about the STO "community." People buying a game at a premium have to be aware that eventually the price will be reduced. If it's reduced sooner than they expected, oh well, poor judgment all around.

But what this does is confirm what I've suspected since Champions was released: Atari is used to selling boxes, not collecting subscriptions, and everything they do is about selling more boxes, not about building the long-term survivability of a game.

Kordesh

First Allods, then STO, someone should really inspect the tracks with all these trainwrecks going on. 

Kells

Good lord, I thank my lucky stars I bought my preOrder for this game from Amazon, which made it very easy for me to cancel before the OB was over. So very glad I didn't spend money on this game!

donjuanamigo

Originally posted by Chuckanar


 So glad I got to see the game in OB  and realized that the game had no vision and way to little actual gameplay. I am very happy that I didnt spend a dime on this game.

 

i had this game on pre-order and something told me to cancel it and so i did. saved myself 50 some odd bucks. im glad i did.

Thomas2006

 This somehow doesnt suprise me one bit.. Can't say I didn't see this coming from a mile away.  Give it three months and you will be able to pickup the game for $19..   I wouldn't be suprised if they dont start offering free trials soon to try and con  I mean hook more people into buying the game.

 

I like how on the offical forums theres thread after thread on people reaching  the high end of the game and running out of quests to do and such.  Having to repeat the same thing over and over just to level.  Kinda reminds you of another Cryptic game doesn't it.   I believe that game was CO and it took them over 6 months to get the problem fixed.. (well the patch isn't out that fixs the problem but it should be soon..)   

I really feel sorry for anyone that is wasting there money on a Cryptic product. I can only imagine when there next MMO comes out how bad thats going to be.  Seems there speech about learning from there mistakes was a flat out lye.  They just stuck there fingers in there ear and said whatever to make people happy.

Krux

Originally posted by donjuanamigo

Originally posted by Chuckanar


 So glad I got to see the game in OB  and realized that the game had no vision and way to little actual gameplay. I am very happy that I didnt spend a dime on this game.

 

i had this game on pre-order and something told me to cancel it and so i did. saved myself 50 some odd bucks. im glad i did.

Good for you and the others. The ones that bought into a lifetime for this shell and sham of a product deserve the buyers remorese their dealing with. Seems that the mass mmorpg community gets the toilet nature of this game, but the only reviewer blindly willing to see this game for what it isn't is from mmorpg.com with a 7+; another sham.

ForceQuit

I said before I'll say again, this game is only worth about $10 w/30 or 60 days like CO was on Steam during their Christmas sale.  Even then, I would hold off activating the account until the game is much more fleshed out.  And even then... I'd probably still not buy it b/c why support companies that do everything I hate like ruin IPs and implement sub+rmt models in the same game?

Toquio3

Thats the price of a life time sub, if you only have a couple of months to live. But then again, if you only had two months to live, why would you spend them playing games? How silly!

Rydeson

It's no secret that Atari is in need of revenue, especially after purchasing Cryptic a couple years ago heavily in debt with bonds.  Both companies were less then impressive according to their P&L's in recent years.  I'm not surprised that Atari is doing everything they can this first quarter of 2010, since the company's fiscal year ends March 31.  Bonuses to be handed out later IF there are any..  As of Dec 09, the ending of their 3rd quarter, revenue is down almost 2% from last year, which was poor as well..

I'm sure the next step if they have to resort to it  will be the "FREE" 10 day trial to the open public.. If that doesn't work, the game goes on life support..........   CLEARRRRRRRRRR    :::: BANG:::::     

Superman0X

Originally posted by TheAesthete


 I still can't tell if "extra 60 days free" means in addition to the standard "30 day trial," or 60 day trial instead of the 30 day trial. The outrage is silly and amusing, as is so much about the STO "community." People buying a game at a premium have to be aware that eventually the price will be reduced. If it's reduced sooner than they expected, oh well, poor judgment all around.
But what this does is confirm what I've suspected since Champions was released: Atari is used to selling boxes, not collecting subscriptions, and everything they do is about selling more boxes, not about building the long-term survivability of a game.

 

In a quirky way you are right.

For accounting purposes of this deal, Atari gets credit for selling boxes, and Cryptic gets credit for monthly fees. Sure they are the same company, but they are a new merger, and this is part of the settling out part of the deal. It will determine the manning levels and who is deemed to be the 'moneymaker'.

Rydeson

If I'm reading it right.. the 60 days is with the purchase of the game.. ONLY new purchases get the 60 days.. Therefore if you have already bought it, your time ends very soon.. 

Sanguinelust

It's a little confusing bu that is the way I read it too that only new purchases get the 60 days.

Heretique

I lol'd - I'll have to agree with most, could of seen this coming a mile away. I really hope they stop releasing games, because Cryptic obviously hasn't learned from their mistakes so why not try to get as much $ as possible with little effort.

Darth_Osor

Originally posted by TheAesthete


 I still can't tell if "extra 60 days free" means in addition to the standard "30 day trial," or 60 day trial instead of the 30 day trial. The outrage is silly and amusing, as is so much about the STO "community." People buying a game at a premium have to be aware that eventually the price will be reduced. If it's reduced sooner than they expected, oh well, poor judgment all around.
But what this does is confirm what I've suspected since Champions was released: Atari is used to selling boxes, not collecting subscriptions, and everything they do is about selling more boxes, not about building the long-term survivability of a game.

 

I think "eventually" is the key word here.  MMOs that aren't going into death spirals don't do things like this on LAUNCH month.

olepi

Obviously they are looking to get a quick infusion of cash up front. They don't seem to understand the MMORPG type community though, where your good name over time is the most profitable thing you could have. Once you appear to be willing to throw some of your existing customers under the bus, it is difficult to recover (hint of SWG).

The real question is going to be: will they make enough money to justify the investment up front? or are they going to have to rely on long term subs to make the profit? This move seems to indicate that they want the cash up front, which is a bad sign for the long term.

Hiz85

Originally posted by Miles-Prower


 Cryptic's STO isn't the only one to slash prices extremely. Champions Online Collector's edition is now $20. Check it out on Wal-mart's Website. Huge deal if you like CO
 
~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!

 

Same company... And yes i'd say the game is in trouble, all atari/cryptic are trying to do right now is selling boxes/copies of the game to make their financial state for the new quarter look good.

Miles-Prower

Originally posted by Hiz85

Originally posted by Miles-Prower


 Cryptic's STO isn't the only one to slash prices extremely. Champions Online Collector's edition is now $20. Check it out on Wal-mart's Website. Huge deal if you like CO
 
~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!

 

Same company... And yes i'd say the game is in trouble, all atari/cryptic are trying to do right now is selling boxes/copies of the game to make their financial state for the new quarter look good.

I know. That's why I said "Cryptic". Well aware they are the same company =P

~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!

TookyG

From my understanding it is 60 additional days.  So you get 90 days of free sub time.