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Is F2P past its prime?
Talonsin
Member EpicPosts: 3,619
When LOTRO and DDO went F2P, the other F2P games out there were of very low quality. Getting to play a full-feature MMO for free was new and people liked it. Flash forward to today, CO and CoH are free and now DCUO is doing it too. If you start playing one of the F2P hero games and you hit a roadblock, instead of paying to win, you can just stop and jump into another hero game. Great games like Skyrim, ME3 and GW2 are coming out over the course of the next 12 months.
Is F2P still going to save games like STO now that things are different? Are we at the peak of F2P and what will the next trend be? Will lower quality games go back to a sub model but charge less than $15 a month? What are your thoughts...
Comments
Generally speaking, companies either start with a F2P model to make more money or they switch to one to make more money.
They're not going to bother switching to continue a loss.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
What i think is people will not realy care anymore about MMO'S there free easy to DL and jump in play for day few days weeks months and quit and jump to next new game we get a new generations of gamers.
The BUNNY HOPPING FREE MMO generation. Hopping from one free mmo to next freebee, and who cares it costs nothing.
This new BHFM generation just dont care anymore for the game they install uninstall as easy as they did with the freedemo's.
I think more and more going to solo or coop solo rpg's thats where new trend is going i think?
I think there digging there own grave with going fake free two play model.
Hope to build full AMD system RYZEN/VEGA/AM4!!!
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I don't see all that much of a problem with these trends. Personally I think Freemium is far from its peak and leaning towards heavy growth.
The one big concern I have is that the playstyle I always enjoyed most will probably die out. Let's call it the "commited casual pick up fun"-group.
You know, you meet someone on the road in some area you're doing stuff in and you _type_ "/say hey, wanna so some quests together?" and that guy's NOT a bot, NOT a 'f*ck you'-soloer, NOT a guild-bound minmaxer twink and not afk. You know, like in the first months of vanilla WoW, when you could - even at level 55 - walk up to some random guy and he would be all glad to be able to play together.
In short, that's what I'm afraid F2P and the coming "buyout"-models will completely destroy: Playing with strangers for fun.
M
F2P is just getting going the Freemium model is just a stepping stone to the big game developers developing fully F2P games. So you are right in some ways the Freemium model has reached its peak but not true F2P.
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I agree.
But it has nothing to do with F2P
Do you see it happening in today WOW ?
RIFT, AION or any other sub game for that mater ?
This is result of streamlining MMOs. And discouraging of any group like behaviour.
Everything is geared towards soloing. And to make it worse. You are mostly always penalised for grouping in some way ( you get less xp , cannot do same quests...etc )
Heh , Forest-nl nailed it. Problem with F2P MMO's these days is that people just don't care anymore. It's at a point where when people are faced with a tough challenge or feel underpowered , they just leave and hop on another F2P MMO. Honestly that is really not the way this business should be heading. We used to have a MMO that would define us and we would debate on how awesome our MMO is compared to the junk our friends were playing. Today you just don't get that kind of feeling anymore since everything IS garbage. It's like the moto " Sex sales " , it's true but there comes a time where it gets dull and boring.
I think F2P is part of the problem. Sure, this is also prevalent in most sub-based games. But to a lesse extent. You can still find nice pick-up minigroups in games like Rift.
Soloability or better 'non-dependency' is something that gets even worse through F2P. The less people feel attached to a game the more they will treat it as "a medium that's supposed to entertain me"...
M
What? What? A game that DEFINES me?!
*slowly backs away* Okay, man, whatever you say, I just wanted to say that it's my life that defines me, and those games are just, you know, some entertainment I engage it from time to time, but if you say that YOU are defined by the game, who am I to argue? Just don't bite me...
People! I don't want to be attached to the game! I want to play it for fun! I have a life and my family and my friends to be attached to, you know. Try it sometimes. You can actually build an amazing house out-of-game! Crafting is amazing! Some grind, yes, but you also get some sex, so it kind of pays out...
If the devs continue their current course of action I doubt ANYTHING will save STO.
DDO and LOTRO F2P was a shock to the industry. As you mentioned, full featured for free was big news and a big draw.
I don't see the newer conversions as being all that shocking to the genre. The F2P market is already saturated. To keep income, games are heading more towards selling real advantages. Hence, the trend toward "pay to win".
Although counter-intuitive, I believe there is as much pressure on the large budget F2Ps as the smaller ones. One can assume that better games are more expensive to produce and as such they have more need to produce income to cover investment and operational expenses. This could lead to large budget F2P or F2P conversions into yielding to the temptation of "pay to win".
The biggest question I see to the future of F2P is public opinion. I don't see F2P dieing off, but I also don't see huge amounts of growth either. What I do see is more of what one poster described as Free "bunny hopping" where they participate briefly in a game, possibly up to hitting the wall where cash shop is less optional or even required, then hop to the next for a similar experience.
I've felt for a while now that discount subscription would be a good idea, but few if any games go that route. It seems the corporate types are constantly after more money and are put-off by the lower margins of discounting. Until a major drops subscription to $5.00 monthly and does well with it, I don't see any trend in that direction. Even so, I would consider it likely that any game with reduced subscription would probably exist as a hybrid (Freemium) and as such the discounted sub is no advantage to anyone because free is cheaper than $5.00 and the premium people would be willing to spend full price.
To answer the question directly I have no clue what will happen other than it will be a constant struggle to make any sort of profit with any business model.
IMO the ONLY people who liked it are cheap players who either can't spend any money or are too cheap to buy a game and sub to it.F2P has NEVER stood well with me because yo ugo from a standard no hidden cost sub fee to a pay plan that is full of hidden costs and can change constantly with no warning.
f2p will NEVER save a game because i think i am not alone in saying we don't mind spending money on a decent game.If it is not worth 50 cents a day,then it really is not worth my time at all.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
DDO was almost completely dead when it went f2p and it got majorly revived. So it became an attractive alternative to a dying game. That is it and I think that this trend will continue because instead of shutting your p2p game you turn it freemium. Doubt this trend will stop any time soon but I suppose considering the number of games available now for f2p the market will get saturated and quality games will still duke it out for p2p. That is where real quality shines because you need to be good to still charge a sub. In a way this is good as it makes those games that want to charge a monthly sub work on making their games worth it.
I completely agree.
Mmorpgs should convince us to pay the subscription fee by presenting themselves as a good, quality, fun games. As it were some years ago.
Now most mmorpgs point out their best feature as being "free". That's how they try to attract people nowadays. Put shiny ads on the internet with naked female bottoms or boobs and big flashy FREE sign. Unfortunately, it works
However, i think F2P market will become the norm, because obviously it's much easier to make an average or poor game and get players advertising as free, than actually make a quality attractive game, which people would pay a sub fee for.
*rolls eyes* I can do it all without getting attached to the game, you know. That's my point. Not that there is no point in playing.
Well part of great DDO freemium success, and Lotro initial success (though not nearly as much rise as in DDO) was because they were first 'big' western titles to do so.
Nowadays it is not novelity anymore, still first weeks after conversion game will bring crowds, but as you can see it already Lotro have many players but nowhere as much as it had in first weeks/ months after f2p conversion.
Competition in freemium / f2p area is rising tremendeusly, pressure on game studios will rise as well, so I can see more advantage / pw2 beign put inot cash shops and cash shops expanding more to big sizes.
Remember game studios want to get MORE money from freemium than from p2p, and not only more money overall but also more money PER PAYING USER. It is usual misconception that freemium games are made to make overall more money but less money per paying user. Just read / see some industry's slideshows / articles, you can find them in google if you look hardenough. Some are at slideshare.net.
Concept is to make as many players to be subscribed to freemiuum games 15$, then make them spend additional 15$ / month in item shop + sell content in form of DLC's / small expansions more often which overall will be more expensive for players than big expansions (just see at single player DLC's vs old big expansion system). So it is to make paying user spend 30-40$ / month, then some big spending miniority to spend ridiculous amounts like 50$ + and some other big bigger miniority to grind to death by playing for free / small bits of money <--- they are in game 'peasants' so paying users have a 'feel' of crowded world.
Welcome to in-game stratification, when you can feel better and more 'important' oif you keep spending bucks to be like that, all officially supported and encouraged. Fun huh? not really...
How it will impact this business model and genre itself? Don't know.
F2P / freemium will still rise, just not nowhere as fast as now. Well unless WoW goes freemium lol
F2P is simply an abomination created by an absolute landslide of shitty mmos. Crappy, lazy generic western developers ex. cryptic for one. "The asian invasion" omg - main contributor.
Now western development houses and publishers can pin a F2P plan on a shit game and all the sudden it is hip and cool -NOT.
These games will collapse on their own merit and the fad will die out. Just like disco
Life IS Feudal
No-one told me.....
But whats that I hear.......A Disco beat from 2008 ammmmaaaaaaazzziiinng!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-_lg0thVwk
This doom and gloom thread was brought to you by Chin Up the new ultra high caffeine soft drink for gamers who just need that boost of happiness after a long forum session.
This video contains content from UMG. It is not available in your country.
Sorry about that.
I hope F2P has the same problem in my country soon. ;P
Life IS Feudal
Depends on the type of F2P. I think too many of the more recent examples use more of a free trial model, where they cripple the gameplay in the wrong ways, and keep pushing for a full priced sub, even though it's already been established that not enough people consider the game worth a full sub.
F2P should be about giving up hope of a sub, to try to get at least a few bucks from the people that give the game a try. More from the people that stick with it, but only $15+ a month more from a dedicated few.
For one thing, that means letting people have full access to the character creation process, at the very least. Charge for extra quest packs, vanity items, xp doubling potions, etc.. but if people feel they can't even play a real character, compared to a subscriber, they're going to judge the game against the most successful MMOs, when they think about paying a sub - and that's where these games failed already.
So yeah, F2P can still work, IMHO. Doesn't mean it will work, though. Too many attempts hamstring the potential benefits with greed, and that effect will get worse as there are more and more western-market style F2P games to choose from.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
Oh! bummer well that joke fell flat...but Disco never died it just evolved and f2p is the natural evolution of MMORPG's......so be prepared.
This doom and gloom thread was brought to you by Chin Up the new ultra high caffeine soft drink for gamers who just need that boost of happiness after a long forum session.
You nailed it. In my opinion, F2 P means failed to pay - folks stopped paying for something that wasn't worth paying for. THe few remaining were easily replaced with a free to play model. If a game developer feels they have a gem, if they honestly put the work in, listen to common sense and the rational end of their beta testers, then they get to charge. Very few games are that calibur. Hence...F2P.
I immediately disregard a game when I see it is F2P - however. Let me add. I do believe all mmorpgs should start as a F2P model (until a certain level)...for the sake of trying it out. But then, I would never have bought Warhammer, Rift, Lord of the Rings, Age of Conan, and so forth...because I would have seen before end game that it was something that was not going to stay popular.
Sorry to break it to you but the games we choose to play do define who we are. Even if you are "rping" as a female pink haired gnome the fact that you derive entertainment from it does define some part of what makes you tick and pushes your buttons.
It seems like you just looked in the mirror and noticed you had a piece of food stuck in your teeth all day. EVeryone else that saw you already knew that..........
F2P is better.
When you have a poor product, it's hard to make money using any method -- but it's smart to at least use the best method.
If it fails to save STO, then all the more reason F2P is great: you see the exact quality of the product before you pay. Very good for gamers, and applies the right pressure for devs to make a fun game.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
F2P past it's prime? I don't think F2P is anywhere close to it's prime yet. Not even close.
Venge