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6-1 Twitch video with highlights noted
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Hey, thanks for this! Quite handy for "lazy" people.
PS I re-posted it on CU reddit, hope you don`t mind
You stay sassy!
Not sustainable anymore because the main demographic for MMOs is people who are into f2p games right? That's nowhere close to the target audience for this game, and I think you will find the community of players who are drawn to CU to be older, more mature, and much more loyal. It's not the type of crowd that jumps around between f2p games. I don't think 50k subs will be that hard to sustain for the foreseeable future if the game comes together like we're all hoping it will.
Since when was the FFA gankfest group involved with this game? It's been clear from day one that this game is nowhere near that type of experience. This is an RvR game, maybe you're lost?
For the likes of Blizz, Trion, EA, etc, etc, etc.... Yes they tend to find a greater stream of income in that way, but that's all it's really about to them, in the greater scheme of things. Now for one who isn't worried about being a major corporate player, it's not so much of an issue as long as they find steady income.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
That information was made available first day on Kickstarter. There is not a strong backing for CU from FFA gankfest players. Those who did back it expecting such only shows their inability to read.
A "strong" backing for the game is from former DAoC players who know exactly what type of game CU is trying to be.
You stay sassy!
Ignorance about f2p is indeed strong. Games that have done well and still do well with a sub model like Wow and FFIV (which btw is thriving) are games built around game play and lore directed at an existing fan base. F2P typically occurs post launch when a product both fails to live up to it's game play potential (meaning it frankly sucks) and tries to pull any type of player into it. F2P typically occurs at launch when developers want to exploit maximum potential earnings with zero regard to it's impact on game play and game design. FFIV is making a killing with it's sub model and protects it's loyal FF fanbase with it. This cannot be ignored.
A game like CU could not be made if designed as F2P. F2P does not promote fair and equal game play nor does it allow community building which is the core concept of CU with it's realm pride. The greatest contributor to the sustenance of RvR is community building. Community building has successfully occurred most often in games limiting transient game play and through enforcing cooperative and fair game play. This is both supported by single server shards and subscription.
To suggest that CU is picking the wrong pay model only reveals the level of ignorance one has in understanding the sort of game that is trying to be built. F2p or sub does not guarantee a games success. Only a good game guarantees success and we have to wait and see how good CU becomes.
You stay sassy!
They must be going after the Eve crowd.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
DAOC Live (inactive): R11 Cleric R11 Druid R11 Minstrel R9 Eldritch R6 Sorc R6 Scout R6 Healer
True, just the sales will easily be in hundreds of thousants and settling down on 100k+ is far from impossible - 50k is just kind of lower limit of profitability, not the expectation. This is not just another game, and MJ is both big name and good at hyping stuff. For example, their KS is still holding the MMO world record, ahead of Star Citizen etc. (unless you consider Elite:Dangerous or Hex MMOs, that is
I agree with people saying that subs can be CU`s Achilles heel in the long run, market seems to be trending the other way recently. Also, speaking of PvE and customers "without homework" - unlike many, I think that PvE is very important for making the game stickier, even the RvR focused one. I especiallyi have in mind The Depths, very ambitious idea even for AAA teams...
I will support this game, not because I played daoc for years, or war for years, not because I think the devs have a proven track record, not because the game has rvr, not because of a hundred other reasons. I'll support it simply because its a subscription based game.
I don't know what the development cost of a niche game is. I'm going to assume 20 million dollars would be a good guess considering it's niche and not paying for a over the top marketing campaign, which I think I've read is more then 65% of the cost of releasing a new triple A. Fund raising is over 3 million from backers, and 3 million more from the creators. I expect more will be raised as there is more of a working game shown to the public. 6 million is a long way off from the 20 million estimate I made and I'm not sure how that all plays out. Maybe they can produce the game for 6 million, maybe they can get a big league release company to back them (hopefully without taking control of the development of the game) and the game is released.
Assuming 50k subscribers purchase the base game at $60 that would give a gross of 3 million. That will most likely be higher because of the new game experience and people buying the game just to try it will exceed that 50k mark. There is no way to guess the number of initial purchase, but I could see more a lot more then 50k. Lets just assume that they can get how ever much money and support needed to release a triple A quality game and can be operating in the black within a couple of months of release.
That brings us to sustaining the game, it's maintenance both hardware and software, employees and investors profit. With 50k subscribers at $15 per month they will gross 750,000 per month. I don't know if subscriptions work off a 12 or 13 month calendar so we'll assume 12 which puts it at 9 million dollars per yer. Assumming the creators take 4 million out for themselves per year, that leaves 5 million to cover all operating expenses. Does it cost more then 5 million to employ 40 or so employees and maintain hardware costs? I don't know, I'm not a game developer, but If I was a gambling man, I'd bet it is enough.
If 50k subscribers is what is needed to make this game work, I think they will be successful. There are 50k people like myself, who want to log on, make some friends, hang out online while playing a game, and not get nickel and dimed for every little thing, who are willing to pay 15 a month.