Doing something like this will have a significantly bigger impact than Burn Jita could ever hope to. I would happily fly beside you and blow every last ISK I have in the process. Once nothing is left, biomass ever char I have and cancel my subs.

Anyone who had absolutely anything to do with Command and Conquer 4 should be shot.

EA is quite possibly the worst gaming company on the face of the planet. Hiring someone from EA is not something to be proud of. They should have known better than to ever even let this out to the press.

This is the first time I've ever felt like declaring "EVE is dying."

Wouldn't this move (hiring the EA guy) lead to higher PLEX prices because more players are going to spend their ISK on PLEXes rather than paying subs?

I know that I for one don't feel compelled to inject any money right now and may start PLEXing once my subs run out...

Painful quote from the official PR



If this guy did not already learn that free-to-play retrofits on existing games kill games, he should be deep-sixed NOW.

Now if he's hired just to try to get Dust not to crater, whatever. It was F2P from day 1 and I have no issues with that there (not that I would ever play it, partly due to ******** F2P)

Edit: Same PR claims he will oversee all franchises



If this muppet says "F2P" or "Microtransactions" and EVE in same sentence, the monument gets it.

Well, this is the consequence of micro transactions. As soon as CCP went for another revenue stream from the subscription model, it opened the door for F2P pay schemes, and everything associated with them.

Blizzard maintains subscriptions despite the MMO industry all but moved to the F2P model, as they generate enough money on it due to the volume of players (plus it's a consistent cash flow each month). In game development the job doesn't get done until it's funded first. With a consistent cash flow Blizzard can fix things quickly and roll out the content without facing bad spells, like when players buy PLEX ingame, instead of paying for it themselves.

And it's probably better in the end, because players who want to control development to such an extent that it hurts the game, will peel off and go elsewhere (and not to WoW, since either you pay each month to play, or don't pay at all).

Games are not free. Either you pay for access with a subscription (which is the best pay model as you can budget with it), or get used to being a whale, as the other pay schemes are more expensive in the end, because they'll nickel and dime you on everything.

Bringing an EA exec into EvE is par on course with it's development, as players are used to paying more than $14.95 a month, and everything associated.

I hope any leadership CCP gets from this is more than just about revenue streams, and more about being competitive in an genre that is dominated by one MMO. Thus, it can get media presence to attract more human players, who in turn populate the game more than Joe the IsBoxer.

EVE doesnt compete with WoW, though, MMO isnt a "genre", its a medium of play with many genres within.

CCP is getting the money for every account while the option is open (and relatively easily accessable) to play the game for free.

I agree that MMO is not a genre, but it's silly to say that EVE and WoW are not in direct competition. It's not like people have a genre and they only play games in that genre and nothing else. I don't play EVE because it's a space game, I play EVE because it's a very well done MMO with good balancing, excellent mechanics, and a skill training that appeals to me.

EVE and WoW compete not because they share a genre, but because people have limited leisure hours to devote to gaming and research shows that one MMO just about eats up an entire customer's worth of leisure time. Unlike, say, an average console game which can be played alongside other console games, very few gamers play more than one MMO. So once they're hooked on WoW, they're going to have to kick the habit in order to pick up EVE and Vice Versa. This is the essence of MMO marketshare. Games compete for player's time and given the commitment required to excel at most MMO's, all MMO's compete with each other for the same basic demographic of players.

Though CCP might do well to figure out why girls don't want to play EVE.

Misnomer.

Video games aren't free. Someone pays.

Folks like this micro transaction pay scheme because they can shift the cost to a subscriber or a whale, and frankly, I don't feel that's fair. If folks can't pay $14.95 a month for a game that is constantly updated, they need to find a game that they can afford. If folks are running multiboxes they have to pay for it, and not shift it to others thinking they can play for "free".

EvE suffers two fold. It remains a niche game, which hampers it's ability to pay for itself; and it's a warren full of players who multibox and don't want to pay for it. You don't hear of Blizzard micromanaging the costs, because they don't need too. Even if 3 million players leave tomorrow, they still have enough to keep production rolling.

This is why EvE can't have good things. It needs the capital to do so. As long as there's players who want to play for "free" they can't. Niched to death by players who play but don't want to pay.

I don't support DLC and the other revenue streams, fully. I've seen what the F2P model turns a game into and don't support it. I support more players who will pay their share, and playing with players not bots or IsBox. Leave the PLEXing for cosmetics and toys.

very few gamers play more than one MMO.

I worked at Microsoft for a decade in two countries, doesn't mean I am good for Eve :)

"Options like ship paintjobs are still on the table, but Hilmar explained that the focus right now is on more ideas along the same lines as the dual character training option recently released in EVE's Odyssey expansion."

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/07/02/ccps-sean-decker-and-hilmar-petursson-on-the-future-of-eve-dus/

Since dual training requires a PLEX, which essentially makes it a microtransaction...this should fix it

Hilmar explained that the focus right now is on more microtransactions along the same lines as the dual character training option recently released in EVE's Odyssey expansion.

Rigth now, the players who "play for free" give CCP 33% more cash (USD) than somoene with a traditional subscription, thats because its 20 USD for a Plex, and 15 for a sub.

Based on this statement, it looks like we're off to an amazing start! He has no idea who CCP is or what games they make.

Inconsistently.

Which is why CCP has to budget anything in the game ruthlessly, because in game development nothing gets done until it's funded first.

Want POS controls fixed? If CCP had a consistent revenue stream it can budget it and have MULTIPLE projects going on at a time, and can pay for each fully.

This is what the micro transaction model pays for...

http://community.eveonline.com/news/patch-notes/patch-notes-for

This is what 9 million subscriptions pays for...

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/patch-notes/5-3-0
(5.4 already is up on the PTR, so it's going to rollout soon...as it stays on the PTR for 4 weeks or less now)

WoW essentially pays for the development of StarCraft and Diablo III. It generates so much income 3 games run off of it. It's called a flagship game.

That's where EvE needs to go if players want the quality and the content money can actually buy.

You misunderstand.

NO ONE plays eve for free. If someone buys a PLEX, soome one else has paid cash for it. All plexes on the market are player generated (even when CCP seed some they liquidate assets from banned accounts to do so).

WoW

Well, considering how much this player base hates WoW, if they gotten an Activision-Blizzard VP would it be any better?

There's only 2 choices at the top. They got there due to mass marketing and their distribution networks and have the volume of players to fund even more games.

Blizzard has so much money (independent of Activision and it's CoD flagship), they're branching out to other game venues -- despite losing almost 2 million subs and laying off 600 employees.

They're big companies. Big companies have experience in operating BIG.

If CCP wants to compete and be something in the industry, it has to rise to the top...not just be a niche game provider, that if you mention "EvE" people don't think about the movie "Eve" itself. And DUST is dust (horrible name CCP, horrible).