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Destination SkillQueue
Are We There Yet
1820
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Posted - 2012.02.09 16:10:00 -
[1] - Quote
Kattshiro wrote:Why do you care so much if a game succeeds or doesnt if you dont play it? Also aren't you the guy that lauded it before it's release, and people proclaimed that it wasn't anything new or special rather new with a star wars twist, and voice acting? You then fervently disagreed and told us how wrong we were? Read last week that sales figures put it at 1.5 millionish. Didnt say active subs, but given that many bought the what? 200 dollar uber peuter box set, and regular 60 price tag. I dunno if i'd call that a total failure. (sales figures are reported by retailers). http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/02/01/ea-reveals-swtor-subscription-and-sales-numbers-beats-financial/Kinda funny that many want to see other games fail... MMO wise or we put so much stock in subscription numbers rise and fall. It's also funny that numbers are relative to the specific game so EVE = 300kish == success. (8years) (I dont disagree) AOC 150ksih a few years == total failure. Rift 500kish started out with 1 millionish == semi failure. What would be interesting is to see how many total have subbed for eve over it's life time v. the number of subscribers now. People make such a big deal over initial sales volume v. current subs. I would argue this is very normal as many are just trying it out or move on to other things. Much is the same of single player games or instanced MMO's (FPS) most people dont just stick around with 1 until its end of days. Many MMO players only seem to play 1 game and one game only (I dont understand this or do this, but whatever) So their belief is because of this a game == failure. But really what defines failure in an MMO? I'd say if it's still running and earning money even if it has a low player base.
I do agree that the OP is making too much out of the figures and server stats. The game is still hugely popular and will likely stay that way for some time no matter what happens. EA and BW will make their initial investment back very soon and it's all profit from that point on. The game is only a failure in the sense, that it's a disapointment from many MMO veterans point of view and that it won't likely be able to dethrone WoW. It's some people's belief, that they didn't invest hundreds of millions in to the game to finish second to WoW, so if it doesn't keep gaining subs at a steady pace and overtake WoW at some point, it could be viewed as a failure in that sense too.
I think the reason for caring is part schadenfreude and part caring about the trend of MMOs in general. SWTOR isn't anything special outside the single player campaign, it's a huge budget game to intentionally make a clone of the average MMO, give it a some polish and simplify the gameplay and move things more towards single player games in general. I care because that kind of philosophy in making MMOs is horrible IMO and I don't want to see it becoming a trend in the industry.
How popular it will end up being is sort of a mystery at this point though, since unlike most MMOs SWTOR is very leveling focused and had a good amount of initial content. Basicly meaning the initial impression is very positive leading to renewed subscriptions, while the main problem areas with the game only start at the endgame and it will take a long time before the casual mass of players reaches that point let alone gets bored of repeating it. Those problems being, ignoring bugs, that it doesn't offer anything new compared to other MMOs(except hutball) and in many areas it currently does the same content worse than the competition. Since it is star wars and ignoring individual player taste not a horrible game, it will likely retain hundreds of thousands of players even in the worst case scenario, but depending on how bioware develops the game it could even remain as the second most popular MMO in the west after WoW.
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Destination SkillQueue
Are We There Yet
1833
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Posted - 2012.02.10 07:33:00 -
[2] - Quote
It's potentially the biggest failure in the industry. If it really takes them 500k subs for a full year to even make a profit from this, there is a real chance that you're right in the end, but I still think they'll make a profit out of this in the long run. I just don't see most MMO veterans having a constant sub for long. A few months sure and then coming back during expansions to play through the new content during the free month. That doesn't equate to failure, just to having to rely on other players to carry the game.
Keep in mind, that it has one of the strongest IP with fanatical fans who genuinely love everything with a SW theme(FFS they'll even defend the prequels to death and see nothing wrong with them) and it has also attracted new MMO players, who don't know any better or really like the single player story aspects. They might stay with the game and if BW can churn out new content for them at a steady pace, they alone could carry the game for a long time. Either way I just think it's too early to tell, since the raging is currently mostly from MMO vets and I'll wait until I see how things look at the 3 month and 6 month marks before announcing it dead or having a bright long term future. |
Destination SkillQueue
Are We There Yet
1836
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Posted - 2012.02.10 20:03:00 -
[3] - Quote
Micheal Dietrich wrote:
That's usually a pretty big tactic among naysayers. I saw people pulling that stunt with Rift as well.
I checked Eve's population status at 6 am EST the other morning, and nobody was on!
So EVE Just hit the iceberg=Evetanic!? |
Destination SkillQueue
Are We There Yet
1861
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Posted - 2012.02.18 13:56:00 -
[4] - Quote
mama guru wrote:tortanic is what happens when a bunch of idiots from /v/ and reddit starts posting about a less than satisfactory launch. It's not gonna die just because you have nothing better to post about.
They're just putting a dramatic presentation for the declining population trend and feelings of disapointment many players have felt. By looking at the server population trends it seems clear that the game peaked soon after launch and has been on a steady decline ever since. It will likely peak again in march, since it launches it's initial asian servers then, but the current trend confirms its popularity is in a steady decline. |
Destination SkillQueue
Are We There Yet
1897
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Posted - 2012.02.24 19:34:00 -
[5] - Quote
Is there a particular point you want to make or are you just responding to criticism of you choosing a bad time for your previous server status measurement? Everyone grounded in reality knows people are logging in less and less to the game. In all likelyhood the game is bleeding subs, but there is no way of telling at what speed, since you can explain the severity of the server status changes in all kinds of various ways(for example end of holidays and people play less at max level and after the initial playing spree, ect. depending on how desperate you are to give it a positive spin). Basicly meaning until you get exact figures you can even attempt to claim they're increasing their sub count at a good rate and the players are just loggin in less for various reasons.
Just to make it clear, I don't doubt the game has troubles right now and what BW will do in the next month or two will decide how severe the bleeding will end up being. I know people who play or played the game and the story from them is always pretty much the same. Really excited at the start, good leveling experience and then at max level everyone loses interest in a few weeks and the ones who still play are finding less and less reason to do so, since their guild mates have abandoned the game and they can't access the content anymore due to difficulty of finding groups and are thinking of following their friends back to whatever game they went back to. Final verdict varies between weak to average MMO with good leveling.
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Destination SkillQueue
Are We There Yet
2420
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Posted - 2012.06.13 06:06:00 -
[6] - Quote
Games do die. It's just that the death scenes can drag on for years and the fallen corpse has a tendency to twich quite a bit. |
Destination SkillQueue
Are We There Yet
2534
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Posted - 2012.08.01 06:29:00 -
[7] - Quote
Looks like the downward trend of subs has finally gotten the publisher to react. SWtoR is going F2P. From full sub WoW killer to F2P within the first year. That's a solid flop in my book  |
Destination SkillQueue
Are We There Yet
2539
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Posted - 2012.08.03 12:30:00 -
[8] - Quote
Now that I've actually looked at the F2P /sub comparison chart they're going for I'm a bit perplexed. It's a hybrid model like in LoTRO, with some differences, but I'm not sure how they plan on making money of it. You get all the story content for free, which is arguably the only redeeming quality of the game. The problem is, that if you get that for free, why would you pay for anything outside vanity options? Naturally there are some limitations, but they are in areas, that aren't considered good or are only minor inconveniences.
From what I've read and been told the game has no economy and crafting isn't a strong point either. Leveling is also fast, character creator is one of the weakest in recent years and all the alien races are just retextured humans. It just seems, that the advantages you get from paying for anything, as the game currently is, are non-existant. You have to pay to regularly access the multiplayer aspects, but that is done better by almost every competitor they have. It just seems weird to me, that you give the only strong content you have for free, while trying to make money on the content, that is the weakest.
The vanity market might be strong, since some of the current art style of clothing/armor is hated by the players. I'm sure stuff like black lightsaber blades and other lightsaber crystals will also sell quite nicely. It'll look awful and increasingly less and less like starwars or a coherent universe stylisticly, but it'll sell. I just don't think that's enough and they'll have to heavily rework the game or introduce P2W to get people to spend money.
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