F2P problem to be?

[Malorn]

Originally Posted by Stardouser

Malorn, just curious about something. There was a leaked speech from one of EA's investor meetings and the guy basically said two things of extreme interest about microtransactions:
1. He said that HE paid a lot of money per year on them(he either said $1500 or $5000, can't remember which)
2. He made a comment about how when the player is in the middle of a firefight and needs to reload, they've got you(ie, charging for bullets).

One of my first thoughts was, you know, if you provide an MMO quality game(ie, a large scale persistent world) like PS2 is doing, I will be willing to pay around the equivalent of what a monthly sub would be, $200 per year or so. And I thought, we aren't all EA CEOs that can spend $5000 or even $1500 per year on bullets.

What do you think about that? Not necessarily that SOE is going to do this, but could that be something to fear elsewhere in the industry?

I think that guy is an idiot who doesn't understand his customers.

Like that CEO, I pay a lot of money for games because its my hobby and I have disposable income. But I didn't always have that. I used to be a poor college kid like most gamers. At one point I relied almost exclusively on my parents for gaming funds, and they didn't just hand over money on request. Today's restricted-income player is tomorrow's disposable income player. Treating everyone like disposable income players is a terrible practice and a failed business model.

In the video I posted above they explain that F2P and microtransactions offer you the flexibility to appeal to players of all spending habits. You'll get the fat cats that can throw down $500, and the guys who only want to spend $5. Today's younger players who don't have disposable income or credit cards will have those things at some point in the future. By trying to swindle players into paying more they're only going to lose would-be paying customers and cause their player base to shrink.

DDO was a subscription-based game that went F2P with a good mictotransaction model. Not only did they manage to have a much larger player base, but they also gained far more revenue than they did as a subscription model. This is all because of increased volume of players and the fact that people are willing to spend money. Some only spent $5, others spent a lot more.

Players are the content <- this should be etched into the entrance hallway of SOE so every employee never forgets it.