GO F2P LEARN FROM OTHER


  • TF#1 - WHISPERER

    i like this game i want it to succed but if dev dont go f2p to start with big population it will end up dead in few months after rellease,and when they finally decide to go f2p eveyone else will be playing another game,


  • TF#10 - CONSUL

    Don't think so. Yes, most of the mmo are f2p, but you'll have to pay for a lot of content, or for the full game if your "f2p" thing is just a trial version. And remember that is a really small studio, they might have investors, but they still need to make money. And if a game look promising, I think 20€ is not that expensive for a mmo, especially if it's the only time you'll have to pay money if you don't want to subscribe for a vip membership.


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    Developers of Albion Online assured that they will not change B2P system to F2P, and hey look what happened later. Albion has been a F2P over a year now and things are going great and they have raised from a niche to one of the most popular MMORPGs. However, we could say that Albion is "F2P" but in practice the gaming experience will be horrible without "optional" monthly subscription a.k.a. premium package. Therefore, it is possible to make that change later and save the game if numbers are dropping too much. However, it is important for Dynamight Studios to get some income now so I would not see F2P as an option at the moment but perhaps after release if the situation demands that.


  • TF#5 - LEGATE

    I'm not sure I agree 100%. I think a combination of VIP and FTP will work.


  • TF#3 - ENVOY

    I have to agree with @Tuoni on this one. For the stage this game-development is in right now, the most important thing is funding. Without it the development will halt, so considering they're using 'pledge packs' for an extra income is nothing to be surprised about.


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    Yeah World of Warcraft .... Better go free to play or it will never survive, ??


  • Wiki Editor

    Hello @RoyalX

    For first, if you want, that the Devs listen to you, you should prevent to use just uppercase letters in your title.
    Also as a second hint, explain your opinion a bit better, just to say others do same, is not a valid argument in my opinion.

    We had this kind of "advice" more than once the last 3 years and we had some nice discussions about. Maybe it is worth, if you watch out some of them πŸ˜‰


  • TF#6 - DIPLOMAT

    Guild Wars Prophecies might not be an MMORPG but its very close, and people still play it. The reason why so many b2p indie mmorpgs go f2p is because they suck. People don't play them because they get bored, there is no real endgame or the game is released very unfinished.


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    You joined this month and have 2 posts both of which is about going f2p... yeah... the devs already have a payment model that MOST of believe will work just fine tyvm...


  • TF#11 - PROCONSUL

    I don’t think this will be the case. Not every game needs to be a F2P toxic cesspool in order to survive.


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    F2P does not necessarily mean anything bad and it depends a lot of the business model build around that. Huge advantage with F2P is that it lures a lot of more players at least try your product than a B2P game, and why not because it is free to test out. However, F2P is usually linked to P2W because developers needs to get the money from somewhere. In my opinion, the best F2P model would be such which sells just cosmetics in the cash shop and perhaps offers an optional inexpensive subscription with some resonable QoL features.

    Anyhow, like mentioned before there is no reason why Dynamight Studios should change the current business model and simply because they need the money from the founder packs in advance for the development of the game. I am personally totally fine even the business model would change later after the release to F2P if that is what it takes to save the game. However, I hope in such situation developers do not forget their founders and perhaps gives them something little extra. πŸ˜‰


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    @Tuoni said in GO F2P LEARN FROM OTHER:

    In my opinion, the best F2P model would be such which sells just cosmetics in the cash shop...

    I'ma let you finish but up to there youre good!

    IMO, a QoL shouldn't ever be behind a paywall.


    I've been playing BDO lately and I've noticed they will have periods where they offer the box game (their lowest tier package of 10$) for free with the idea that they'll make more within the cash shop or from pack upgrades. I could see Dynamight offing the box game for free with some type of stipulation like earning x amount of Knowledge within the event period.


  • TF#10 - CONSUL

    I'll go and post my 5 cents πŸ˜‰ I'm not sure if Fractured would benefit from huge population of uninvested players. It's a game model where players have to invest their time for the game to work as a whole. So even if they succed in F2P without P2W the game quality would probably drop.


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    @tulukaruk said in GO F2P LEARN FROM OTHER:

    I'll go and post my 5 cents πŸ˜‰ I'm not sure if Fractured would benefit from huge population of uninvested players. It's a game model where players have to invest their time for the game to work as a whole. So even if they succed in F2P without P2W the game quality would probably drop.

    without some type of method to try the game, you really never know if you'll like. and this game wont be a game to know that with a few day trial.


  • TF#1 - WHISPERER

    Let me start with this. I am a gaming professional, and have published many F2P games. I have extensive experience working with developers to develop their F2P strategies.

    Having said that, this game is not ready for F2P. Their best approach is to launch as a P2P game, and try to build a decent gaming core. Once they have this (and a stable game) they can look at how they want to scale up via marketting. It is only at this point that F2P can help them. F2P is all about getting more for your marketing dollars, and using your community to promote your game.

    As for growing the company on a F2P, there are good examples of this. I would point at Grinding Gear Games (Path of Exile) as a good example of growing from a very small (~4 employees) company to a full studio (120+ employees) while growing their F2P game. I think most would agree that their approach of vanity (overlay) graphics has not been overly abrasive to the community, and that it has been additive (rather than subtractive) to the game.

    This game should likely consider F2P at some point, but it is not there yet, and they can make the change when it is the best for them.


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    @Jetah said in GO F2P LEARN FROM OTHER:

    (...)and this game wont be a game to know that with a few day trial.

    You have me curious. How long do you think it takes (is it going to take in the future) to know if you like Fractured or not? And is that pure game time, or just real life time? What factors prevent people from getting to a conclusion faster?


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    If a game is good, people will play it no matter what payment model is used.


  • TF#7 - AMBASSADOR

    There is no such thing as a successful free-to-play MMO. This is a euphemism for free-to-try scams.

    Excellent examples are Albion Online (formerly P2P) and Black Desert Online (still $10.00 for base entry). More or less every system in these games is a mob shakedown; your character is arbitrarily crippled, and your resources throttled, unless you pay more to regain full capacity. You are not playing the game for free and therefore it is not free to play.

    These games do this because they rely on whales - rich people who don't have any concern for decent gameplay, or talent therein, and prefer to buy e-peen trinkets to pretend they're better than everyone else in the game. A mere 10% of the player base sustains a whale game. So, these games have no particular need to have decent gameplay for 90% of the community.

    They also do this in order to profit off of goldwebs. Goldwebs are organized mass-botting operations done to collect ingame value and sell it to players through RMT. They're difficult to track because they always trade the value back and forth between tons of accounts (like a web) and never let large amounts of value stay on one account for longer than it takes to give it to a customer. Goldwebs make so much money from RMT that they think nothing of paying through any and all remotely reasonable financial game access barriers. The more paid accounts a goldweb registers, and the more passes to high-value DLC areas, the more profit the game turns. Thus, not only is there no incentive to actually stop botting in an MMO (which is incredibly difficult for any traditional MMO design), but it is in fact desirable to encourage them!

    Right now, Fractured has not lost its passion to actually be worth playing, and would not benefit in its current form from a free-to-try model, because it isn't designed as a scam. Maybe someday it will fall apart and die like Ultima Online before it, but not today.


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    @FibS It depends how you measure a successful F2P MMO. Albion Online is a great example how a game can be successful regarless it is F2P game and the business model around that divides opinions. I agree that typically F2P games are not the best ones especially because there can be a lot of P2W elements involved. However, people should consider F2P as a model where starting of the game is free but on top of that there will be additional payments. The base idea is that there is no such a thing as a free game because the developers needs to get the money from somewhere. Nevertheless, how those additional payments are implemeted is a different story though.


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    @EvolGrinZ said in GO F2P LEARN FROM OTHER:

    If a game is good, people will play it no matter what payment model is used.

    I guess this is true, at least in most of the cases (if not in all).


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