Microtransactions posts

Anti-Aliased: A Cryptic opinion

by Seraphina Brennan Feb 4th 2010 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Super-hero, Culture, MMO industry, Opinion, Star Trek Online, Champions Online, Anti-Aliased

So, wow, what a set the last week and a half has been. There seems to be a very strong theme going on in my inbox recently, and that's, without a doubt, Cryptic Studios. I've read unflattering comments about my integrity as a journalist, the usual statements of how this site is Cryptic's lapdog due to all of the Star Trek Online and Champions Online coverage, and, even more oddly, people want to know my opinion of Cryptic's recent actions -- specifically Star Trek Online and Vibora Bay.

Well, I was never one to shirk from the truth. I've been wanting to give my personal opinion on these events since Vibora Bay hit, so I might as well dedicate this column to my evaluation of Cryptic Studios. But, before we get to Cryptic, I have a few ground rules that I want to go over with you guys. Some facts that I'd like to set straight for, oh, I dunno, the fifth time.

Tags: anti-aliased, business, champions-online, comments, cryptic, cryptic-studios, featured, ferengi, forums, kitchen-sink-patch, klingon, management, microtransactions, new-races, opinion, performance, qa, quality-assurance, star-trek-online, testing, vibora-bay

The Daily Grind: Which titles should try F2P?

by Krystalle Voecks Jan 30th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Let's face it. In these harder economic times, there are a lot of people cutting back on subscriptions. Folks that may have carried multiple MMOs are now choosing more carefully. Those who probably wouldn't have taken a look at a free-to-play game before are now at least reading up on them in case anything they might like shows up. Companies like Turbine, EA/Mythic and others are starting to look towards models that turn the old "14-days to try it, then either buy it or sod off" on their ears.

Our question this morning is what game (or games) do you think need a F2P overhaul? Would you use something like what Turbine has done with Dungeons & Dragons Online, offering free play and an item mall that sells adventure packs? Do you think the Warhammer Online unlimited trial/velvet-rope model is better? Grab your morning caffeine and let your thoughts flow in the comments below!

Tags: ddo, dungeons-and-dragons-online, ea, f2p, free-to-play, item-mall, microtransactions, mythic, opinion, tdg, the-daily-grind, turbine, velvet-rope, warhammer-online

Being in it for the money

by Eliot Lefebvre Jan 21st 2010 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, Making money, Opinion

We might fight a lot of enemies in our MMOs, but a number of players will agree that there's one enemy that is bigger than anything else: the company that makes the game. Blizzard, Square-Enix, Funcom, Bioware -- according to this branch of the playerbase, they don't care at all about the people playing their game. All they're concerned about is making money. They just want to get your money by any means necessary.

However, the people who claim that say that like it's a bad thing.

Nobody ever smiles and says "boy, I'm sure glad Sony Online Entertainment is in this for the money." Oddly enough, when you start to think about it, the fact of the matter is that it's not only transparent that these companies are in it for the money, it's a good thing. We should be happy that most of these companies are there to get our money by any means necessary.

Tags: allods, allods-online, bioware, blizzard, champions-online, city-of-heroes, co, coh, content-cost, ddo, development-cost, dungeons-and-dragons-online, fallen-earth, fe, featured, funcom, greed, in-it-for-the-money, jack-emmert, microtransactions, money, square, square-enix

A quick Star Trek Online PvP interview with Jack Emmert

by Kyle Horner Jan 11th 2010 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, Star Trek Online, Massively Interviews

We recently had the opportunity to ask Cryptic's Jack Emmert a few questions regarding Star Trek Online and its PvP elements. With the looming open beta (tomorrow!) and similarly imminent February 2nd launch, we consider ourselves lucky to get some fairly definitive answers on topics like the game's Cryptic Store and the Klingon faction's future -- including if deeper customization is in the wings or not.

It's a quick read, but with less than 24 hours until open beta kick starts, that's probably a good thing. We wouldn't want to take away from anyone's Star Trek movie marathon, which is obviously what everyone is doing the day before, right? Khan!

Tags: atari, borg, cardassian, champions, champions-online, cryptic-points, cryptic-store, customization, featured, federation, interview, jack-emmert, klingon, klingons, microtransaction, microtransactions, pvp, romulan, romulans, star-trek, star-trek-online, sto

2009 from a developer's point of view

by Eliot Lefebvre Dec 25th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Culture, Economy, Events, real-world, MMO industry, Opinion, Academic

We're finishing up our 2009 Reader's Choice Awards, but that doesn't mean we can't take note of the fact that the last year of the decade hasn't exactly been a stellar years. We've watched a recession hit hard, several games turn the lights off for good, several others lose staff, and generally not had the best of years. And it's something that's even more obvious if you're in the thick of game development. Scott Jennings has taken a few moments to look back at what he sees as the three major developments of 2009: layoffs, Facebook, and microtransactions.

Of course, as someone who had an unpleasant brush with the recession, it's understandable that Jennings wouldn't be predisposed to mention things such as the free-to-play model making large inroads via high-profile titles such as Free Realms and Dungeons and Dragons Online. But the article is interesting as a retrospective of the many south turns the industry took this year, as are his guesses from a year ago regarding what things would look like. Here's hoping that 2010 provides us with slightly better news -- believe it or not, we don't like announcing shutdowns or layoffs any more than you like reading them.

Tags: 2009-retrospectives, ddo, dungeons-and-dragons-online, facebook, free-realms, free-to-play, john-deere, layoffs, lum-the-mad, microtransactions, opinion, scott-jennings, year-in-review

The Daily Grind: Do item shop sales affect your purchases?

by Rubi Bayer Dec 9th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Daily Grind

With more and more games adopting some form of the free-to-play model, item shops are becoming big business for many MMOs -- even some that aren't f2p are in on the act. Players can save a little (or a lot) of time by dropping a few dollars here or there to obtain an item that they don't have the time or inclination to work toward in game. Item shops are a bit of a controversial thing, with many people of the opinion that it gives an unfair advantage to anyone with access to a credit card.

But differing opinions aside, these lucrative little stores seem to be here to stay. With the increasing number of these stores offering both vanity and more utilitarian items, the competition for your dollar goes way beyond game purchases and sub fees these days. To that end, most item shops offer some sort of sale. Be it daily specials, package deals, or holiday sales, you can find a little extra incentive for your purchase nearly everywhere you look.

So the question is, do sales help you break out the credit card? Do you only buy if you were going to purchase that item anyway, or do you see a sale and think "Hmm, half price? Well, okay!"

Tags: f2p, free-to-play, item-shop, Microtransactions, opinion, sales, the-daily-grind

Why RMT won't go away

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 20th 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Business models, Culture, Economy, Exploits, Opinion

"Companies should just stop gold farmers." It's a consistent complaint in many games, with "gold" replaced by your game's currency of choice. As complaints go, it's right around "somebody should do something about all the problems" in terms of overall utility, but heck, no one likes the practice and it should just be eliminated, right? Well, as Scott Jennings has pointed out recently, it's not quite that easy.

As Lum points out, there are several common misconceptions about the entire process. Among them are the idea that the game company doesn't step in because they're getting kickbacks, which is pointed out to fail the simple test of Occam's razor. When developers want to get more money from an existing game, there are usually better ways to run it, such as the Champions Online model or the Dungeons and Dragons Online approach. He also tackles the infamous statement that the farmers are paying customers and therefore the company has even less incentive to stop them.

So if everyone hates RMT, why is it still around? The article briefly touches upon it, but We Fly Spitfires had a recent post that articulates more specifically: more people buy gold than would necessarily admit it. Since no one will admit to it, no one ever asks, and as a result there's a large culture of silence that publicly despises it and privately takes part. In short? As long as there's a customer base, the farming will continue. Food for thought all around.

Tags: business-models, champions-online, co, culture, ddo, dungeons-and-dragons-online, economy, exploits, gold-farming, lum-the-mad, microtransactions, rmt, scott-jennings, we-fly-spitfires

Champions Online previews Nemesis Confrontation

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 18th 2009 at 10:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Events, in-game, Patches, Previews, News items, Champions Online

What's more dangerous than an interdimensional prison in which malevolent creatures of immense power plot the destruction of the entire Champions Online world? That same prison being taken over and used as a lair by your hero's Nemesis and the dangerous Shadow Destroyer. After hints and the surprise playtest event, the official site has unveiled a preview of the upcoming Nemesis Confrontation, which looks like an interesting jump forward in the content offered by the game.

Obviously, the Lair in question is the highlight of the update, which features combat against alien gladiators as well as a collection of powerful villains. There are other rewards to be earned as well, however -- ranging from a number of different hero enhancements to costume pieces in the vein of the enemies fought within the lair. If you can't wait to run the lair in order to get the costume pieces (perhaps you have a perfect character concept to start with), the preview promises that they will also be available in the C-Store. Champions Online isn't going to make players wait long for the event, either, as it's launching on the 24th. It should give players quite a bit to be thankful for -- when they're not battling extradimensional alien gladiators, at least.

Tags: champions-online, co, costume-pieces, cryptic, cryptic-studios, in-game-events, microtransactions, nemesis, nemesis-confrontation, news-items, patches, previews

Get your Kung Fu on in City of Heroes

by Kyle Horner Nov 12th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, News items

Do you sometimes wish that when everybody is kung fu fighting they didn't all look so alike? NCsoft seems to feel the same way, because they've now made available the City of Heroes Super Booster IV: Martial Arts for ten bucks. Yes, now when you're fighting foes with malicious martial intent you'll look "spiffy" and whatever other adjective you feel like tossing into the equation. The booster comes with more than costume pieces, however. It also contains ninja-theme costume change animations and a ninja running power. There's also two new emotes for roleplayers, who tend to be the biggest emote fans.

This makes the fourth booster pack since the original (or microtransaction bundle, if you like) for City of Heroes and you can bet there will be plenty more as long as these continue to sell. Our guess for the next addition? Mutants would be a safe bet; mutants or zombies.

Tags: booster-pack, booster-packs, city-of-heroes, coh, cox, kung-fu, martial-arts, micro, microtransaction, microtransactions, ncsoft, paragon-studios

Microtransactions and the splits in philosophy

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 9th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Business models, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion

No one was expecting the current 900-pound-gorilla of the MMO market to throw its hat in the ring regarding microtransactions, but the fact that it's in the mix has forced a large number of people to take a look at the philosophies and patterns of the business model. Killed in a Smiling Accident recently put down some thoughts regarding the differences, explaining that World of Warcraft's model is, in their opinion, inferior to the one found in the equally-significant microtransaction model of Dungeons and Dragons Online. The former has a store consisting of fluff items with no equivalent in the game, while the latter largely puts forth offerings that can be obtained in the normal game if you want to take the time.

Of course, there's the obvious counter brought up in the comments: that it's better to have microtransactions selling something you can't otherwise get in the game. Simply take a look at Champions Online and the controversy over retcon pricing to see how the two can be better left untethered. Getting something unique is a nice bonus for a game you enjoy -- for example, look at the bonus costume packs that City of Heroes sells. However, with items on sale that can be obtained from gameplay, the game can feel a bit more disjointed. There's a case to be made for both sides, and with the free-to-play model gaining speed, it should be interesting to note where the majority of MMO players draw the line.

Tags: blizzard, business-models, champions-online, city-of-heroes, city-of-villains, co, coh, cov, cox, cryptic, culture, ddo, dungeons-and-dragons-online, free-to-play, game-mechanics, killed-in-a-smiling-accident, microtransactions, mmo-industry, ncsoft, turbine, world-of-warcraft, wow

Are subscription game item shops the third Trammel?

by Brooke Pilley Nov 8th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: MMO industry, Making money, Opinion

We like to keep our ear to the blogging (under)ground here at Massively because we often find interesting ideas and perspectives on the MMO industry. For instance, Green Armadillo of Player vs. Developer (PvD) just made a bold yet insightful statement about subscription game item shops being the third Trammel. For those unfamiliar, Trammel changed the way most people played Ultima Online and could be considered a paradigm shift in the industry from "harsh" PvP-enabled MMOs to safer PvE.

It's no secret that the rise of microtransactions and MMO item shops (aka real money trading or RMT) are a big change in direction from traditional subscription based MMOs. However, it now seems we're seeing the line blur between the two. Dungeons & Dragons Online, Champions Online, and most recently World of Warcraft are all subscription-based MMOs with built-in RMT. Are we witnessing the birth of the third Trammel?

As for the second Trammel, PvD calls out WoW's solo quest system. Never in any previous MMO did players enjoy such easy soloability and it seems that every triple-A MMO since WoW has relied heavily upon the solo quest system. We think PvD may be on to something here.

Tags: champions-online, dungeons-and-dragons-online, item-shop, microtransactions, real-money-trading, rmt, subscription, trammel, ultima-online, world-of-warcraft

PlayStation Home no longer a priority for Sony?

by James Egan Oct 30th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, Virtual worlds, Home, PlayStation Home

Opinions on PlayStation Home seem to differ -- it doesn't have the kind of flexibility and user created content that's made Second Life successful, but it does provide social spaces and content linked to the games and other media we enjoy. For others, like writers at our parent site Joystiq, it's a brave new virtual world where the fine art of Quincying can thrive.

Now that PlayStation Home has gained some traction with its install base and users are making microtransaction purchases, does Sony intend to develop the marketplace further? Not immediately, according to PlayStation Home's Pete Edwards. Edge Online quotes Edwards, speaking at the London Games Conference this week: "It's been a long road. We've proved there is a market out there and we've got a lot of people that spend a lot of time in [Home]. It's not a priority right now but there is a business model there."

[Via G4tv's The Feed]

Tags: business-models, edge-online, home, london-games-conference, microtransactions, mmo-industry, pete-edwards, playstation-home, virtual-worlds

Champions store getting new costumes, character slots and more

by Kyle Horner Oct 20th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, News items, Champions Online

New costume pieces, additional character slots, retcons and more are all being added to the Champions Online C-Store this Tuesday. Using this exchange rate chart for Cryptic Points the price of a full retcon is $12.50, which isn't too high considering that a retcon allows a player to completely remake a character from the ground up. Costume pieces seem to cost around three dollars, which seems pretty reasonable considering that the Cyborg Beast and Epic Samurai are both rather impressive looking at that price. Lastly, buying four additional character slots costs the most at 1200 points -- which looks to be about $15 or so.

Overall, the pricing is lower than what we expected for costumes. Sure, the points system isn't ideal but generally speaking there's not a lot to be overtly upset about here.

Tags: atari, c-store, champions, champions-online, character-slots, costume, costume-pieces, cryptic, cryptic-studios, microtransaction, microtransactions, retcon

Perfect World's Belliss discusses free-to-play business model

by Rubi Bayer Oct 20th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Perfect World, Business models, Interviews, News items, Free-to-play

The concept of microtransactions is still relatively new to many of us in the western MMO world, but many Asian companies are already very familiar with it. That familiarity is opening doors for them to transition over to the western market more easily. Jonathan Belliss is the product manager for one of these companies, Perfect World International, and he spent some time talking about the challenges and advantages of the transition.

Belliss and Perfect World seem to stand out among the deluge of Asian based free-to-play games, and Belliss' outlook may well be partly responsible for this. He has quite a bit to say about game quality over quantity (especially given the current market saturation), player preferences in two very different cultures, competition for those microtransaction dollars, and the future of the free-to-play business model overall.

Belliss seems to have that all-too-rare ability to look at the pros and potential cons of a situation, to learn from others mistakes, and to see which direction the free-to-play/microtransaction model is likely to take in the future. It's an asset to Perfect World and makes the interview well worth the time spent reading.

Tags: f2p, free-to-play, interview, jonathan-belliss, microtransactions, perfect-world, perfect-world-international, pwi

Redefining MMOs: The massive money of microtransactions

by Krystalle Voecks Sep 11th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Culture, Economy, MMO industry, Opinion, Redefining MMOs

Let's face it - microtransactions are big business. Nexon has posted a 35% increase in revenue this last July. Large companies like SOE and Cryptic Studios have added cash shops to their games. It appears that the world has a growing appetite for little bites of gaming content goodness. The market now is turning those bits and bytes into the MMO equivalent of the candy bar - with profits that are starting to climb towards the candy heights as well.

The honest truth is that we've been shifting more and more towards the idea of microtransactions as a culture, not just as a genre. Sure, we've always been about getting more bang for our buck - who isn't! But the fact is that there were no structures to distribute entertainment as effortlessly and cheaply as we can get it now even just a few decades ago. The proliferation of personal computers, the Internet, and other advances in technology have turned us into a society that loves to consume only what it wants, when it wants, from almost wherever we want it. Considering the overall societal shifts, it only makes sense that our favorite type of games are now going where the money is.

Tags: featured, market-shifts, microtransaction, microtransactions, op-ed, opinion, pricing-plans, redefining-mmos, subscription, value-for-money