How do the devs plan to stay financially afloat?
Res
Join Date: 2003-08-27 Member: 20245Members
Join Date: 2003-08-27 Member: 20245Members
I'm sure they will be able to stay financially afloat for awhile due to the game still being fairly new on the market and with the holiday sale...
However, as with every game, <u><b>there will be a significant drop off of people buying the game as time goes by</b></u>. In the long term, I don't see how they will be able to continue to support themselves with a trickle of new purchases unless they somehow charge for certain content like new maps/skins or get themselves other jobs and support their game on the side.
Wondering if they've even thought about continued revenue generation so they can keep supporting this game.
edit: Just thought of one thing... they could license/sell their engine/tools to other companies....... guess I answered my own question.
However, as with every game, <u><b>there will be a significant drop off of people buying the game as time goes by</b></u>. In the long term, I don't see how they will be able to continue to support themselves with a trickle of new purchases unless they somehow charge for certain content like new maps/skins or get themselves other jobs and support their game on the side.
Wondering if they've even thought about continued revenue generation so they can keep supporting this game.
edit: Just thought of one thing... they could license/sell their engine/tools to other companies....... guess I answered my own question.
Comments
As time goes on and work is made on NS2, I'd believe people will recommend NS2 and therefore sales over time will appear as a wave. UWE also has multiple tricks remaining down their sleeve too, such as the free weekend and promotions in many forms.
UWE won't die, considering their sales and the quality of the game, that's for sure.
Personally, as a hopeless NS2 fan, I'd most like to see them follow the StarCraft 2 model, where they build and release some small but significant number of paid "expansions" for the game that massively change up game play and build NS2 into something really new and interesting. I think this model works really well with the state at which NS2 is at right now (playable, but with many niggling design problems (technical problems should be fixed in the current build)) and I would buy future expansions for the game for sure. However, I'm not sure if that's the most economic model for them to follow in terms weather they could get the more casual NS2 player to actually pay for an expansion to a game like this?
[edit] vitdom's point has to be reiterated. Indie games don't tend to see the same purchase patterns AAA games do. The lifespan can last far longer than games that "disappear" from the public mindset when they are no longer on the front shelf at Walmart. NS2 hit the Chirstmas sale and it's now the 3 highest selling game on steam again. There's buzz for this game. It's not going to rapidly dissolve as long as there's someone who hasn't tried it yet, but heard good rumors (and there will pretty much always be those people)
However, as with every game, <u><b>there will be a significant drop off of people buying the game as time goes by</b></u>. In the long term, I don't see how they will be able to continue to support themselves with a trickle of new purchases unless they somehow charge for certain content like new maps/skins or get themselves other jobs and support their game on the side.
Wondering if they've even thought about continued revenue generation so they can keep supporting this game.
edit: Just thought of one thing... they could license/sell their engine/tools to other companies....... guess I answered my own question.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
As the company has stated, any new maps will be free. They've said that this is a pay-to-play, meaning this is a one time fee to play then all updates and content are free. I doubt they'd change this in the future. The devs will probably still make plenty of money off this game. It's still relatively new especially since there was not a major add program set up. This means as long as they don't give up they still have a huge market to tap. The devs have stated that they have considered leasing their engine/tools; however, due to the fact that these tools and engine come with game purchase this may not be possible. They've hinted several times that they are looking to produce other games while also maintaining ns2. This can easily be done by hiring more people to help work on the new project (which they've done already).
To sum this up, the devs will not make money off of new maps or content in NS2. They still have a large market to tap when it comes to NS2. They could license/sell their engine/tools, but this already comes free with purchase of the game. The devs are definitely working towards new projects to extend their greedy little pockets :P
I am wholly against this idea. Blizzard can get away with expansions because many people will blindly buy their games no matter what (coughDiablo3cough). A paid for expansion will do nothing for NS2 except fracture the community, which will singlehandedly destroy whatever chance this game has.
It's bad for you, it's bad for me, it's bad for UWE.
Currently, UWE's plans are to follow the TF2 model <i>before</i> it went Free-to-Play. Remember, TF2 was completely supported by constant FREE updates and lots of sales. This tactic worked for <i>four</i> years, and I argue it would have still worked to this day even if the game never went F2P.
Take another example, Killing Floor. Constant free updates and well-timed sales turned Killing Floor into a sleeper hit after a few years of obscurity.
So, this is all NS2 has to do for the next several years. Constant free updates and a few sales here and there. It's all about tapping into the people that haven't gotten this game yet, not nickel-and-diming the players they already have (which would be a big insult, frankly).
Their company, we've bought into it. We've paid their price for their product. As a company, if they've made enough to stay solvent, how they spend it towards future expansion, profits, markets, etc is their business decision to make. If they haven't made enough money to stay afloat, then it's their decision to secure more financial support going forward via investors/investments or future released or to fold instead... whatever they feel is the best decision for them to make as a business venture.
Wondering about their business acumen, debating whether they're aware of their player drop off etc... initially I'm sure the concern is appreciated, I imagine it becomes insulting after a while. UWE isn't just a bunch of avid, dork programmers scurrying away to bang out a cool game, willy nily. To successfully found a company, keep it afloat for this many years without a steady source of income (pre-orders don't count as a never-finished product would have to be refunded) and launch an innovative, original product on a newly developed platform, that requires an incredible amount of financial savvy.
Furthermore, lets say they profited off this venture already. If in a year their player base was down to 5 people. Wow, that would suck, but cold facts: They made their money. If they want to continue, they approach investors and say "We made A product of B years and made C profit. We can replicate this again on a similar timeline". Round 2 begins.
Fortunately, they're invested in their product, stated they've made enough gains to be around for a long while and have committed to developing this engine for other purposes.
Onos at $75 USD, and people will still complain about it being too cheap. :D
I think they have sold in the range of 30,000 copies at an average of 25$(some more in beta some less in holiday sales)
They could have sold a ton more than that but that is just a guess based on how many players are playing the game
With 7~ paid employees that is a decent sum of money
Except TF2 was planned from very EARLY on to eventually support a mann co. store for revenue, while it had the financial backing of Valve in the meantime. TF2 from the very start said they were doing updates for every class, then after that every other update had some backend support to eventually support the man co. store. UWE doesn't have that luxury of Valve backing them.
TF2 was never planned to have a store or unlocks or such bull######. It was all put in because they needed a testing ground for steam trading/backpack/wallet/etc.
Now look what TF2 has turned into, from a fps into a hat trading simulator and dota 2 will be the cash cow for them
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OnJtmIOFb3w/UBroj-ycpYI/AAAAAAAAB_I/F9oSLxwAAxk/s1600/mayweather-money.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" />
You might wanna look up what licensing means.
^This. Infact TF2 was quite a gamble hence it was initially on the Orange box as previously TF was more like a modern military shooter than a cartoon styled game. The reason it and portal were bundled in the Orange box initially was Valve didn't know if they'd be a success and wanted a way to test the waters almost so they put them with games they knew would sell in the form of HL2 and Episodes 1 & 2, its only due to them exploding that the game got stand alone releases and updates etc.
Also on topic of staying a float UWE could just go with the MOBA approach and sell high end skins etc such as a Santa Gorge or something like that with custom animations such as bile bomb throwing exploding mine pies or something
However, as with every game, <u><b>there will be a significant drop off of people buying the game as time goes by</b></u>. In the long term, I don't see how they will be able to continue to support themselves with a trickle of new purchases unless they somehow charge for certain content like new maps/skins or get themselves other jobs and support their game on the side.
Wondering if they've even thought about continued revenue generation so they can keep supporting this game.
edit: Just thought of one thing... they could license/sell their engine/tools to other companies....... guess I answered my own question.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
In the long term, every game will die, no matter what. No point in worrying about it now.
The number of copies of ARMA 2 that have been as a direct result of Day Z probably outpaces the people that just liked the base game.
The key here is to suck in the modding community to NS2, get them hooked on the engine, and hope for the best.
144,000 copies sold. A week after launch. At 25$ a pop, that's 3.6million. Take 30% for Steam's cut (not sure if this is correct but it's a number I've seen mentioned so I'll use it), that is 2.5million. Obviously that doesn't figure deluxe editions sold, and the 144,000 included gifts, which a lot of people who pre-ordered got one. They have like 6 paid staff? That's 416,000$ if split evenly. I don't think they are going anywhere for a while. Especially when you figure in sales SINCE november 7th (which is when that image was posted on the website.
not quite true, with private servers a game only dies if the community goes.
To this example you can still play tribes 2 (released in 2001 I believe) despite there being 2 sequels to it (Vengeance and Ascend)
To this example you can still play tribes 2 (released in 2001 I believe) despite there being 2 sequels to it (Vengeance and Ascend)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Heck, people still play DOOM sometimes.
I could not have been more wrong in saying that every game dies eventually, some just keep going until the end of time itself.
They may be set for cash right now, and Steam special price sales are still ongoing, but once the new year cones the sales volume will drop like a rock. As someone who works in this business, I can tell you that they don't have many options. Either release a new version of NS every couple years (at most - more like every 18 months) - or start to monetize elements of the game not tied to balance. Things like marine skins, or new weapon models (that operate functionally the same as the existing ones) are just a couple examples. These are elements that you can sell without in any way creating two tiers of players based on who wants to 'pay'.
Sooner or later the cash will dry up though, and they need to be preparing for that day.
I could not have been more wrong in saying that every game dies eventually, some just keep going until the end of time itself.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
in fairness a game only dies when Microsoft discontinues the graphics drivers requires to run it. Its only recently started with something like windows 95-98 drivers going
Nope, some games will live forever. Ppl are still playing games like mario1 and and those old pokemons on emulators and ###### :P Im still playing first Settlers from time to time released in 1994 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPwWQ6Q3-FM" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPwWQ6Q3-FM</a> :D :D
However I imagine like any business they will expend in size and develop other projects. Cash may get tight then.