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Reader Comments (28)

Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 2:07AM Grey said

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wtf. Genius
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 2:12AM quackdocter said

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you know this is what they should do for console's , next gen for the ps4 you wont have to get a third job cause it will be FREE (taxes still apply).
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 2:31AM sonicspike41 said

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"(taxes still apply)"

Unless you order from newegg.com and happen to live in any state other than the few they (by law) must charge taxes for.

But I don't see this working for consoles. "Get your free PS4 here! All you gotta do is decide if you want to spend the extra $150 for the OS*, $100 to unlock online, $100 for blu-ray movie playback, and another $50 for the ability to play PS1 and PS2 games.


* Games cannot be saved without the OS. DLC cannot be used without the OS. Anything else, besides playing the game offline in single player/campaign mode without saves/replays/anything extra, cannot be done without the OS."
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 2:33AM quackdocter said

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somewhere a baby seal just died, for killing that dream.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 3:02AM sonicspike41 said

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I should change my name to Bobby Kotick, shouldn't I?

:(
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 2:15AM (Unverified) said

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The key here is that this was a fully functioning WESTERN developed MMO long before it was free to play. It had several years of regular content updates(as Turbine is oft to do) before it was switched over.

Totally different than the usual free to play MMO glut where some people decide to drudge up dead MMO's from the far east because they're cheap, they can pay some translators for a few months, then unleash the game to the world for bottom dollar and try to reap in the suckers willing to pay for fast advancement in a Eastern MMO game, which almost always is nothing more than a grind for months on end for small percentages of experience increases.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 2:15AM ShadowXOR said

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I have to say, that's pretty awesome.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 2:25AM geoff0011 said

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I have to say, I still play Guild Wars pretty frequently. I've played it for the past 5 years off and on and I really enjoy it. It's refreshing to have that kind of freedom to quit at any time and come back at any point, you're never burdoned with guilt for throwing your money away because you aren't playing the game, but still paying the monthly fee. Internet service + game + expansions are expensive enough, you shouldn't have to pay a monthly service on top of that. And for those that haven't played Guild Wars, give Guild Wars 2 a chance when it comes out next year, it should be well worth a look.

www.guildwars2.com
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 3:03AM geoff0011 said

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Enjoy overpaying. And then when you are done, and if you ever want to go back and look at what it was that you accomplished, you can't, unless you RE-subscribe. That's a problem I have with any subscription based MMO. Sometimes I just want to go back and see what it was I spent thousands of hours on, and I would like to have the ability to do so whenever I pleased.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 5:58AM seishino said

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The developers that launched Guild Wars had mentioned a few years back that, despite being the best selling PC game for about 2 years running, they weren't really making money on it. Even though the world is mostly instanced, bandwidth was still killing profits. I wouldn't be surprised to see Guild Wars 2 having either a subscription model, or a lot of microtransaction options.

Anyone know if Anarchy Online is still kicking around?
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 7:47AM Omnistatic said

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Anarchy Online still has a small dedicated playerbase, with regular content updates and expansions/boosters even...

I actually get the craving to play it every once in awhile, explore some of the older content that is no longer heavily camped. It's a relaxing game for me, the audio, the players, everything about is just so chill.

Getting all nostalgic, maybe I'll have to download it again soon.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 2:26AM (Unverified) said

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i have a family member who works for turbine. Glad to hear the move has been so successful for them.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 2:30AM Shay Guy said

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Similar to Cory Doctorow's novels or the Foglios' comics.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 2:34AM sonicspike41 said

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You know, this is the only thing I know about Cory Doctorow:

http://imgs.xkcd.com/blag/cory_doctorow_award_outfit.jpg
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 2:30AM Yuccadude said

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I signed up and played a Human Cleric for a bit, it was pretty fun, but seeing as I don't have any friends on the game, it was lonely and I went back to playing Killing Floor and TF2 in addition to my 360 games. Good to hear it's doing well though.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 7:57AM itskrislol said

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how is killing floor? is it co-op (l4d) or like standard MP fare (cod)?

I see the box for the game everyday at work and wonder if it's any good.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 2:28PM Yuccadude said

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I would definitely recommend Killing Floor to you, it's co-op like L4D, but there's no required co-op like L4D with the unescapeable attacks. It also has perks that you level up, and your weapons do more damage or have higher magazine sizes based on your level. All in all, it's a really fun game, and the final enemy of every wave-set is like a fast Tank that can kill you pretty darn quick, but there's ways to take him out pretty safely.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 3:01AM (Unverified) said

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I'm wondering why Asheron's Call is still 19$ +12.95$ a month. if any Turbine MMO would work out well as free to play it would be this oldie.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 3:27AM Benedict said

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Looks like we just got a new definition of irony. Whodathunkit.

I played this game for about an hour and a half a couple of years ago but it was so lonely and the community was so erratic (it went from being caring to rude) that I didn't bother any longer (even though I'd just signed up for a three month subscription). Perhaps now that it's free (and has obviously grown in size) I'll give it a try again.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 7:20AM (Unverified) said

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In the latest interviews of just a month ago GW2 is still presented as going to be without a subscription model, and even taking a step back on the instancing. So subscription suddenly popping up seams unlikely, and many microtransaction options, well they're making some changes such as going for set realms; meaning there'll probably be room for server transfers against certain cost, makeovers are always a nice one to pull money out of, etc.

Plus they might also start giving more focus on releasing additional expansion packs; with the original guild wars they pretty quickly stopped with that to begin development on guild wars 2.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 9:38AM Jerk Face said

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It also helps that DDO is friggin' great.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 12:06PM sigma8 said

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You idiot. This is not a factor. It's about marketing, product positioning, competition, silly policies and forecast planning. Game quality doesn't factor into the equation at all. When a game fails, it's never because the management cultivated an atmosphere of crappy game-making, it always is due to something else that can only be seen in hindsight, and doesn't help us increase our accuracy when predicting the future. The real solution is larger crystal balls.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 12:07PM Jerk Face said

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I have so much to learn! Ha ha..
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 10:05AM (Unverified) said

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Paying upfront for an MMO is a large barrier to leap over. Unless there is a free trail period to let people try out the game first, there is no guarantee that anyone will pay first and play later.

One of the advantages of the digital age is that so many demos are released that I get to try out a whole bunch of games before I make my decision to buy any. It's much better than several years ago when I had to wait for the latest magazine demos to try out 2-3 games on each one. (increased frequency of gameplay videos is a plus as well)
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 12:01PM BritC said

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Saying that they increased their revenue by 500% is actually a pretty meaningless statistic. All you're saying is that they earned 500% more than they were when they were running a *failing* subscription model. This does not validate the free-to-play, sell-things-in-game model as being superior to the subscription model. Nor does it allow anyone to conclude that free-to-pay earns 500% more than subscription models (in all cases). Since we already know they were failing, all it does is tell you that free-to-play earns 500% more revenue than a failing subscription model game. In order to show that free-to-play earns more than subscription, they'd have to be earning more than WOW.

Nevertheless, I hope that they're earning enough on in-game payments to actually pay their costs. (Again, it's not actually clear that this is the case, since we don't know how badly they were failing under the subscription model.)
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 12:17PM sigma8 said

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Hey, I have a solution: Howabout games that don't phone home and stick your crap in the cloud?

Also, I should point out: there is nothing "wrong" with any model, if that model is working for somebody. WoW's model works great...for WoW.

The problem with subscriptions, is that each player can only handle 1 or 2 of them. Not only is it a matter of cost and perceived value, but of time.

Paying $15 a month for something you only play for 3 hours a week is not nearly as good of a deal as paying $15 a month for something you play 30 hours a week. However, if you are spending that kind of time on a game--there's no point to buy or subscribe to other games.

Think of subscriptions as being like utilities. People are willing to pay for one of each major thing. One heat bill, one phone bill. Nobody wants 2 heat bills. I think publishers think that each separate game might be like totally separate thing (the WoW bill, the SWG bill, etc)...but in terms of time and money budgets, I think they need to realize that all games get lumped into the "gaming bill" category.
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 1:44PM (Unverified) said

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It's part of a larger trend. League of Legends is another top quality game that is free to play, and I think we'll see several others big games head in the same direction.

https://signup.leagueoflegends.com?ref=4ab7f6827fd85

They've got a million players and IGN's Reader's Choice Best Multiplayer award (not that either is the last word - but it's not just Evony that's free anymore).
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Posted: Mar 2nd 2010 1:54PM Aekero said

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This idea works great for an ongoing game with "progression" i.e. an mmo or a game like LoL, if it's a short, or 1 time through type game most people would just play through it and be done. More people try the game if it's free, no question of that, and if there's incentive for them to keep playing, they might want some of the "perks" that spending money can bring them. There's also the "moral money spend" where people will shell out money for something they enjoy even if they don't have to. This was kind of the case when they put World of Goo on sale for "whatever price you want to pay", most paid less than the list, some paid about what it was selling for, and some even paid more than that, it's definitely an interesting concept.

I probably wouldn't have bought LoL if it came out as a $50 game, but I've probably spent close to that now, go figure, some people I know still haven't spent a dime, and some have spent way more, I'm sure it's the same way for the free mmo model.


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