A beautiful thing about the EVE model is it isnt like other MMOs, it wasn't built with a life cycle in mind.
Right now they are rolling out periodic implementation of their 3rd graphics iteration, how many MMOs overhaul their graphics once in their lifetime? Let alone three times.
Their approach to updating and adding to the content of EVE has worked brilliantly, over the years they have seen a pretty steady growth of their player base. The Noble Exchange was greed, and it cost them, they wanted immediate revenues when they should have been happy with their steadily growing one.
Their game appeals to a hardcore niche of players, going f2p would only alienate them, EVE never was and never will be a game for the casual main stream MMO player. For their business model they are doing it right, other games might find f2p works just find, but in EVE it won't.
@(Unverified) They haven't explained the connection in depth yet, I'd expect we will see NPC generated Mercenary/FW jobs as random match making, and EVE Alliance generated gameplay linked with some sort of mercenary corp system. On the DUST side it may play out like contract pvp matches, on the EVE side it would be a means to sabotage the lucrative nullsec PI system.
Maybe this will coincide with expansion of the PI system and/or sov.
If Bioware/EA are smart they won't develop content along side their VO. They will have VO actors record their lines when a large enough chunk of story has been written by the writers. A large enough chunk that a certain VO may not be used for a year or more later in content patches.
Nothing says EA has to operate both facets of SWTORs continued development in parallel to one another.
You are correct, a game like SWTOR will make back its server farm's cost in the first month, and then have enough left over to recognize a bit of their costs of production. Today the 15 should be going to continued development, the EVE online community got pretty pissed a few months back because they felt they didnt get their money's worth.
EA has taken an interesting approach with the continued development of SWTOR, whereas most move devs to other projects after release Bioware Austin is all SWTOR. The only other games I can think of that has as many devs involved in the continued development of a game is EVE and WoW. CCP doesnt have the very much man power compared to Bioware and Blizzard moves theirs around, bolstering their numbers around the development schedule of Expansions.
SWTOR production cost was pretty high too, VO on everything can't be cheap. They have a lot of costs to recoup before they can begin to recognize their revenues. P2P yields "unearned" revenues, which constantly builds up liabilities that they have to meet. So it's slower to show profits, but they will probably be their before summer.
One system, genre, or archetype of games/gaming might become dominate but I don't see any of them going away. I mean we have heard "death of pc gaming" since the early 2000's. In reality pc gaming has grown, it just isn't as large a market share as console.
Same thing with social gaming, they require very little resources and skill. So people pick em up, play, get bored, and move on. From an economic stand point social games are an inferior good, their quality isn't comparable to the "AAA" title.
The greatest problem with consoles is how they lock themselves in technically. When they designed the xbox 360, they chose how many resources any game built for the system could use. An unlike PC gamers you can't just pop it open and swap in a new GPU.
That is what I feel is going to be the biggest problem for the next gen console. Moore's law dictates technology will double each year. Since I've started college I've gone from considering 1 TB to being a lot, to being standard. Quad-core is now standard, and 8-core is affordable. Intel just showed off their prototype 50-core desktop processor.
If they release the next xbox in 2013, it will be laughably archaic in 2015.
Onward to the technological singularity my friends!
EVE Evolved: Could EVE Online go free-to-play?
Jan 30th 2012 12:31PM (Massively)Right now they are rolling out periodic implementation of their 3rd graphics iteration, how many MMOs overhaul their graphics once in their lifetime? Let alone three times.
Their approach to updating and adding to the content of EVE has worked brilliantly, over the years they have seen a pretty steady growth of their player base. The Noble Exchange was greed, and it cost them, they wanted immediate revenues when they should have been happy with their steadily growing one.
Their game appeals to a hardcore niche of players, going f2p would only alienate them, EVE never was and never will be a game for the casual main stream MMO player. For their business model they are doing it right, other games might find f2p works just find, but in EVE it won't.
EVE Evolved: Music to watch the stars by
Jan 23rd 2012 11:45AM (Massively)Sony, CCP 'negotiating PS3 virtual item policy' for DUST 514
Jan 23rd 2012 11:29AM (Massively)Maybe this will coincide with expansion of the PI system and/or sov.
The Soapbox: Adding story to SWTOR
Dec 27th 2011 3:00PM (Massively)Nothing says EA has to operate both facets of SWTORs continued development in parallel to one another.
12 Days of Joyswag: PlayStation 3D Display, 3D PlayStation 3 games, Air Flow controller
Dec 26th 2011 10:01PM (Joystiq)12 Days of Joyswag: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Collector's Edition (or: free dragons)
Dec 18th 2011 12:24AM (Joystiq)Vindicia CEO: MMOs are launching with the wrong business model
Dec 15th 2011 1:31PM (Massively)You are correct, a game like SWTOR will make back its server farm's cost in the first month, and then have enough left over to recognize a bit of their costs of production. Today the 15 should be going to continued development, the EVE online community got pretty pissed a few months back because they felt they didnt get their money's worth.
EA has taken an interesting approach with the continued development of SWTOR, whereas most move devs to other projects after release Bioware Austin is all SWTOR. The only other games I can think of that has as many devs involved in the continued development of a game is EVE and WoW. CCP doesnt have the very much man power compared to Bioware and Blizzard moves theirs around, bolstering their numbers around the development schedule of Expansions.
SWTOR production cost was pretty high too, VO on everything can't be cheap. They have a lot of costs to recoup before they can begin to recognize their revenues. P2P yields "unearned" revenues, which constantly builds up liabilities that they have to meet. So it's slower to show profits, but they will probably be their before summer.
12 Days of Joyswag: Lord of the Rings: War in the North (Collector's Edition)
Dec 14th 2011 10:13PM (Joystiq)Mass Effect 3 trailer sees Shepard get a little help from wormy friends
Dec 10th 2011 9:24PM (Joystiq)Richard Garriott predicts the death of consoles as a gaming medium
Dec 1st 2011 10:47AM (Massively)Same thing with social gaming, they require very little resources and skill. So people pick em up, play, get bored, and move on. From an economic stand point social games are an inferior good, their quality isn't comparable to the "AAA" title.
The greatest problem with consoles is how they lock themselves in technically. When they designed the xbox 360, they chose how many resources any game built for the system could use. An unlike PC gamers you can't just pop it open and swap in a new GPU.
That is what I feel is going to be the biggest problem for the next gen console. Moore's law dictates technology will double each year. Since I've started college I've gone from considering 1 TB to being a lot, to being standard. Quad-core is now standard, and 8-core is affordable.
Intel just showed off their prototype 50-core desktop processor.
If they release the next xbox in 2013, it will be laughably archaic in 2015.
Onward to the technological singularity my friends!