View from the Road: No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
- Thread starter John Funk
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This article misses a few points here and there.
Point #1: calling this model "microtransactions" is too far of a stretch. Traditionally in gaming, "microtransactions" means "paying some real money for an in-game content, often bribing your way to victory". What you describe here is a rather indirect model - you can't bribe your way to victory in TF2. Maybe it's still correct to call it "microtransactions" in the formal sense, but that's very far from the usual kind. So for now, the tagline of this article is just good ol' attention-grabbing. And i'm calling you out on it
Point #2, waaaay, way more important one: the benefit from advertisements is laughably small when compared to two other benefits. First, by actually providing some free stuff and decent customer support Valve builds a strong community that will pay them back by keeping to use their products. This is the main transaction here. Second, TF2 updates generate quite a lot of free publicity, and coupled with free weekends/sales on updates for TF2, they seriously boost sales of the game at that moment. I'm sure that this part of their business strategy generates much more money than random purchases of games by TF2 players.
Point #3, a bit of a technicality - you can shut down those update news windows so they don't pop up after exiting a game.
Point #1: calling this model "microtransactions" is too far of a stretch. Traditionally in gaming, "microtransactions" means "paying some real money for an in-game content, often bribing your way to victory". What you describe here is a rather indirect model - you can't bribe your way to victory in TF2. Maybe it's still correct to call it "microtransactions" in the formal sense, but that's very far from the usual kind. So for now, the tagline of this article is just good ol' attention-grabbing. And i'm calling you out on it
Point #2, waaaay, way more important one: the benefit from advertisements is laughably small when compared to two other benefits. First, by actually providing some free stuff and decent customer support Valve builds a strong community that will pay them back by keeping to use their products. This is the main transaction here. Second, TF2 updates generate quite a lot of free publicity, and coupled with free weekends/sales on updates for TF2, they seriously boost sales of the game at that moment. I'm sure that this part of their business strategy generates much more money than random purchases of games by TF2 players.
Point #3, a bit of a technicality - you can shut down those update news windows so they don't pop up after exiting a game.
Wait...so...hold on...what I'm getting from this is that LOTR online no longer requires a subscription fee?!? This might be the first MMO I'll actually buy! *shock horror*
Can't stand subscription fees. And yeah, I do get the rest of the article, But I'm extremely miserly, so they can take their fancypants items and shiny advertising and shove it
Yum yum, free lunch for me.
(P.S, if you respond with a TANSTAAFL comment or 'you'll pay for it in some way just like the article said', you aren't terribly bright)
Can't stand subscription fees. And yeah, I do get the rest of the article, But I'm extremely miserly, so they can take their fancypants items and shiny advertising and shove it
Yum yum, free lunch for me.
(P.S, if you respond with a TANSTAAFL comment or 'you'll pay for it in some way just like the article said', you aren't terribly bright
)
I have one question. This view that TF2 has micro-transactions is based on the fact that there supposedly are ads. What if there are no ads and you are never forced to view the steam store? Anyone can change the steam settings to disable ads and to open up Steam to the Games Library automatically, and that is how I have it set up. In that case, am I not actually not subjugated to these micro transactions?
According to this article, WoW costs 0,37$ per person a month in server upkeep. So... what was your point?The Rogue Wolf said:
In most cases it's not because people are greedy, it's because a lot of people are used to it.The Rogue Wolf said:
Not that long ago it was standard practice for multiplayer games to get patches and map packs and what is now called DLC for no additional cost past the initial purchase. Even services like battle.net were free(to the users of course, it does use advertising).
It was so because there was no easy way to charge for it, paying over the internet wasn't that widespread and keeping a game patched and updated meant keeping it relevant longer which meant keeping it on the shelf a lot longer thus getting more sales.
TF2 has microtransactions? Err... no.
Valve gets a slice of money for every game you buy from Steam, and they regularly promote games on their Store page, usually when they've cut the price by a chunk. While this may contribute towards Valve's developmental costs, I would argue that the sales spike as a result of a new update arriving, and the free publicity from video game news sites everywhere in the run up to said launch, should cover the vast majority of the cost of developing the content. Especially now with the "contibute" page and community content.
And besides, even if you buy a game from Steam, it's not a microtransaction. The closest you can argue to being a microtransaction was the Sam & Max: Devil's Playhouse promotion where you would get a revolver & pistol skin and a hat for TF2, along with copies of Sam & Max. However, the guns in question gives you no advantage whatsoever: they work exactly like the revolver and the pistol. You are at the same level if you bought it or not: the only difference is that you'll look like my avatar and you'll have a copy of Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, which is fairly useless at protecting from a Sniper headshot.
Even then, something simple as cutting the price may be enough. For example, Garry's Mod was half-price in a weekend deal, and sales increased by 1000%.
Valve gets a slice of money for every game you buy from Steam, and they regularly promote games on their Store page, usually when they've cut the price by a chunk. While this may contribute towards Valve's developmental costs, I would argue that the sales spike as a result of a new update arriving, and the free publicity from video game news sites everywhere in the run up to said launch, should cover the vast majority of the cost of developing the content. Especially now with the "contibute" page and community content.
And besides, even if you buy a game from Steam, it's not a microtransaction. The closest you can argue to being a microtransaction was the Sam & Max: Devil's Playhouse promotion where you would get a revolver & pistol skin and a hat for TF2, along with copies of Sam & Max. However, the guns in question gives you no advantage whatsoever: they work exactly like the revolver and the pistol. You are at the same level if you bought it or not: the only difference is that you'll look like my avatar and you'll have a copy of Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, which is fairly useless at protecting from a Sniper headshot.
Even then, something simple as cutting the price may be enough. For example, Garry's Mod was half-price in a weekend deal, and sales increased by 1000%.
"we need money to go on"
this whole totally redundant article in one sentence.
and it cost me prescious 60secs of my life to read and another 60 to write this.
what a waste on salary , time and letters.
this whole totally redundant article in one sentence.
and it cost me prescious 60secs of my life to read and another 60 to write this.
what a waste on salary , time and letters.
I was never trying to make you think that WoW is losing money. Obviously, if it was, the whole thing would have folded years ago and Blizzard has benefited hansomely from WoW's success. But all too often, people tend to view things simplistically and exaggerate how much money is being made without considering all the expenses that come with it. Development, advertising, maintainance, production...all these things are expensive and need to be payed for before any money is made. This isn't even mentioning employee salaries (Blizzard employs some of the top talent in the industry, so don't think they work for change), electricity costs, organisation of events (even though BlizzCon tickets are expensive, Blizzard still organises the event at a loss) etc.ionveau said:
Again, if this weren't profitable, Blizzard obviously would not be pursuing it. But let's not look at the big profit numbers without considering that most of it will go into covering the costs incurred by the operation as well as the operation of the entire company.
from the trend i saw from a popular F2P games like Runes of Magic, ppl who do pay actually pay way more than a regular subscription base MMO. cause i certain fall into those category. I really just like to think of it as a Convenience tax i spent $80 on RoM in 1 month...and another $40 for my gf. F2P games are insidious! XD
p.s. the leaders of my guild spent about $300 in the game in the first 9 months of playing >.<
i spent $80 on RoM in 1 month...and another $40 for my gf. F2P games are insidious! XDp.s. the leaders of my guild spent about $300 in the game in the first 9 months of playing >.<
An annual profit of $1.7 billion? You're forgetting that half of the playerbase (the Asian half) only accounts for 5-10% of the REVENUE. By my calculations, Blizzard gets $990m in REVENUE (not profit) per year.ionveau said:
Is that still a lot? Yes. If this wasn't profitable, nobody would do it.
...and I seriously hope you were joking with the "cut its subscription down to $5" comment. That is the worst business idea I've ever heard. "Oh noes, we're making more money than our competitors, we better cut our prices so we aren't as far ahead."
Expansions are $40, and they add a hell of a lot more content than just "5 maps." Or have you forgotten that expansions have been the norm for PC gaming for years?
I never said that TF2 having ads was a problem. Games need money to keep running.
"You know, the games that you see advertised every time you load up Steam to play TF2. Or the deals that come up once you're done and exit the match. By constantly updating TF2, Valve keeps players coming back to Steam, where they see the new games and probably buy some every now and then. It takes a loss on direct revenue from TF2, but makes up for it in the cash it rakes in by keeping you checking out its ads."
Of course this depends on how stingy your customers are. Some will exploit you by just playing TF2 and enjoying all the free updates and only buy something on steam if they would want it anyway and it's the cheapest price available (which it often isn't).
Bad Company 2 for instance can be had for 30$ if you buy the cd-key online.
In other words, if you are a critical consumer who is price conscious and unaffected by advertisement, you can exploit many of these free services to your advantage, so it is possible to get a free lunch in this manner and at the individual level.
Of course this depends on how stingy your customers are. Some will exploit you by just playing TF2 and enjoying all the free updates and only buy something on steam if they would want it anyway and it's the cheapest price available (which it often isn't).
Bad Company 2 for instance can be had for 30$ if you buy the cd-key online.
In other words, if you are a critical consumer who is price conscious and unaffected by advertisement, you can exploit many of these free services to your advantage, so it is possible to get a free lunch in this manner and at the individual level.