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Cash Shop Observations and Requests
teerizz
Member Posts: 6 Arc User
"Ugh...why are the cash items so expensive?!"
This is probably the most common complaint I see nowadays in the Free to Play sector of online gaming. Pricepoints continue to increase and, sadly, the statistical data coming in usually validates it as a profitable model, even if only in the short term.
What many companies are realizing, and usually too late, is that while these kinds of strategies are great for a short term burst the long term effects to retention, both for spenders and non-spenders, is proportionally affected in a very negative way.
It is my hope that these higher price points are simply the first step in a plan that will eventually see reduction over time. NW is still a very young game, and it's typical for companies to come out of the gates with high prices and lower them over time. It provides extra wiggle room so that they can say, "Hey, we hear you, and we're dropping prices on these items by 20%!"
We saw this last week with their big push for "discounted" items. It's common practice and, to be honest, I'm actually glad to see the production team showing this kind of maturity in their monetization decisions. Over the next few months I'm hoping to see new options at the same high prices, while the current options gradually become cheaper and more accessible.
For the community, it can be hard to accept but at least PW has chosen to focus on cosmetic items as their primary revenue source. So many games resort to selling power in the first quarter of a game's release to make up for the launch costs and inevitably it results in a drastic decline in both login and revenue metrics over time.
What I really hope I DON'T see with this product is a common mistake from management. If you see a one or two month burst in revenue, please don't push your production team to maintain this high-stress buying environment.
And lastly - please, avoid focusing on lottery items. So far, you've done alright in this aspect; you've allowed players to directly purchase a variety of high-value items while giving the option of a lucky box. So many companies build their cash shops on the Asian model of gamble boxes, and the Western market absolutely despises them. You'll only generate community resentment and a crapload of tickets for your customer support team, and the artificial longevity for item valuation is not worth that.
Thanks for reading and considering my opinions.
This is probably the most common complaint I see nowadays in the Free to Play sector of online gaming. Pricepoints continue to increase and, sadly, the statistical data coming in usually validates it as a profitable model, even if only in the short term.
What many companies are realizing, and usually too late, is that while these kinds of strategies are great for a short term burst the long term effects to retention, both for spenders and non-spenders, is proportionally affected in a very negative way.
It is my hope that these higher price points are simply the first step in a plan that will eventually see reduction over time. NW is still a very young game, and it's typical for companies to come out of the gates with high prices and lower them over time. It provides extra wiggle room so that they can say, "Hey, we hear you, and we're dropping prices on these items by 20%!"
We saw this last week with their big push for "discounted" items. It's common practice and, to be honest, I'm actually glad to see the production team showing this kind of maturity in their monetization decisions. Over the next few months I'm hoping to see new options at the same high prices, while the current options gradually become cheaper and more accessible.
For the community, it can be hard to accept but at least PW has chosen to focus on cosmetic items as their primary revenue source. So many games resort to selling power in the first quarter of a game's release to make up for the launch costs and inevitably it results in a drastic decline in both login and revenue metrics over time.
What I really hope I DON'T see with this product is a common mistake from management. If you see a one or two month burst in revenue, please don't push your production team to maintain this high-stress buying environment.
And lastly - please, avoid focusing on lottery items. So far, you've done alright in this aspect; you've allowed players to directly purchase a variety of high-value items while giving the option of a lucky box. So many companies build their cash shops on the Asian model of gamble boxes, and the Western market absolutely despises them. You'll only generate community resentment and a crapload of tickets for your customer support team, and the artificial longevity for item valuation is not worth that.
Thanks for reading and considering my opinions.
~ Signature goes here ~
Post edited by teerizz on
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Comments
Unfortunately, with privately traded companies, too many executives look at the quarterly and yearly results and not the longer-term ramifications. On top of that, I think these people feel that if there is a F2P option that 'pricing fatigue' will not adversely affect the majority of the market because they aren't required to buy, while at the same time trying to figure ways to drive traffic to the store other than lowering price points. It's ... a bit schitzo, actually.
Sadly, Cryptic does not seem to get the hint, not with STO or Champions.
That would be nice, but based on prior history I have my doubts.
I think the larger cost comes in revenue forecasting. With this kind of spike revenue, they are making projections on what revenue levels will be and how they can support future releases, but the spike will level out fast. We saw this happen in STO, which made huge grandiose promises and then spluttered for two years before picking back up.
I agree with all your points but this one resonated with me the most.
I have seen so many production teams drive away communities from games with great potential based on assumptive projections from a "good month" without factoring in how harshly their monetization efforts negatively affected gameplay.
Thanks for reading my post, btw. I know it was a long one!