I think the ship prices are stupid, for one reason. They are leaving money on the table which is a bad way to run a business. I have spent over 200 dollars for 13 ships and I would like to buy more but at 30 dollars a pop I have to think to myself are they really worth it and I usually tell myself that they are not.
If T5 ships were $10 each,T6 $12 , and the lower T ships priced inline with that I would own most of the ships in the game. So they are losing money on me and anyone like me.
I think the ship prices are stupid, for one reason. They are leaving money on the table which is a bad way to run a business. I have spent over 200 dollars for 13 ships and I would like to buy more but at 30 dollars a pop I have to think to myself are they really worth it and I usually tell myself that they are not.
If T5 ships were $10 each,T6 $12 , and the lower T ships priced inline with that I would own most of the ships in the game. So they are losing money on me and anyone like me.
They are leaving YOUR money on the table.
Their own analysis, based on all the T6 ships offered before this, is that they make more money selling X ships at $30 than Y ships at $25, 20, 15, or whatever your buying price is.
Star Trek Online is a free-to-play game. Most players earn Cryptic little to no revenue. A few players earn Cryptic tons of revenue.
I'm one of those few players who has spent money in the game, and one of the even fewer players who has spent more than $40.
I work in the games industry, and I work in free-to-play development. I know the business too, and, I think, better than the OP. If you play a game and you care about it, you should plan to pay.
It seems to me that the OP is also one who has paid, and that's great, but asking the developers to lower their prices is asking them to take a huge risk. One might assume that dropping your prices by half would significantly increase the volume of sales and you could make up the difference in bulk.
It doesnt work that way.
Experience and careful observation of real player behaviours indicate that dropping prices is an effective incentive for players who already spend, but not for players who have yet to spend. The most effective way to get non-spending players to convert to spenders is to increase perceived value for what youre selling, not dropping prices.
The price point is often not a major concern in changing a player from a non-spender to a spender, so we have little reason to believe that dropping prices will get new players spending.
Meanwhile, dropping prices across the board has proven only marginally effective in getting current spenders to spend more. Sales that generate a sense of urgency contribute significantly to the decision to spend, but global price cuts do not; on the contrary, we often observe that players perceive less value in your offerings when you drop the price, and as I stated above, perceived value is a much more significant factor in the decision to spend than cost.
You might think that reducing cost increases perceived value because it increases the value-to-cost ratio in question, but in practice weve observed that just isnt the case. Perceived value matters; cost does not matter so much.
Before f2p I must have spent $1000 dollars in two years on this game. Happily.
It has been 3 years into f2p and there has been nothing to buy (except the romulan pack) and I haven't spent a dime.
In terms of local (non-US) currency , the sub fee (15$) = a movie ticket to a 3D cinema .
In those terms , I was willing to forgo one evening's entertainment , to get 30 days of entertainment .
Same was true of 15-20$ ships .
Then came the new price range of F2P .
To get ONE SHIP with all it's alternate configurations , you could pay 30-50-60$ .
... which may be cheaper in the long run , but it seems more expansive in the short run , and MANY ppl make their purchases based on how something seems to cost in the short term & how it will look at the end of the month CC list ...
I sold CCG's table top game, minitures games and rules sets, Role play rule sets. You name it, and I did my level best to stock some or be ready to special order it at a customers request.
My cost for product were set by a company that purchased directly from the manufacturers, and then resold it to me for a slight markup over cost to my retail store. They wer my "warehouse" and if they had an item in stock, I could have it the following, as long as I got the order in before 5pm.
My competition here if the SF bay area was mighty.. And mine was the smallest/newest of 5 store game and hobby store centered on the city I operated in and the communities directly boardering it in the area.. not counting big box retailers like Toys'r'us and the like for the common Milton Bradley, Funco, Topps..(there are 100's of manufacturers making everything from main product to casting game pieces in metal, plastic, etc etc etc). Or mall shops.
It's the same business, 'cept of course if you bought my goods, odds are good it'll be something to pass on to your grand kids when they are teenagers. Maybe even great grand kids.
So yea considering my own personal experience with Bang for the Buck.. I kinda almost would have to be of the opinion that Cryptic over charges now wouldn't I?
Cryptic clearly does charge far more then it should for ships in the game an much else. Lock box keys are priced to manipulate the buyer.. but instead of the conventional 99 cents, they want $1.25 for singles... and only discount if you buy a 5 pack. Does it actually make any difference in sales... no... not really. Not in my experience. Gum ball money is gum money. In sto you can get nice things from gum balls.. if you open lots and lots of gum balls you can trade tokens from the gum balls for some really cool un usual stuff (Lobi). But most your going to get from gum balls is gonna be well.. Gum. Cryptic sells a lot of gum balls. And they make a lot of money on gum balls.
Gum balls though are at the check out stand..sudden impulse..get a gum ball? Didja get lucky? No? maybe next time.
Free to Play is an illusion. Free to play absolutely depends on people who are willing to pay to play, or even to get head, or even out right win to work. And it does. It is a balancing act.
Personally I prefer a subscription model, if for other reason, there is no doubt about when the show is over. I want STO to retain customers, add more customers, add content for those customers, and if ya please, to make sure as many of them as can get arranged in one form or another get stuff to play with, and sometimes, the latest stuff to play with. Because its fun.
If I wanted "Serious" I could be watching CNN, and the Bebe international and be very depressed about the news of the day.
so you owned a game store that failed, and that makes you an expert on business?
every mmo's in direct competition with every other mmo. they're all fighting for the same dollars. 5 and half years in sto's still here. that counts for something. maybe they're too expensive for you, but not every business operates like walmart. for every little caesar's selling 6 buck pizzas there's others selling 20 buck pizzas. not everyone wants the cheapest thing and not every business can survive by just going cheaper.
Comments
If T5 ships were $10 each,T6 $12 , and the lower T ships priced inline with that I would own most of the ships in the game. So they are losing money on me and anyone like me.
They are leaving YOUR money on the table.
Their own analysis, based on all the T6 ships offered before this, is that they make more money selling X ships at $30 than Y ships at $25, 20, 15, or whatever your buying price is.
I'm one of those few players who has spent money in the game, and one of the even fewer players who has spent more than $40.
I work in the games industry, and I work in free-to-play development. I know the business too, and, I think, better than the OP. If you play a game and you care about it, you should plan to pay.
It seems to me that the OP is also one who has paid, and that's great, but asking the developers to lower their prices is asking them to take a huge risk. One might assume that dropping your prices by half would significantly increase the volume of sales and you could make up the difference in bulk.
It doesnt work that way.
Experience and careful observation of real player behaviours indicate that dropping prices is an effective incentive for players who already spend, but not for players who have yet to spend. The most effective way to get non-spending players to convert to spenders is to increase perceived value for what youre selling, not dropping prices.
The price point is often not a major concern in changing a player from a non-spender to a spender, so we have little reason to believe that dropping prices will get new players spending.
Meanwhile, dropping prices across the board has proven only marginally effective in getting current spenders to spend more. Sales that generate a sense of urgency contribute significantly to the decision to spend, but global price cuts do not; on the contrary, we often observe that players perceive less value in your offerings when you drop the price, and as I stated above, perceived value is a much more significant factor in the decision to spend than cost.
You might think that reducing cost increases perceived value because it increases the value-to-cost ratio in question, but in practice weve observed that just isnt the case. Perceived value matters; cost does not matter so much.
Thats my long post for the week. Cheers.
It has been 3 years into f2p and there has been nothing to buy (except the romulan pack) and I haven't spent a dime.
This game is absolutely free to play.
In terms of local (non-US) currency , the sub fee (15$) = a movie ticket to a 3D cinema .
In those terms , I was willing to forgo one evening's entertainment , to get 30 days of entertainment .
Same was true of 15-20$ ships .
Then came the new price range of F2P .
To get ONE SHIP with all it's alternate configurations , you could pay 30-50-60$ .
... which may be cheaper in the long run , but it seems more expansive in the short run , and MANY ppl make their purchases based on how something seems to cost in the short term & how it will look at the end of the month CC list ...
Some interesting commentary..
I owned a game store..
I sold CCG's table top game, minitures games and rules sets, Role play rule sets. You name it, and I did my level best to stock some or be ready to special order it at a customers request.
My cost for product were set by a company that purchased directly from the manufacturers, and then resold it to me for a slight markup over cost to my retail store. They wer my "warehouse" and if they had an item in stock, I could have it the following, as long as I got the order in before 5pm.
My competition here if the SF bay area was mighty.. And mine was the smallest/newest of 5 store game and hobby store centered on the city I operated in and the communities directly boardering it in the area.. not counting big box retailers like Toys'r'us and the like for the common Milton Bradley, Funco, Topps..(there are 100's of manufacturers making everything from main product to casting game pieces in metal, plastic, etc etc etc). Or mall shops.
It's the same business, 'cept of course if you bought my goods, odds are good it'll be something to pass on to your grand kids when they are teenagers. Maybe even great grand kids.
So yea considering my own personal experience with Bang for the Buck.. I kinda almost would have to be of the opinion that Cryptic over charges now wouldn't I?
Cryptic clearly does charge far more then it should for ships in the game an much else. Lock box keys are priced to manipulate the buyer.. but instead of the conventional 99 cents, they want $1.25 for singles... and only discount if you buy a 5 pack. Does it actually make any difference in sales... no... not really. Not in my experience. Gum ball money is gum money. In sto you can get nice things from gum balls.. if you open lots and lots of gum balls you can trade tokens from the gum balls for some really cool un usual stuff (Lobi). But most your going to get from gum balls is gonna be well.. Gum. Cryptic sells a lot of gum balls. And they make a lot of money on gum balls.
Gum balls though are at the check out stand..sudden impulse..get a gum ball? Didja get lucky? No? maybe next time.
Free to Play is an illusion. Free to play absolutely depends on people who are willing to pay to play, or even to get head, or even out right win to work. And it does. It is a balancing act.
Personally I prefer a subscription model, if for other reason, there is no doubt about when the show is over. I want STO to retain customers, add more customers, add content for those customers, and if ya please, to make sure as many of them as can get arranged in one form or another get stuff to play with, and sometimes, the latest stuff to play with. Because its fun.
If I wanted "Serious" I could be watching CNN, and the Bebe international and be very depressed about the news of the day.
STO is for the fun..
*hands out happy helmets*
every mmo's in direct competition with every other mmo. they're all fighting for the same dollars. 5 and half years in sto's still here. that counts for something. maybe they're too expensive for you, but not every business operates like walmart. for every little caesar's selling 6 buck pizzas there's others selling 20 buck pizzas. not everyone wants the cheapest thing and not every business can survive by just going cheaper.