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What do Cryptic do with our money?
warbird001
Member Posts: 246 Arc User
(Please note that this is not grounds for a rage topic, I am simply asking a question for something that does not add up to me.)
I have been on this game since its initial launch, or there about, so I have seen all the updates and patches Cryptic have done and the changes in management. STO started strong with a high list of people all ready to immerse themselves in the love of Star Trek.
What they got however was a buggy, slightly broken disaster that after almost three years has not changed significantly to warrant how much people paid before the game went free to play.
My question is, what does Cryptic do with all the money for micro-transactions and Gold membership subscriptions because I do not for one second believe it is being put into active game development. EvE Online's price came down to ?9.99 and their expansions are large, full of content that makes you seem that you get what you pay for.
If the "Seasons" were full of additional content, I could understand but both Season 4 and 5 with the exception of the Doff System have been complete let downs and the awards for loyalty are getting somewhat lazy.
With WoW, you have to pay for expansion packs but at least there is lots and lots of new content. Cryptic consider one STF to be sufficient "End-game" content and who knows when "Enter the Hive" is coming out. My point is, Cryptic get all this money and just do not put enough back in the game to justify paying out for anything?
I understand, as an American Company, they are here to make profit but something tells me that Cryptic sit around a table and go "Oh, we'll just throw that in to keep them occupied", like the T5 Carrier Akira which was broken when it was released. It seems like they are just trying to keep everyone distracted with toys so that they do not have to write or develop any additional content with the game.
Advancing the story would be nice, little "side-activities" like "Dabo" and the "Doff System" or the upcoming Fleet Starbase system is all well and good but it ultimately does not cover the big hole in the game which is obviously not being paid for. I think Cryptic employees probably get paid too much for this and Perfect World should crack the whip and make them work.
I have been on this game since its initial launch, or there about, so I have seen all the updates and patches Cryptic have done and the changes in management. STO started strong with a high list of people all ready to immerse themselves in the love of Star Trek.
What they got however was a buggy, slightly broken disaster that after almost three years has not changed significantly to warrant how much people paid before the game went free to play.
My question is, what does Cryptic do with all the money for micro-transactions and Gold membership subscriptions because I do not for one second believe it is being put into active game development. EvE Online's price came down to ?9.99 and their expansions are large, full of content that makes you seem that you get what you pay for.
If the "Seasons" were full of additional content, I could understand but both Season 4 and 5 with the exception of the Doff System have been complete let downs and the awards for loyalty are getting somewhat lazy.
With WoW, you have to pay for expansion packs but at least there is lots and lots of new content. Cryptic consider one STF to be sufficient "End-game" content and who knows when "Enter the Hive" is coming out. My point is, Cryptic get all this money and just do not put enough back in the game to justify paying out for anything?
I understand, as an American Company, they are here to make profit but something tells me that Cryptic sit around a table and go "Oh, we'll just throw that in to keep them occupied", like the T5 Carrier Akira which was broken when it was released. It seems like they are just trying to keep everyone distracted with toys so that they do not have to write or develop any additional content with the game.
Advancing the story would be nice, little "side-activities" like "Dabo" and the "Doff System" or the upcoming Fleet Starbase system is all well and good but it ultimately does not cover the big hole in the game which is obviously not being paid for. I think Cryptic employees probably get paid too much for this and Perfect World should crack the whip and make them work.
Post edited by warbird001 on
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The.Grand.Nagus
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: NPW Forums
Cryptic failed to release any meaningful content or game updates long before Perfect World was in the picture.
At least now it's F2P instead of the F2P game masquerading as a P2P game it was for the first two years.
Actually one of the primary issues is Cryptic has traditionally been woefully understaffed while taking on far too much responsibility. Champs, STO, Neverwinter, etc..... all while running a minuscule crew. I've heard numbers below 20 during the transition period between Atari and PW. I can't fathom why they were granted the Neverwinter license after the STO debacle. Cryptic overhypes and under-delivers on a consistant basis.
depends on when Cryptic started on Neverwnter, judgiing by the fact that it is in beta now, would likely mean while they were still working with Atari, and Atari has the only License for D&D based Games currently, which means they most likely had Cryptic working on it since it was the only MMO Maker Atari had.
Most likely PWE acquired the rights to Neverwinter from Atari in the Cryptic buyout so that they could continue to Develop the game.
Think about this:
American Football has been in open beta for 144 years. ~Kotaku
^^ This.
You also have to realize that Cryptic had to fund itself AND continued development on Neverwinter for at least half a year after Atari declared them a "Discontinued Operation" and attempted to sell the Cryptic assets to eventually PWE.
Frankly I think it will be interesting to see what happens if (ok... most likely when) Neverwinter fails. At this point it would take a true gambler's soul to drop money on an LTS for CO/STO/Neverwinter imho.
People are broken. - Lum the Mad
Well while the PWE execs are lounging on Risa the Cryptic employees are laboring in the dillithium mines on Rura Penthe.
If you do not feel the services you are being provided are worth the money, stop buying them.
If you are an LTS, stop complaining. Your money is already spend and there isn't much you can do about it now, so you may as welll enjoy the ride that remains. Even then, depending on when you became LTS, you have probably gotten good value on your investment already. If you only became an LTS recently, you had ample opportunity to see what the game is like and to make an informed decision.
How do you spend the money you make at whatever job you do?
It is a safe bet at least some of the funds go to tacos and milk.... can't be sure of the rest....
I live in an alternate universe, where j.j. abrams and cryptic never existed,
where R.S.E. is what it always should be.
___________________________
In game: Commadore_Bob; Joined Jul 2009; That post count + 20,000
hehe.... I like
Registered: Oct/2009 , LTS : Feb/2011
Fleets: Warriors of the Phoenix, Kirian Industries[/SIGPIC]
Three years and still no Captain Klaa hair...
Friendly reminder from the last quarterly PW conference call.
85% Gross profit.
Gross is after the Cost of Goods stuff is paid for. That I would think would be anything connected to the actual game. Like the servers, bandwidth, the dev team, licensing, etc.
Probably less of a profit than their other games though considering that this one is not custom and has to be licensed.
Are you serious, 85-fricking-%?!
You hear that sound devs? That was the sound of your credibility gurgling loudly down the ****ter. In what universe is it justifiable to claim story content is too expensive in a game that's sitting on an 85-******n-% profit margin? There are companies out there that would literally murder people to get that kind of a return.
We are PWE. Your forums and game accounts will be added to our own. Your community will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.
http://quicktake.morningstar.com/stocknet/secdocuments.aspx?symbol=pwrd
Total revenues in US Dollars: $474,020,000
Gross profit: $397,767,000 (84% of total revenues)
Net profit: $155,717,000 (33% of total revenues)
Do note that licensing (both theirs and other companies) is mentioned there as a separate line item.
Q1 2012 (May 29, 2012)
Three Months Ended (March 31, 2012)
Net Income (USD) - $33,320,631.
As for Cryptic? I dunno. Hope they hired a QA staff. These little bugs need to get stomped out. Damned windows closing other windows.
1) Pay the bills
2) Make profit as a business
3) Whatever they want
4) None of your business really
They're very jolly at Cryptic.
There are enough people who really like the game, who think the DOff system was spot-on, who really expect the starbases, and mostly stay away from the forums because they actually PLAY THE GAME instead of asking irrelevant questions.
Besides, what do you care what they do with the money? You know all the stores that sell all sorts of Star Trek stuff? DVD packs, All-Q-episodes pack, reorganized 0.1% better sound DVD, soundtracks, action figures, wobble heads, etc. What do they do with the money? Do they invest it in the future of Star Trek? does it prevent you from buying these stuff?
I find this game to be immensely enjoyable, and while I do like story content (which is why I play Foundry missions), I also enjoy non-story activities - especially when playing with other people (it is, after all, an MMO and not a single-player game). I notices many of my in-game friends don't actually play story-based content. Even when the new FE went out, they just skimmed through it as fast as they could to get the set/DOff/BOff/whatever because "I have x toons to run through this within one/two hours because then we are having a PvP/STF/PvE action". I'm not saying most of the people are like this, but apparently they are a good portion of the playerbase according to my personal experience and what the devs said in several podcasts.
So, all these "side-activities" (DOffs, STFs, 5/20-men PvE, starbases), which are actually main activities in many MMOs, seem to be the right way to go, especially considering S7 is planned to be more story-based.
As a side-note, I find STO and CO to be much more fun than many other games I tried including DCUO and SWTOR. Something about Cryptic games just make me relate to the toons and want to log on every few days and do stuff with them (and I always find what to do). I got bored of DCUO after several hours, and SWTOR was just burdening in a way - after going through the first parts of the plot I just had to hop on STO and relax for a bit.
Just my opinion... LLAP :cool:
It is literally better to simply set fire to it yourself and enjoy the light show :P
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] "I weary of the chase. Wait for me. I shall be merciful and quick."
And they hire a few of these
Buy a a lot of these
then after all of that and they have their profits they pay for this
to Shelter these
and he of course has to pay for this so he can get back and two between all of the above and get to this on those nights he works late.
While at the same time taking the aformentioned these Here Here and Here
hope that answers that question 8)
Actual Join Date : Feb 2010
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Simply put, I feel the employees are too highly paid for the work that they do and the effort they put in. Not saying this game is bad, its just maybe if a few of them can use that enormous profit, stop creating lock boxes and actually employ a few more people to knuckle down to work. Then this game could be past good and be exceptional.
Again, this is not a flame laden critique, this is just saying that I feel content upgrades are just not good enough to compete with other well established MMO's such as EvE or WoW. Before anyone says, Cryptic is smaller...
CCP, the founders and creators of EvE Online were a much smaller company then Cryptic when they started out but they paid attention to their player base and are not the second biggest MMO company in the world.
What I am saying is STO COULD be this, will it be... probably not and why is that. Because I believe and this is my opinion, the Dev's are lazy and not committed to Star Trek like the actual hardcore fans of the series of which I would count myself as one. Basement and all
It doesn't get re-invested and it never has.