RNG revenue strategy fail

puppychow

Vhailorx wrote:

That's my point, the current system is the worst of both worlds. 5*s are too powerful to be trophies, and too expensive to be a premium tier.

I don't think anyone is disputing this point. YOU ARE RIGHT!!!! Happy now?

I think the issue is WHY D3 feels the need to be so revenue driven in its activities. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Bandai Namco now own D3? If so, is D3 management being pushed by ownership to expand their revenue stream--to the detriment of the health of MPQ in the long run?

With all due respect, I think you're paying too much attention to the symptoms rather than the underlying causes that give rise to what you're seeing. My fear is that Marvel may, at a future point in time, jack up the licensing fee so high that the publisher can't afford to renew the game; if so, then it makes perfect sense to focus on milking the cow as much as possible now.

Vhailorx

Revskip:

You act like government intervention to curb the excesses of mobile gaming is outrageous; But that is what has happened with alcohol, gambling, smoking, pharmaceuticals, utilities, aggriculture, etc etc etc. There is no reason that predatory game design shouldn't be similarly controlled by legislation. The European court of justice has already been much more aggressive about restricting abusive software licensing practices. We seem to agree that predatory f2p schemes are bad. But you seem content to just leave it at that and move on. Why just accept a **** system simply because other **** systems work the same way?

And re: the monetization scheme failing players like me, that's a big problem. I am a potentially willing to spend customer that is not being offered a compelling digital good. They should want to keep me around if only to provide satisfying fodder for the whales. It's not like this is an expensive luxury item with a fixed cost,if production. Resources in this game have almost entirely arbitrary pricing and demiurge has chose, to price out a vast portion of their players. Regardless of whether they offer a thousands-of-dollars premium purchasing option for whales, they should provide something for mid tier spenders.

Puppychow: Sega owns d3 now I think. And my point is that even if demiurge wants to squeeze every ounce of milk from the cow now, they are failing because they have failed to offer me (and more importantly, the large groups of players similar to me) anything worth buying, despite my long tenure with the game and willingness to pay at a modest level.

Crowl

Vhailorx wrote:

And re: the monetization scheme failing players like me, that's a big problem. I am a potentially willing to spend customer that is not being offered a compelling digital good. They should want to keep me around if only to provide satisfying fodder for the whales. It's not like this is an expensive luxury item with a fixed cost,if production. Resources in this game have almost entirely arbitrary pricing and demiurge has chose, to price out a vast portion of their players. Regardless of whether they offer a thousands-of-dollars premium purchasing,option for whales, they should provide something for mid tier spenders.

Puppychow: Sega owns d3 now I think. And my,point is that even if demiurge wants to squeeze every ounce of milk from the cow now, they are failing because they have failed to offer me anything worth buying, despite my long tenure with the game and willingness to pay at a modest level.

This is something I have noticed too, I have reached the point where low to moderate spending is not going to help me and I have no intention of spending massively.

This really seems like a missed opportunity to me as you'd think there was a market for them there, the vip offer isn't going to be a sufficiently compelling deal for most people as it doesn't address the massive iso shortage or the problems with rng progression that are the banes of most people playing this game.

optimus2861

puppychow wrote:

With all due respect, I think you're paying too much attention to the symptoms rather than the underlying causes that give rise to what you're seeing. My fear is that Marvel may, at a future point in time, jack up the licensing fee so high that the publisher can't afford to renew the game; if so, then it makes perfect sense to focus on milking the cow as much as possible now.

I don't think that's what drives a FTP game to start 'cannibalizing' its whales, so to speak.

All of these freemium games have a shelf life. Eventually they get so long in the tooth, the veteran players' accounts so advanced, that new players won't get hooked if they try the game. Newbs take a look, see how far behind they're starting, and how hopeless it will be for them to ever catch up, that they say "Next" and try something else from the app store. Once a game reaches that point, and admittedly there's no way to know if MPQ has, then the clock starts ticking on end-of-life.

I suspect the game is much closer to that point than Demiurge would ever dare admit publicly, hence why the only revenue they seem eager to chase is that of the mega-whales, with the constant stream of 5* & 4* releases. I suppose VIP was a tiny morsel to throw to the plankton, but I can't see it making any difference in the long run (and it's pretty poor value-for-$$$ IMO anyway).

Calnexin

revskip wrote:

$5000 really isn't that much.

Whaaaaaat?

Jiminey crispers. I wasn't aware this game was geared towards millionaires. $5k is a lot to me. Like - better put towards a college education for my children. Or a downpayment on a trex deck. Or a vacation in Europe.

Holy ****. How wealthy are people that they can throw away $5k to be top dog in a Bejeweled clone? Mind blown.

revskip

Vhailorx wrote:

Revskip:

You act like government intervention to curb the excesses of mobile gaming is outrageous; But that is what has happened with alcohol, gambling, smoking, pharmaceuticals, utilities, aggriculture, etc etc etc. There is no reason that predatory game design shouldn't be similarly controlled by legislation. The European court of justice has already been much more aggressive about restricting abusive software licensing practices. We seem to agree that predatory f2p schemes are bad. But you seem content to just leave it at that and move on. Why just accept a tinykitty system simply because other tinykitty systems work the same way?

Not sure where you are getting that I am against government intervention, that is actually the opposite of my position. I think that these games can be predatory and that the same things we do to other industries that prey on people with addictions should be put in place.

I also am not so naive to think that those things (PSAs, donations to treatment programs and help lines in the case of alcohol and gambling) really save most of the people who are most affected. There are no easy answers to how to stop addictive behavior from becoming self destructive. Spreading awareness is nice but it has it's limits.