Life span of this game.

Mpqdr72

How long do you guys think that this game will last? Does anyone have a somewhat qualified guess? Reason for asking is that I have 22 champions in 3* land and wonders if I will have the time to move to 4* land before the devs pulls the plug. (I'm on day 273)

Mechahamster

It's scheduled to end on october 26th of 2019, so you still got a while.

Magic

I believe the guys who dig in the code saw that it is supposed to end on 29 February. Since 2016 didn't happen I guess 2020 is the next opportunity. Plenty of time.

SummerGlau

So basically two unqualified contradictory answers
let's be honest, no one with reasonable knowledge of such things would say if they knew

Magic

Reality is we will probably find out on the day when the servers go down (unless we stop playing before). And even on that day, in the morning there will be people spending money on HP and others thinking about the next step in their progression.

Unless the devs decide to do MPQ2 and they will care to attract current players to it somehow. In that case there should be some sort of a warning.

There is no telling what is the lifespan of such a game but to be honest this one is going strong for rather long time in the mobile world so there is no reason to believe that it will be over soon. MPQ2 might be the deciding factor but if it's not being developed than we will keep getting new characters (or variants as they like so much) and cycle through the PvP and PvE events. Every now and then a new feature will happen of course just to refresh things and it can go like that for years. 6*, 7*, new ways to earn 5*, auto-grind, you name it.

madsalad

They've said they have a 10 year plan. I think we're in year 3. Math.

JVReal

I don't know, but based on my experience with a different game, I'd say they'll announce it about a month before it ends, and the announcement will be preceded by a huge sale!

The other game I played just kept re-releasing existing characters and replaying old events and not creating new ones before they closed their doors... wait a minute...

optimus2861

With the Marvel license attached, so long as the game is profitable it can probably continue for years.

That said, I've found the game so impossibly stale for so long now that I've wound right down to just playing DDQ on days I kinda feel like it. I'm in a semi-retired state I guess. I suspect full retirement isn't far away. YMMV.

Punisher5784

I am wondering this myself.. I am assuming 6*'s will release near Anniversary IV but who would they use? I think the game is done when they start scrapping the bottom of the bucket and release characters like Agent Coulson as a new release.

Dormammu

Unlike the original Puzzle Quest, I don't think this game will ever get a sequel. They've shown MPQ to be flexible enough to add a lot of features and changes over the years so there isn't much need to come out with an entirely new game. Match-three is match-three, in the end, and this game serves its license well.

My only concern is bloat. Right now the 3-star and 4-star tiers are getting pretty fat; dilute the pool too much more with new releases and you'll start scaring away more newbies than you attract. At that point, the only direction you can go with new character releases is up. There's plenty of room in the 5-star tier and it wouldn't surprise me if a 6-star tier was introduced one day.

I don't think anyone should be concerned MPQ is going away any time soon. Marvel properties are hotter than they've ever been and if these forums are any indication the player base is quite large and active. The developers have consistently kept this game churning with new characters, new events, and shown no lulls. They've just added a new revenue stream with in-game advertising. Based purely on observation, MPQ seems like a very healthy game.

Quebbster

This game will selfdestruct in five seconds.

acescracked

This entire thread is hilarious. From the original question, to the jokesters, to the serious responses. I gotta go do some thumbs up

The old reliable forum never ceases to give me a chuckle. Thanks all!

Mpqdr72

Thanks for everyone's input, some more constructive than others as expected. A few laughs along the way is appreciated too.

mpqr7

At some point, they'll realize that 5*s are way too powerful, and they'll release a new class: 4.5*s!!! It's more powerful than a 4*, but not as insanely OP as a 5*. Enjoy!

snlf25

I don't think MPQ2 will become a reality while Marvel has the boycott on X-Men. We already fuss quite a bit about them not releasing any new mutants, I don't think MPQ2 would be able get off the ground with most of the fans favorite characters being locked out.

Jarvind

carrion_pigeons

Technology is going to be the biggest factor in the game's survival, assuming that the whales won't be quitting anytime soon. At some point the code this game is written in will stop being supported by the popular electronic devices of the day, and the game will die out as people upgrade their phones or whatever. Emulation may exist or some ambitious programmers might decide to keep the game alive if it's still very popular (not likely) but at some point it will just stop being cost effective to carry the code forward.

A total lifespan of ten years is a decent guess.

bbigler

The game ends when it no longer turns a profit. Development/Maintenance costs < In-game purchases.

So, as long as it makes money, it will exist no matter how bad it may become. The game has to get really, really, bad in order for enough people to quit so that they stop making a profit. What players want in this game probably isn't the same as what turns a profit. Hence, the constant release of new characters.

So, what will it take for the majority of players to quit? 100 characters per tier? Enough simultaneous bugs to make the game unplayable? 50 x 5* characters making the 5* transition unreasonable? Lack of new events making the game boring?

jigawatt

bbigler wrote:

The game ends when it no longer turns a profit. Development/Maintenance costs < In-game purchases.

So, as long as it makes money, it will exist no matter how bad it may become. The game has to get really, really, bad in order for enough people to quit so that they stop making a profit. What players want in this game probably isn't the same as what turns a profit. Hence, the constant release of new characters.

So, what will it take for the majority of players to quit? 100 characters per tier? Enough simultaneous bugs to make the game unplayable? 50 x 5* characters making the 5* transition unreasonable? Lack of new events making the game boring?

In the last year they made a lot of pretty good monetization moves. The cover whale vaults for relatively modest hp, the monthly sub, and the tiered events are all fresh and new player friendly. With the marvel name and the movie and tv show rollouts, and the features on marvel.com about major character releases for this game, the number of new players will basically be endless. Actually it was the marvel.com article that got me back to playing since I hadn't logged in for a year myself. With these tactics they guarantee to get $10, maybe $20 out of a yuge number of new players, good players, great players, really good players. Amazing. And as always, whales will be whales. if mpq was a stock I'd buy it.

JHawkInc

Dormammu wrote:

My only concern is bloat. Right now the 3-star and 4-star tiers are getting pretty fat; dilute the pool too much more with new releases and you'll start scaring away more newbies than you attract. At that point, the only direction you can go with new character releases is up. There's plenty of room in the 5-star tier and it wouldn't surprise me if a 6-star tier was introduced one day.

I'd like to see, rather than going up, having it start going out. Imagine instead of a Heroic token, there are two (since the current one is gold, let's take X-Men as an example and make the second one blue).

Same odds, but entirely different characters. Some circumstances in the game would reward one token, some the other (maybe they'd alternate like Taco Tokens?), maybe with some ability to focus on one type or another (like "generic" Hero Tokens that could be used for either Blues or Golds). Then you could pursue a token to go after certain characters (not at great odds, but having some choice in which characters you go after is something the game currently doesn't do well). And, of course, the devs could divide up characters (put IM40 and 3* Strange in different tokens, for example, since they're both highly desirable, or split the X-Men in half so people who want to just collect the X-Men have to double dip). And make boosted lists an equal mix of both types, so you benefit from a broader roster.

It could "kinda" be like a prestige system. You progress through the 2*s and 3*s and 4*s in one set, then use those characters to advance through the other set, rather than having to rely on future 6*s or 7*s to give you something to do. (then, personally, I'd rather see different types of challenges and modes to give more end-game content for 5*s, and not progress past 6*s, at least give us enough new characters in the 3*-5* range that when we get to 6*s and get another Tony Stark people aren't quite so salty about it, you know?)