1 (edited by Crepitus 2011-04-25 15:52:43)

Topic: Feature Request: Lifetime Subscriptions

I think they should be $150 or less (and that's being generous, consider that much larger games like LOTRO have done this; at that rate it'd be more than 2 years worth of sub fee and assuming the game is around that long is definitely a risk).

Benefits:

  • You get an instant, large influx of cash to further the game in a variety of possible ways from hiring contracted temporary devs to fix/implement certain things faster, to more advertising, to purchasing replicated/linked servers in countries closer to most of your user base or increasing network bandwidth or even trying to market yourself to a publisher.

  • You get a small dedicated core of players who will keep the game alive; it's no secret the game is low pop and dwindling as it is. Having essentially pre-paid for a very long time gives people an incentive to check back when they get tired and leave for something else.

  • The built-in player base gives you more time and more flexibility in experimenting with controversial changes.  People who have lifetime subs are far more forgiving and willing to give you a second chance than someone who is paying month to month gets nerfed in to the ground rage-quits and never looks back.

  • People who stick around longer are more likely to bring in new players from word of mouth, especially if they see positive changes occurring regularly (the longer they're around the more likely they are to do this; assuming they view most changes as positive).

  • Long term, this still leaves you the ability to sell expansions.

Detriments:

  • If the game is around more than 2 years your lifetime members aren't paying for server maintenance.  However if the game is around that long it will mean that it's been steadily increasing in subs over all and certainly the influx of people would more than offset the lost maintenance money with their profits and then some.

Population graphs

<GM Synapse> please don't abuse our fresh players before blowing them up. And for god sakes, don't do that after it!

Re: Feature Request: Lifetime Subscriptions

I can definitely see myself playing this for more then 2 years, just for their sakes I wouldn't do it.
I don't think the short term influx of money is worth the long term detriment of lifetime subs in a game like this.

3 (edited by Annihilator 2011-04-25 16:31:09)

Re: Feature Request: Lifetime Subscriptions

lifetime subs is a feature of games that the marketing section of the publisher thinks it wont stay online for more then a year.

btw, for 130 bucks you get two years sub already...

*Disclaimer: This post can contain strong sarcasm or cynical remarks. keep that in mind!
Whining - It's amazing how fast your trivial concerns will disappear

Re: Feature Request: Lifetime Subscriptions

I wish people would stop acting like this game has a shelf life.

P.O. will only get better and will be around for a long time. There are limitless possibilities with a MMO like this one and just for the record… there will come a day when most of you (who came in during or just after the beta) will one day rethink the days when P.O.'s in-your-face, pedal-to-the-metal simplicity was its allure and straight forwardness was its catch… oh, those were the good ole days, but like everything else that evolves and grows… the degree of difficulty grows with it. Mark my words… P.O. is here to stay! Just make sure the learning curve doesn't turn into a cliff.

Oh! And by the way… a lifetime membership isn't a bad idea.

Re: Feature Request: Lifetime Subscriptions

I only know one MMOG that offered a lifetime sub and I think we all know where this game went...

And I don't see how a LTM will get more players to the game... So if I have fun playing this game, I will invite my friends playing it and spread the word of mouth and there is no influence on this whether i pay per [insert timeframe] or paid for a LTM...

The argument having a "core player base" is also worng. I paid for a LTM for LOTRO at the time it was released. As I got bored after 2-3 months I quit playing it and had in mind "Damn, I wasted so much money after being addicted by the beta and now this game is just boring... I will never pay for a LTM again". So at least for me, the "Hey I paid so much for it so I will stay here until I got my LTM out" just did not work...

In addition I don't see a large cash benefit of it. How many active accounts does Perpetuum have at the moment? Regarding the user online graph there may be 600-1000 paid accounts at the moment. Considering that perhaps 1-5% of those currently active accounts would pay for a LTM at the current state of the game (or in 2-3 months ahead), this would be 1.200$ to 6.000$ (taking 800 active accounts as it's the middle of my numbers).
So I don't believe that there would be a big cash flow increase just because of offering LTM...

There are 10 kinds of people in the world: Those who understand binary and those who don't

Re: Feature Request: Lifetime Subscriptions

remember, they already had a big cash influx when the game was released - after a few weeks they already had 10k Month sold. The playerbase has decreased since then, and i'm sure many of the active had paid the year-sub for all of their min. 2 accounts.

*Disclaimer: This post can contain strong sarcasm or cynical remarks. keep that in mind!
Whining - It's amazing how fast your trivial concerns will disappear

Re: Feature Request: Lifetime Subscriptions

Legedric Warstrike wrote:

I only know one MMOG that offered a lifetime sub and I think we all know where this game went...

And I don't see how a LTM will get more players to the game... So if I have fun playing this game, I will invite my friends playing it and spread the word of mouth and there is no influence on this whether i pay per [insert timeframe] or paid for a LTM...

The argument having a "core player base" is also worng. I paid for a LTM for LOTRO at the time it was released. As I got bored after 2-3 months I quit playing it and had in mind "Damn, I wasted so much money after being addicted by the beta and now this game is just boring... I will never pay for a LTM again". So at least for me, the "Hey I paid so much for it so I will stay here until I got my LTM out" just did not work...

In addition I don't see a large cash benefit of it. How many active accounts does Perpetuum have at the moment? Regarding the user online graph there may be 600-1000 paid accounts at the moment. Considering that perhaps 1-5% of those currently active accounts would pay for a LTM at the current state of the game (or in 2-3 months ahead), this would be 1.200$ to 6.000$ (taking 800 active accounts as it's the middle of my numbers).
So I don't believe that there would be a big cash flow increase just because of offering LTM...


They have the real #'s so are better judges of how much they could make.  I think pretty much all the early access people would pay and probably some others so I personally think your numbers are low; but I don't have any more access to the real data than you do.

As for LOTRO just because you didn't/don't play your life time sub doesn't mean the game isn't *still* full of people who do (and who paid for expansions/cash store on top of it).

Population graphs

<GM Synapse> please don't abuse our fresh players before blowing them up. And for god sakes, don't do that after it!

Re: Feature Request: Lifetime Subscriptions

Hmm, interesting topic.

Current pricing models aside, what would players be willing to pay for a LTM?

What if there was a one time offer for a LTM and a customized bot, or some other unique item, would it be worth more?

Re: Feature Request: Lifetime Subscriptions

Arga wrote:

Hmm, interesting topic.

Current pricing models aside, what would players be willing to pay for a LTM?

What if there was a one time offer for a LTM and a customized bot, or some other unique item, would it be worth more?

*** that. The only thing AC should be selling is subscription time.

Edit: Troll removed - DEV Calvin

Re: Feature Request: Lifetime Subscriptions

Put a different way, would you pay $500 usd for a LTM, more than it would generally cost if you just subscribed?

If no, would you if there was some unique thing that came with it, if not an ingame item, your name on a LTM board on the website, or something in that vien.

Re: Feature Request: Lifetime Subscriptions

Arga wrote:

Put a different way, would you pay $500 usd for a LTM, more than it would generally cost if you just subscribed?

If no, would you if there was some unique thing that came with it, if not an ingame item, your name on a LTM board on the website, or something in that vien.

Even having each of the DEVs personally service me wouldn't be worth that much smile

I think the original $150 is fair.  Some of the people talking about doom saying are wrong; the lifetime subs are typically offered for special occasions, like release. 

So are the ones saying it's only one game that's done it, I can think of 3 off the top of my head (DCUO, LOTRO, STO) and I'm sure there are others.  ALL of whom have a larger active player base, I might add, than Perpetuum does.

Population graphs

<GM Synapse> please don't abuse our fresh players before blowing them up. And for god sakes, don't do that after it!

Re: Feature Request: Lifetime Subscriptions

The introduction of a lifetime subscription would reduce the effectiveness of a sub for NIC model similar to Eve. It is actually detrimental to a vetern player to get a lifetime sub if at some point they can convert NIC into subscriptions through the market. I think a lifetime sub would be a strong message from AC that they don't intend to provide NIC-2-Sub, and planned or not, I don't see them eliminating that as an option this early.