Dominion, the next expansion for EvE Online, is looming on the horizon and it sets the stage for the upcoming integration with CCP’s next venture, code named DUST514. DUST514, as most of us know who follow the EvE news regularly, is going to be a first person shooter. DUST514 will also include integrated elements into the EvE Online MMO. What those are and how extensive they will be is the current subject of much speculation (a good speculative article can be found on the EvE forums here)
What hasn’t been openly discussed or mentioned is what subscription model DUST514 will use. Since DUST514 is primarily targeted for PS3 and XBOX360 as we’ve been told, most of the current games on the market for those consoles are one-time payment style games and have a short lifespan (as do the attention spans of the console gaming crowd in general). However, a large amount of online gaming is slowly changing from a subscription based model to a micro payment model. You can see this on a small scale on Facebook’s app games (gasp! Farm Town) where you can buy extra cash for a small credit card payment and increase your wealth. Farm Town itself is free to play. What’s interesting is that a lot of these free to play games are developing this model, and it is racking up quite a bit of followers (and spenders). According to an article on gamesindustry.biz digital micro-purchases for things like in-game money account for more than half digital revenues across the different game genres.
An article caught on Slashdot this morning states that Blizzard, the founder of WoW (World of Warcraft) is rumored to have been developing yet another MMOG with “more broad appeal” and it is speculated that it might be free to play. It looks like Blizzard is attempting to expand their audience into other ages and attract more females, similar to what Sony Online Entertainment is doing with Free Realms
What will DUST514 use as its payment model? Will it be a single payment style game like current PS3 titles? Based on the above, it could be speculated that DUST might utilize a micro-payment method and be free-to-play (probably once the game title has been purchased). Would you pay to add more and better weapons to your arsenal? What might be cool is the ability to have an EvE Online account, and transfer ISK down to your DUST514 persona thus alleviating the need for those that have interest for both games to pay double (even if it is in micro payment form).
How is CCP going to maintain the game as it moves forward in its evolution and how will they garner continued interest in the title (knowing what is known about console game attention spans)?
Too many questions are still left answered and it will be curious to see how all of it evolves.
6 Comments
Interesting link about the blizzard/free-realms thing. My opinion: It's terribly sad to see them referring to the business of "tapping into new markets", so to speak, by appealing to casual gamers. It's a round about way of saying, "we look at our customers solely as $$$ signs now.. forget integrity." In that sense, it's the perfect move for blizzard. I just wish they did it a year ago so they wouldn't feel the need to casual-fy WoW to hell.
Oh well.
I hope Dust is not about "microtransactions" as they say. I can't say I'd rather pay a monthly fee, but I'm also not interested in having my gameplay experience hindered because I don't want to fork over $2 when I want a new weapon. I think CCP needs to just make Dust a hell of a game, bite the bullet, and only charge once for the disk. If they make a good enough game, they'll make a killing.
However, i wouldn't be bothered by microtransactions around completely aesthetic changes that don't affect gameplay. New player skins, etc. Go for it, what the hell.
Hmm tried to post but didn't see it go through so I'll try once more.
I brought this topic up on tweeter not long ago and I think it was CCP Fallout who replied that she inquired with someone about subscription plans/how it'll work, and that they didn't know that answer yet. I for one will not pay twice to play in the same universe. If we could log into Dust using our Eve Online account login information than I would consider at least trying it. If I didn't buy a console for blu-ray I can't see me paying now for a fps. And with StarTrek online doing something similar to this, but not as fps-ish probably, with away missions etc I don't think it's the wisest move CCP's made. They arent dumb, and maybe they'll stun all the critics with their master plan. They did need to do something about SOV though…..I think SOV should be affected by the numbers of people WALKING IN STATIONS and hanging out in the bars & offices in the system.
Gaming these days is very much about the marketing sadly. EvE is one of the few that I see out there that isn't overwhelmed with overt marketing. Sure they have a marketing department, and they are looking to make a profit, but they do it in a way that doesn't make you feel dirty afterwards. I also hope they come up with a nice way to keep the DUST514 console game maintained and fresh without resorting to the over-hyped and marketed WoW clones and free-to-play games. I think they will. I'll probably look into DUST514 when it comes out, as for me the PS3 is a natural progression in my home theatre system (most affordable quality blu-ray player around that now can do DTS-HD and TrueHD audio) and a game system, home media system, etc. all in one package. I'm not necessarily a heavy console gamer at all, but I sometimes enjoy the quick, casual game style that consoles afford. I do hope they take into account the players that are already long term EvE players in whatever pricing/marketing they come up with though.
I would prefer that CCP either makes it totally F2P or they charge a monthly fee. I hate F2P with micro transactions. Depending how they do it sometimes you can end up paying more per month with micro systems then monthly fees.
@Novon – I have moderation on, so comments won't go through immediately. I'm learning how IntenseDebate works, so sorry about that.
I agree with you on the double billing thing. Like my reply comment above, I hope they take all of us long term EvE players into account when they develop the pricing model. It would really bite to have to pay twice.
Guess we'll have to see how it all plays out…..
@gremrod – that's what I thought was interesting (read: scary) about the article, and I can see why a lot of the Facebook-y style apps and smaller MMOs (like that horrible candy, sugary coated, ghastly SoE Free Realms thing) are moving to that model. Companies ruled by marketing divisions will love that model. People will actually pay more doing that than subscription fees. I much prefer the EvE monthly fee and the all-inclusive updates.