F2P, a serious option if you want to improve profits and player base

[barbzilla]

Trion, if you really want this game to make money, you need to switch gears. You've already made the game super cheap, and with sales it often goes for less than $5 dollars. I know you can't be selling many copies for PC at this point, and console sales are probably in the same boat. If you really want to improve profits (as you can't be making more than $1 or $2 dollars from vendors other than your store page), make the game F2P and advertise that it is going that way. Take all of the DLC and make it purchasable from the in game store only (to ensure that you are getting the full sale price). Reduce the bit price of Lock Boxes, and make some custom visual weapon mods (complete weapon reskins) to sell in the bit store.

The advertising will ensure that people will know the game is going F2P which will draw in the F2P crowd (which is unbelievably huge), and get the people on the fence to come over to the game. Meanwhile, selling your DLC in game only ensures that you are making the most money you can from each sale (instead of people buying it from other vendors on sale, and netting you a severely reduced mark-up value). Many of the new players (expect around 35%) will likely buy at least one of the DLC, if only to see what they are all about.

Reducing the bit cost of lock boxes will encourage the non-whales to buy a few every pay period, while encouraging the Whales to buy more of them. This will also lead to a better in game economy to keep up with the influx of new players. Add to that the custom weapon skins, and now you have the paid players starting to buy more Bits, and it doesn't affect PvE or PvP balance.

On the topic of PvP and PvE, one of our current problems in game is finding people to play with (for major Arkfalls, Incursions, Shadow Wars, Competitive Maps, and difficult world events (Co-op maps seem to be doing fine for some reason, but it will help those too). With new players coming in, we will have a more active game encouraging some of the people who quit to come back and see what the fuss is all about, and ending up with you making more and more money from in game store sales day by day.

The only negative I can foresee with going F2P will be the complaints from people who paid full price for the game, and honestly with the level of complaints you are fielding currently, will it really be all that much of a negative? In fact, I'm willing to bet that the F2P players will rave about the game and increase the level of positive comments/reviews, especially when you consider what your competition is (I can only think of Fallen Earth, and that game blows).

Anyway, that is my suggestion. Feel free to take it or leave it, but I am 100% positive that my estimations are correct, given that every other good game that has gone F2P has increased profits by a strong margin. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and happy hunting.

[Inubis]

My In Game Name is Inubis and I support this message.

In all seriousness tho this probably should have been F2P since the beginning, like Rift. I probably would have spent more in the store than I did on my pre-order. If it does go F2P I would also like functionality that either lets me Transfer my character from PS3 NA server to PC NA server. (obviously not limited to that one type of transfer) I would expect there to be a fee attached to such an option but if affordable I would see some people using it.

[Coyote Clive]

I am Coyote Clive. I can't use my hands to climb a tree, I can't sit down, or holster a weapon. But I can support this message.

[Murzin]

the problem is that defiance is B2P

buy to play

like counterstrike.

what they really need, is to find something they can offer players that is attainable in-game after a long time or with serious effort, that they can sell to players.

unfortunately we do not know what their contract is with SyFy and defiance. their contract may limit what they can and cannot do.

in Rift, they can do mounts, lock boxes, and other vanity items or convience items that does not really affect gameplay.

the problem is, defiance does not exactly leave itself open for that option.

and honestly, their lockboxes are way to expensive for me to consider buying.