GW1 micro-transactions business model

If you have been around for some time you might have noticed a change in the GW1 business model from free to play to a micro-transaction system. Originally and with the first update the live team worked on, most thought micro-transactions were a one off thing. With the latest costumes update it becomes pretty clear that the live team is not actually working on free updates and do maintenance but they focus on different ways to get more money for GW1.

I for one don't like the direction GW1 business model is taking. Many would say that the micro-transactions available at the moment are just for cosmetic items and therefore optional, "they don't affect gameplay". There are two points to consider though.

First of all, not all micro-transactions are cosmetic. A noticeable exception is storage panels. They don't give a player an advantage in terms of item stats but they obviously give players that have the money for them an in game advantage. No way around it, that update pointed that even gameplay affecting features worked on by live team won't be free.

Second, cosmetics like costumes are just as bad micro-transaction items as those that would offer gameplay stats advantages. Cosmetics offer only a "looks"/skins advantage. But this is a game. People play games not as much for the stats (they could do pure maths on paper if stats were all about it). If you think about it, costumes are almost like a new elite armor skin that are is available via cash in the in game store. I can see kids begging their parents to buy them the costumes because their friends have those "looks" already. ANet's strategy for the current holiday season I guess.

And last and perhaps the most important, it shows that ANet prefers to stop the "6 months content update expansion/campaign" but move to a new "shinny cosmetics" micro-transaction business model. They don't want to invest in adding real new content to the game (too difficult), however they spend the time of one engineer or so for a couple of weeks to release two costumes that together are as expensive as one full campaign (today).

So they are obviously looking for easy gains and probably think that spending the time of their entire team for a campaign that would be priced around the same as 4 costumes: a waste of time and resources. Doing 4 costumes is probably not even a week's work but just as pricey.

Conclusions:
- I would much rather they worked on real content updates and I would gladly pay for those; but I am afraid real content updates may seem not worth for ANet given the effort/price
- there seems to be enough proof that the updates live team is working mostly on new ways to make easy money rather than really fix issues, perform maintenance and keep the game going.

I just wish things hadn't taken this direction...

EDIT: I'm just expressing my wish that they would go back to real content updates even if I had pay for them instead of ... armor skins. I have nothing against them trying to implement skins and charge for them, or against people that buy them and enjoy them. I just wish that wasn't all the updates they do. Is this what we should expect from now on? No new content at all but some new skins for $6 each? Things seem to point that way. And it makes me sad.

Conclusion:
-If you want the upgrade, you buy it. If you do not want it, do not buy it. ANET does not make us buy them. Shut up.
-Running the game with no monthly fees is hard work. ANET is successful for that. Let them add micro-transactions. Pays for their bills and server costs.

These threads are getting very tiring. Please refer to the other threads about micro transactions. Thank you.

ANet abandonned the "6 months content update expansion/campaign" system before even EotN was released. They said themselves that that kind of system was too rushed and didn't give them time to do much work on existing content after release.

I don't think 4 ppl can create adequate "real" content, paid for or otherwise.

Why is it a common theme on guru anyone who doesn't share the same view point as me is a troll...

Fair enough if you don't like don't purchase it and they won't... take your own advice if viewing these threads are getting "tiring" don't click on them.

Lol...


I think it's safe to say that if we just leave this post at that, it would still be an appropriate response.

hmmm
Again, why are so many people expecting GW at this stage to be run like it was or like any other 'top' "live" game out there currently? And again, it was stated some time ago by an employee that GW is on it's final leg of it's life cycle. The game is not going to receive major additions in content nor major changes to existing. Basically what they've done is begun to add bits and pieces here and there since so many are still playing the game and they realize that the gap between EotN and GW2 release is pretty long. Some players are complaining endlessly about ANet's management of GW using comparisons to games that are THE game of other companies which are still being expanded on and such. I'm certainly not going to assume that any method of attaining monetary compensation for the work they do towards GW is necessarily going to become their business model and carried over to their new "MAIN" game once GW2 is released. I do however see it as a way to get paid for extra work done on a game they had initially planned on not putting much more into over two years ago. I definately don't have a problem with that.

Therefore it is understood you agree with the "no real updates" but "armor skins for $6 each" direction. Or? You don't want more for your money? You don't think GW1 could get awesome content updates? You're just happy with what you have been offered so far. Right?

I don't see a problem with ANet charging extra money for perks like the collector's edition, storage upgrades, or costumes. In my opinion, these don't affect competitive gameplay balance, and they offer a nice way for players to show support for the game.

I'd say extra storage panels are a convenience, not a real advantage. If my storage were overflowing with ecto I might think otherwise, but it's not.

Costumes seem like a great idea to me. If done right, they might even help undercut the pressure for cosmetic-oriented players to violate the EULA and purchase GW gold or ecto from real-money traders.

Looks like we disagree. If ANet has found a nice way to enrich the game and also keep a few artists busy, I think that's great.

My question is: since they realized that the said gap is pretty long why aren't they working on something like a mini expansion and dedicate more resources to it instead of coming up with marketing ideas like costume skins.

And I can't help but think: GW is an awesome game and I'd happily get money out of my pocket to show my support ... but I started getting the feeling recently that by doing that I am encouraging them to pursue this micro-transactions folly where they think they can sell me an armor skin for $6.

On one hand they fail to deliver even basic skill updates even after they changed the schedule to every other month (=free therefore not interesting) but they *didn't* fail to deliver costumes before Christmas. Because costumes are no real effort updates that bring money and therefore are important updates to release?

Is really this the transformation we are witnessing in how GW is to be maintained?

Micro transaction business models usually sell items that give the user an advantage other other players, ie more weapon damage or higher armour. Guild Wars will never do that imo and as you get no in game play advantage from buying what they sell, plus the fact you are not forced to buy, Guild Wars is still a free to play business model.

I guess my simple answer would be to compare it to buying brand new $500 dollar rims for a car that you're going to take to the junk yard in two weeks when you're going to be buying a new car. Instead of buying new rims while you wait, you just buy some good wheel polish and make your existing look as nice as possible until then.

OP is telling the sad, but hard truth. And in fact, while I don't like them for doing it, I can't blame the devs for it. It's all straightforward business. Have a look at this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth-share_matrix

The BCG-Matrix or "Growth-share matrix" is often used by managers in order to assess their product. Guild Wars, being a game that's nearing the end of it's life, with a decreasing number of people actively playing it, would be classified as a "Dog". While it's not creating profit for the company (heck, I can imagine GW1 is not even breaking even), it will be kept alive for as long as necessary (in this case, until the release of GW2 or shortly after it's release), after which it will be put to sleep for good. From a business perspective, the best thing to do with a Dog is to still get as much money out of it as possible, while making the least amount of costs, and while slowly decreasing the assets involved. An example of the latter is the creation of the Test Crew (instead of hiring professional game testers) and the transfer of servers from GW1 to Aion.

Generally, it's also a depiction of a product's life-cycle, starting off as a Question Mark (first six months of GW let's say), before turning into a Star (Factions era), then a Cash Cow (NF and EotN), and finally a Dog (since the start of 2009).

Whilst this situation being bad for the community, I can't blame Anet/NCSoft for doing healthy business. That doesn't mean however, that information supply to the community about the business has to be this bad. Being the customers, we definitely are a factor they need to take into account. ANet is playing a risky game by not being pro-actively open about their current and future state of business. By leaving us relatively ignorant, they're hoping we don't ask questions, and will all just play along for as long as we can, until they pull the plug. This costs them little money and in return enables them to squeeze out any last revenues. The risk in this is that we do ask questions, and that if we don't get the right answers we will be dissatisfied with their business and therefore not buy GW2, which would be catastrophic for them if it happened on a large scale, but it probably won't. Then again, with them trying to squeeze out of us as much revenue possible, there's no reason why we shouldn't be trying to squeeze out of them as much service and extra game-play value at the same time.

So yeah, it sucks that GW1 is treated like this, for us at least. Then again, it's only natural.

Thank you, english storm, for hitting the nail on the head. I might buy the costumes and I might not, but that decision will not affect my game play. The free part of the new build, the hat slot, does affect my game play, as I can now wear my festival hats without worrying about head shots.

My answer is NO if you're speaking in reference to how they'll maintain GW2. If you're referring to GW only and you're carrying it through GW2 release and beyond... well then, probably pretty close. When their answer to "will GW still be playable after GW2 release?" is, "we'll keep the servers up as long as people are playing it," I'm fairly certain that updates to the 'old' game are going to be pretty sparse.

The only thing I care about, is keeping stuff like this out of GW2. Micro-Transactions cheapen the gaming experience for me. I guess I could care less for GW1, not like I play as actively as I used to.

Here is where i pick and choose what i want to quote then say QFT:

They already are sparse. But I'm curious as to why you think it will stop with GW2? You think they're going to abandon something profitable just because they have a new source? GW isn't profitable on its own anymore (the dwinding population shows us that), so your logic holds there. But if it does work out for them, you think they'll launch GW2 and say "well, we have enough money from GW2, we don't need to sell other stuff" when they know they can get $10 for 4 armor models?

I'd much rather have no montly fees and a bunch of random purchasable packs, etc. through the store that people buy. Especially considering 90% of it is either pointless or in the game already, and nothing as of yet really justifies the purchase price, or give you any advantages.

So don't buy, and let them put these packs up for those who do want to spend/waste their money on the cosmetic items, this just helps our game be cheaper for us who don't want to purchase.

I do appreciate those who do buy the random stuff through the store however because like I said without these we could be very well paying for a subscription right now. Just not for me.

Sure in the perfect world it be nice if Anet could give us free upgrades like that all the time and timely game updates/skill updates, etc. But given the situwation of FREE subscriptions i don't think you should be half as picky as you are being.

Obviously they're testing the waters. I also expect we'll see more of these micro-transactions with GW2 even from day one.

I agree with micro-transactions the way they are now: not disturbing the balance. Costumes are a great idea. Just think, its a one-time deal, why not? Im thinking Im getting both costumes the next time I log in.

I have no problem with these microtransactions in principle. I've shelled out cash for most of them in fact, even the more whimsical ones like makeover tokens.

I just think it's sad that the most recent one is so seriously lacking in substance, despite being the only PvE related thing of any substance at all lately. It doesn't bode well for the future.

@Meridon:

I wouldn't classify GW as a Dog, but it's longevity will be directly tied to the success of GW2.

I'm predicting that there will be a huge market for GW1 HoM items in GW2. GW2 fans that never bothered /w GW will likely be buying at least a single campaign+eotn expansion, just so that they can trade GW2 K's and Ectos for swag to furnish their HoM.

That doesn't necessarily mean that people will be playing the game, but I suspect there will be alot of campaign buying and farming done.

If they were a side thing I wouldn't have any issue with it either. However they seem to be the *only* thing the live team is able to deliver. As already said, they failed to deliver a skill update in 4 months. This clearly suggests they've prioritized internally the costume feature first (as it's not free) and delayed the already long overdue skill updates (free). Sad but true I guess.

There are no graphics artists on the Live team, any new art assets and the hours required to make them would have had to come from someone on the GW2 project. The programming for the costumes in and of itself doesn't seem like a very monumental undertaking. I'm sure this didn't take the live team 4 months to implement. The rest of the wintersday stuff, which is free, may have taken that long.

They are pulling this off the right way. They actually add a space for costume which is empty until you have the costume, which adds pressure on people. Luckily I do not care about that. Same with extra storage, but again I do not care, I was fine with 1 storage pane, now i have 4, and 3 and a half is full with things that I can just sell to merchart.

However, they did add a free update very recentley with new content : the Dhuum update.

Also, Arenanet is a company, and all companies needs a source of income.

If I was the president of Anet I would personally have made more 'pay for "advantages"' than they have, and I would have started way earlier. Money is power.

And last, I do not understand people feeling the need to buy the costumes, they are useless, and they will be common and boring in 1 week or so.

"I don't give a f**k"
-Snoop Dogg

GW1, from the perspective of "significant new playable content," was abandoned years ago. They were very up-front about this. GW1 didn't support the directions that they wanted to take the game, so they stopped primary development in favor of a new platform (GW2).

You don't like the absence of any future content updates? Tough Nuggies!

Whining about microtransactions isn't going to change their direction, halt the development of GW2, and force them to restart development of GW1.

You get this, or you get nothing. I prefer this!

Actually that model was abandonned between NF and GWEN, because they couldn't keep up with it : it become increasingly difficult to make full training areas (as well as adding new skills for everyone, armor, full zones...), so the game themselves would have become smaller and smaller.
SO they went for GWEN/GW2.

Look at Meridon's post to have another reason why they'd make less actual updates. That being said, another BMP would be nice. even if it is smaller.

That's the scary part. Even tough I think a reasonable size of the community won't be scared away by micro-transaction in GW1, I personally hope they keep them out of GW2. Their original word was that GW2 had a business model similar to GW1, with small expansion instead of campaign (that means no micro). We'll see how close they are to it when it comes out.

"Professional" game testers are terrible. No amount of testing will catch as many bugs as the general gaming community. Look at WoW, which has been using public test realms successfully for years. A test crew is a step in the right direction, even if it is a sign of waning resources.

I haven't tried, but I hear other masks and such can be used for it. Ones that don't require to pay.

Well, that would depend on the exact functionality of your GW1 HoM in GW2. As far as I'm aware of (and correct me if I'm wrong here), the only thing that's been disclosed is that your GW1 HoM will have *some sort of use or role* in GW2. Personally, I don't think this means that every item you put into your HoM is transferable to GW2. I'm predicting something more along the lines of a special title, emote, item or character appearance (like Aion wings) to show that you played GW1 up to a certain level.

If I'm correct, it would mean no surge after the release of GW2. Also, the problem I have with your theory is that it would in that case be more beneficial for Anet/NCSoft to just give all the GW2 HoM implentation details right now (assuming they do already have big plans for HoM in GW2), so everyone buys their EotN expansions now instead of over 2 years, making the revenues come in faster.

That will be all.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I fully expect a mass of completely irrelevant eye candy to come out of the HoM. But as the wintersday costumes, and the number of ppl currently wearing them proves, fans will spend a huge amount of resources on that sort of stuff.

You'd be surprised what lengths people will go to to distinguish themselves from other players.

At the end of the day, the people who make no effort whatsoever stand out the most. How many people do you see walking around EotN with grey died ascalon armor?

I have to admit I tend to look at things in a too practical way, you're probably right about the amount people still willing to spend money if it doesn't have any practical use.

In that case, the reason for them not announcing the details has to mean that they either have no final function for it yet, or that they are purposely withholding the information, so they can continue to squeeze out revenue from costume packs like these. That would mean though that they are still actually making a certain amount of profit from GW1

There has been both a headgear and a costume space added.

Hi, I herdz Arenanet is a business trying to earn a profit after a loss in Guild Wars sales

My roflcopter goes ch ch ch ch ch ch


Nothing new. It's purely cosmetic.

There were never any plans for anymore "updates" not sure where you even got the idea they would consider even working on one

Anybody who thinks microtransactions won't be in GW2 is an idiot. Of course they will be. Likely on release.

Also the people saying "Anet is a company they have to make money too blah blah" is stating the obvious and probably an idiot as well. Of course they have to make money. They made money before microtransactions. If they aren't making money now without microtransactions, don't you think they would have thought of that when they came up with their marketing model without microtransactions?

I personally think microtransactions are trash, I think people buying them are wasting their money, and I think they shouldn't exist. But its not my money/game.

i smell a QQ thread....

anet has to make some money some way. if people are willing to pay money for the stupid cosmetic stuff in the ingame store, then lucky anet, lmao. getting money for some programming = win

so let me guess you think that areanet should pay their employes out of imaginary money? because these changed keep this game running without these changed they would probably have taken it off the market because they only profit when we buy copies of the game or from the in-game store/ncSoft now i for one want guildwars to stay funtioning idk about you but whatever dont like the changes then quit damnit life changes get over it