get 50k more players (5k more sovereigns and gleam clubs) and you get some sustainability to offer free play
although I’d say a monthly (cheap) fee could be a good model - symbolic price with enough players would provide steady income; better charge 10k people 1 dollar a month than have 500 people paying 10 dollars a month
1.Buy Boundless for 12 dollars - get 12 months subscription (buying would be like signing a year contract); so you get a cheap, affordable price here instead of hefty 30+ and if you don’t like the game you don’t continue beyond the first year; and you have a full year to try it, re-try it at whatever point you are ready. If you don’t continue after 12 initial months, but return to the game after a while, you can re-start playing by paying for one month rather than repeat the 12 month contract. Returning Player kinda status.
2. Continue playing for 1 dollar per month after the first year, for as long as you find fit. Maybe get half a year for 5 and a year for 10 dollars, or maybe even longer packages with discount could be available (2 years for 18 or even 5 years for 30 - so monthly price going down to 0.75 and 0.5 dollar with longer commitment).
3. Buy Gleam Club for currently known features; monthly subscription would be included in GC. Only difference to what we have now, that I would want to see, is longer plans with yet better discounts like one year for 45 (currently 50 in two separate half-year buys) and even 2 years for 80 (would cost 100 currently with 4 separate half-year buys).
4. Get sovereigns as it works now. In a rare case of paying for sovereign without GC, subscription would be covered as well (basically any monthly payment plan like GC or keeping sovs would automatically cover monthly playing subscription).
5. Maybe some special offer for most dedicated players. Let’s say if your total months of GC and/ or sovereigns reaches 60 (5 years), get lifetime free subscription, so in case you are no longer interested in paying for GC or having sovereigns, or you tend to be in and out of GC, that 60 months get you the bare subscription months for free (no more 1 dollar payments).
Hey, @Haribokid2004, just want to make sure you know… we’ve just had this discussion a bunch of times. I’d guess everyone here figures you probably don’t know that and, if it hadn’t been discussed like a horse you could no longer identify by dental record, it’s actually a decent question to start an interesting discussion people have opinions on. Just, you know, don’t want you to get scared off by this reaction.
Making the game “free” doesn’t really make it free. It just means you don’t pay up front to join the game.
The publisher still has to make money, so there will be paywalls added to replace the money they’re not making from game purchases. Do you want to get past level 50, have more than 100 plots or get a second skill page? Pay up!
I would much prefer to buy the game once and get all features (other than cosmetics and fluff), rather than start playing for free and encounter paywalls everywhere.
All these types of discussions are interesting, but seriously what background does any of the participants in this and similar threads have in game development and the market side of the video game industry?
My guess is not too much, on a side note if the IP holder would take any advice from a few vocal forum people it would be lights out in no time for the game. No offense.
I know what you want is to see the game populated and thriving with regular updates etc. But this is just not how the real world works.
The only thing you can hope for is that the game makes a good enough revenue stream to remain active and even entice more development and it needs to get a good chunk of development in to make more profits as is.
As a block building game it should be designed around block building because that is the main audience, bringing in the mmo part is not a bad concept but in this state an unfinished and rather rough approach imo.
I could go on for a while how the design is flawed and that the IP holder is/was a bit blue eyed about the concept but I wont since it is pointless, the IP holder has to make decent buisness decisions not listen to forum rants about this(monetization) or that(wiping and such)
Btw free to play works best when you entice ppl to spend more money than they have, target children and gambling addicts, it is a cruel concept and should be banned from the industry imo, though there is not only black sheep ofc, but that is how free to play mostly operates. The IP holder would lose my respect if they were to go the free to play route just to press out a few more bucks.
I will stop ranting now because I have no idea about the business side of the IP holder and I will not try to advice it on how to do it’s business.
This price may be true for pc users. However, this is not the case for PS4. It’s still around $40 to $60 dollars on console. I have been playing boundless since a few months after launch. And it might have been even on sale 2 or 3 times since then on console.
I’d love for someone to convince a pizza place to offer a sliver of a slice of pizza with some sauce on it for free but charge through the nose for anything else. Or a burger place for a free bun but charge for everything else. Why do people think devs, who put blood, sweat and tears into their games, not deserve to charge for their game but survive by the ‘whims’ of players who might maybe buy something else they then have to blood sweat and tears to keep making after not having made any money the FIRST time…
These same people seem to get the idea they must pay for their groceries, their electricty, their cigarettes…but games…noooo games…should be free. Whoever made ftp shold be shot…(water pistols please, no violence)
I’m not completely sure of the logistic deal they have with PlayStation, but it’s not the same on pc. The problem I for see with it is that if it went free for everyone. I have played a different game that was F2P and the reason why I stopped playing it after 2 years is that it became a pay to win. So, another words I grinded to get my things for my character in the game. So, in order for the game to make money since it was free to play, they made it where you no longer had to grind to get your stuff. New players just come in and buy a maxed character with bells n whistles while I spent the last 2 years to grind my stuff. It’s frustrating as an old player.
The pizza place will be selling pizza anyway because there is a demand presumably. I’d like to know how many copies of Boundless have been sold in the last year. Who’s going to buy this game currently with no development or communication for so long and hardly anyone playing what is supposed to be an MMO? Yeah, going ftp will really cut into those profits
Most people just buy a game based on a description or video and don’t go near a forum beforehand, so whether Devs communicate with the community isn’t really an important factor until after the fact.
I agree with a price reduction. But F2P? That just invites in the trash players who will ruin the experience for everyone.
And here’s another thing to think about. If the game went F2P, the negative reviews would skyrocket. Because a lot of F2P players are whiny entitled snowflakes.
As I have tried over 50 different F2P games, I say it from experience.
Never said they were less skilled. I was saying that they’re entitled spoiled brats.
F2P needs to be complimented with excellent monetization within the game. Boundless does not have this. It cannot go F2P unless they change up how the game is monetized. I do agree with a price reduction though to, say, $24.99 or maybe even $19.99.
