Hey Everyone.
This is a really interesting thread for us because it gives us a better understanding of how different people perceive different purchase options. So please keep it coming. @olliepurkiss and I have been following the thread and discussing internally how all the points relate to our ever developing plans.
So what does it mean for Boundless? Firstly some background.
The main value we’re tracking and optimising is “Cost Per Concurrent Player Per Month”. Basically how much does it cost us to run the game for a single person for a month. We’re trying to get this cost as low as possible. The more we optimise the game the cost goes down, but the more features we add (normally) the cost goes up. When players buy the game (and after the standard costs are removed) we’re left with money to: 1. continue developing the game, and 2. continue hosting the game. We clearly need some additional payment options that allow us to keep the game viable the longer players stay active in the game, else we’d eventually start losing money for all players. The question is what should we include? What would turn players onto the game, rather than turn players off the game.
With Boundless we’re attempting to do something relatively new. We’re not attempting to charge a monthly sub, and we’re also not going f2p. So there is definitely some experimentation required to find the right answer. There also isn’t as much prior art that we can lean on. So ideas, experimentation and feedback from the community are essential. We’ve already talked about Official Private Boundless Servers + worlds which fits naturally into the universe and has been done before(ish).
We do have some ideas for payments for the game beyond launch. And we definitely plan to share these with everyone before we start adding them. However, whilst they’re still in development we want to do 2 things:
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Gather player sentiment: We want to gather more information from our community about the types of payments everyone would be happy with and likewise the type that they would oppose. This thread has shown that there are a spectrum of opinions. We’re planning a survey that covers a spectrum of options - and it’s your chance to help steer us. Expect this survey after we’ve got the C++ release live.
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Understand the game: We don’t want to announce the proposed payment options until players have a better understanding of the game’s core features. As I explained here the next major feature update is the point where everyone will experience the core of the game. It’s only after you’ve seen, played, and appreciate this - that I think we can answer intelligently which payment options make most sense for the game.
So this thread is great. It’s really helpful. We’re interested in what you think and we’re going to be active to pull this information from the community who aren’t vocal on the forum. Then based on this feedback and the core functionality of the game, we’ll share the options we’re exploring. Fingers crossed we’ll find a solution everyone can get behind and we can sustain Boundless with lots of updates and features into the future.