EverQuest Next: Landmark

[Grimfan]

Originally Posted by Gwence [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

game environment looked pretty decent, game itself from what I saw looked pretty boring, but it's alpha so whatever..

my major problem with this is the business model sony is taking here to have consumers fund there development

I mean I can somewhat understand this from an independent game studio that wants to make big plays (even though it still bothers me) but from one of the biggest corporations in the world - SONY - needing there consumer base to assist in financing the game.

there was thousands of players clogging up the alpha servers over the weekend, each having paid at least $60, most probably $100. Do the math.

it's actually pretty disgusting to me

I can do the math if you'd like. Lets assume that 80% of the people accessing this Alpha were trailblazers because the jump from 60-100 isn't too bad and we will be generous. Lets also take David Georgeson for his word and approximate about 20k founders packs were sold.

80% of 20000 is 16000, the remaining 20% we will say is the Explorer pack, so that gives us 4000 more people. Once again, I'm being really generous to Sony on this.

16000x100$ each is = 1.6 million dollars
4000x60$ each is = 240 thousand dollars.

Over all, off those two packs you're making 1.84 million dollars. If you look at what it costs to make a modern MMO in today's professional market (ie: Do not look at Pantheon, or any other kickstarter MMO) you are looking at somewhere between 80-200 million dollars. Sony is not, and cannot fund their MMO off of the founders packs that they have sold.

So what is the purpose of the founders pack? Why would you create something that cannot fund your game? You're getting only the most committed fan base to play your game and test it for you. You're getting people that want to be a part of making the game and are willing to pay to do so. Why offer a refund if you need this money to make your game? Simply put, you do not offer a refund if this is how you fund your game.