Free or PAYG?

dementia

dementia
The question I was wondering is this...

Currently ED is free to play after the initial purchase.

Would people have the stomach to do a pay as you go model (like WOW, Eve, etc) if it would bring richer expansions in a shorter time frame?

Both options have their draw backs of course from a pure real world economic stand point depending on which side of the fence you are on.

Personally I'm not sure if FD will be able to not move to a PAYG model as more and more people join. Those servers and the associated support of them along with the development of the game itself doesn't come cheap I'm sure.
 

dementia

dementia
Continium said:
It already is PAYG. Future expansions will cost money.
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I see what you are saying but I meant on a monthly subscription basis.

I'm not advocating either way, I am just interested in what other peoples thoughts are on it.

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Apec Valorian said:
Actually free-to-play means that you can join the game without paying anything, so Elite is not free-to-play.
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I think my original post says "free to play after the initial purchase".
 

StuartGT

StuartGT
The servers tbf won't be too expensive to run. Running on AWS reduces costs immensely, and the P2P networking between CMDRs' computers takes a great amount of overhead from the servers compared to traditional MMORPG.

New buyers, paid expansions and cosmetic DLC will provide all the funding they need, £14m so far. Bonus cash will come from their other games' sales, incl the just-released Tales From Outer Space and upcoming Screamride
 

Continium

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dementia said:
I see what you are saying but I meant on a monthly subscription basis.

I'm not advocating either way, I am just interested in what other peoples thoughts are on it.
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I don't think a monthly sub model is necessary, guild wars follows a similar model of charging for the initial game and then additional expansions. I think this is the best of both worlds, as the developers only get paid if they offer continued updates/content - and is an incentive for them to remain 'on the ball'.
 

Flappers

Flappers
It's already been said officially countless times.

ED is not going subscription model.

It's B2P (Buy to Play) with expansion content.
 

dementia

dementia
anikaiful said:
That's ruled out long ago.
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True but then things change. Remember the Off-line play mode decision?

So even if it brought tangible benefits, you'd still say no to a subscription model?

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Continium said:
I don't think a monthly sub model is necessary, guild wars follows a similar model of charging for the initial game and then additional expansions. I think this is the best of both worlds, as the developers only get paid if they offer continued updates/content - and is an incentive for them to remain 'on the ball'.
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As interesting angle I had not considered. Switching the onus on FD to keep delivering good stuff.
 

AnnuverScotinExile

AnnuverScotinExile
dementia said:
True but then things change. Remember the Off-line play mode decision?

So even if it brought tangible benefits, you'd still say no to a subscription model?

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As interesting angle I had not considered. Switching the onus on FD to keep delivering good stuff.
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Feel free to pay if you want to. But those of us who bought the game to play without ongoing fees would have a legal claim against FD.
 

deMangler

deMangler
When FD said they ruled out subs I get the feeling they meant it. I am sure they will make enough from vanity skins and the like, paid expansions, and let's not forget licencing out the cobra engine to other developers....
There used to be a lot of doomsayering in the forums about how the p2p networking would be a big fail. I am really really impressed with what FD have accomplished with this. It was forward looking, realistic but also innovative and it is looking like it is getting solid. This type of approach is really future proof. It will scale as the internet and people's hardware scales and less of a percentage of the load will be on FD's AWS servers, which will probably become cheaper anyway.
I am not worried about the future of the servers.
 

Continium

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AnnuverScotinExile said:
Feel free to pay if you want to. But those of us who bought the game to play without ongoing fees would have a legal claim against FD.
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I don't think he is asking or suggesting that people should pay, rather simply discussing if a monthly sub would have any benefits.

Sometimes people on this forum come across as very hostile and quick to anger.
 

dementia

dementia
GTuk said:
And this topic has been discussed many times before (search "subscription"):
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I understand all that but I think people are, perhaps deliberately, misunderstanding the angle to the question I was asking.

I know FD have decided against a subscription model and that is fine. I wasn't asking if they should, I was merely interested in knowing what it would take (parallel universe like) for people to swallow such model.
 

Continium

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Seonid said:
Since it's not going to happen, it's not much of a discussion really is it?
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So, have you never discussed something that is 'never going to happen', or took part in something like a 'fantasy football league'?

Not everything needs to lead to a definitive result, sometimes just discussing somthing can be fun and interesting.

On a side note, would to speak to somebody in the 'real world' in such a manner? would you make such a curt remark to somebody if they started to discuss somthing 'just for fun'?.
 
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