Counter counterpoint - How many of them are whales?
How many people consciously became Concierge plus (Admiral is it?) How many just spent bits here and there and over a period of time it all added up? How many bought the 35K package and how many own more ships and spent more money than they ever imagined just drip-feeding and buying the latest ship because it was never bank-breaking at the time? Its a hobby and most hobbies we are willing to spend and spend on over time because we enjoy the hobby.
ED & SC have probably an older audience, even a generational one than most games. The Twitch generation want fast pay off instant gratification or they move on to the next game. And they talk to each other more. Word of mouth works both ways.
How many of them will still be there in 6 months let alone 5 years subscribing to an Alpha to keep that revenue up? How many will make a small one-off purchase and just flush it down the toilet / write it off / forget about it? What will keep them coming back?
SC is losing its core audience, the ones who will pay month after month for an email and a story and a promise of things to come.
PT Barnum ticket sale price was similar at the end of the circus lifetime as at the beginning and he just moved from town to town. SC ship prices are going up and up to account for less actual people buying and theres nowhere left to go. Sunk cost fallacy isnt as powerful with the Millenials not through conscious thought just that theres so much else on offer and its easy to get and actual money means less.
Brand loyalty doesnt mean as much, nor does the 'personal service' individual shops that our grandparents had, we all go to generic supermarkets now, they shop online from faceless stores, 3 or 4 generations and its all changed from what lasted hundreds of years. We watched 3 hour movies or episodic TV shows that lasted for months or years. They watch 20 second Tik-Tok and swipe left (I have no idea how TT works) If it is episodic as soon as the first one is out they binge watch the entire series online in one sitting and 'next'.
If SC start accepting BC....well thats a different story....unless that bubble bursts. It should but belief and confidence just keep it going atm. Another one thats fascinating and defies reality. But all bubbles burst eventually, thats the nature of bubbles. Get in make money and get out. Every crash has been un-foreseeable the day before to 99% of people. Thats why people get hurt.
Generalising and stereotyping yes and always exceptions to the rule, but is based on observable and studied behaviour patterns and its not our future anymore, its theirs, and we will sit around and talk about how good it was in the old days when we were young....which obviously it was but thats the point, its in the past.
And thank the lord @MTBFritz is back I can stop these walls of text now....and breathe
Counter-counter-counter point:
If most of SC’s money comes from whales, and the majority of the whales can be presumed to be middle age + with income for such a daft hobby, what would it matter if the younger audience were more fleeting?
(Not that I think they necessarily are. I suspect brand loyalty, and suckerdom, are just as alive and well amongst guys in their teens and twenties
)Ultimately, many games dependent on whales rely on < 1% of their community to fund them. The full bore oddballs. A small cadre of backers of whatever age, slowly supplemented by new guys discovering the honey trap as others drop out, could keep CIG going for years to come.
And the current signs are that they will. Despite a slowing ship roster, threadbare deliveries, and a sub-standard technical product.
Unless something categorically bursts the dream bubble (Chris led away in chains, Brian Chambers shouting 'IT’S ALL A LIE' for 10 minutes on an SQ42 livestream...), there’s no reason why the ball won’t keep rolling...
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