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  1. #1

    South Park Parodies Free-to-Play Business Model

    *THE VIDEO CONTAINS SPOILERS*



    Last night's episode featured the clip you see above, wherein the "principles of success" for free-to-play games are outlined. The video hits the nail on the end, and is pretty funny to watch.

    "Everyone is doing it. It's the way things are going!" a character exclaims at the end.

    I'm not sure if a TV show can be discussed in this section, but it mainly talks about the whole freemium thing where poor games are making a lot of money.

  2. #2
    Stood in the Fire ArMeD_SuRvIvOr's Avatar
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    F2P is cancer and needs to die in a fire. Then pissed on it. And its ashes thrown to outer space.

    I'm hoping the market for this will pop soon.
    Last edited by ArMeD_SuRvIvOr; 2014-11-06 at 09:15 PM.
    Really sucks if they start to limit their vision for an expansion just to get the next one out faster.
    BLOOD DPS. Never forget. Still campaigning to get you back, babe.

  3. #3
    The Patient Vaelanor's Avatar
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    Saw the episode and once again thought to myself "damn, they are completely on fucking point this season." Completely and utterly nailed the freemium games like candy crush, farmville, etc

  4. #4
    The writers of that show never cease to surprise me. It's like a high powered cutting tool that runs on farts.

  5. #5
    South Park keeps getting better

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by ArMeD_SuRvIvOr View Post
    F2P is cancer and needs to die in a fire. Then pissed on it. And its ashes thrown to outer space.

    I'm hoping the market for this will pop soon.
    Free to Play is fine, but the problem is games calling themselves Free to Play and completely ignoring what the model actually is.

    Ignorant people bashing the model isn't helping.

    A game where you can get the entire playable content without payment, but you pay only for cosmetic/conveniences that are not influencing player power.
    That is what the model should be.
    Any paywalled playable content means it isn't F2P.

    A "free" game with some of the content locked behind a payment, that used to be called a demo.
    Now some people use the term F2P.
    Utter rubbish, it is still a demo.
    Quote Originally Posted by DeadmanWalking View Post
    Your forgot to include the part where we blame casuals for everything because blizzard is catering to casuals when casuals got jack squat for new content the entire expansion, like new dungeons and scenarios.
    Quote Originally Posted by Reinaerd View Post
    T'is good to see there are still people valiantly putting the "Ass" in assumption.

  7. #7
    Deleted
    Pretty accurate.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by ComputerNerd View Post
    Free to Play is fine, but the problem is games calling themselves Free to Play and completely ignoring what the model actually is.

    Ignorant people bashing the model isn't helping.

    A game where you can get the entire playable content without payment, but you pay only for cosmetic/conveniences that are not influencing player power.
    That is what the model should be.
    The problem is actually getting enough people to just pay for cosmetic/convenience to make the game profitable. These companies have to pay their employees and server costs somehow and your idea for most games simply doesn't get the job done in terms of generating revenue. That's why we have what is called "F2P" today.

  9. #9
    Legendary! Vizardlorde's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Abysal View Post
    The problem is actually getting enough people to just pay for cosmetic/convenience to make the game profitable. These companies have to pay their employees and server costs somehow and your idea for most games simply doesn't get the job done in terms of generating revenue. That's why we have what is called "F2P" today.
    while not exactly F2P Anet is doing it, And I believe Rift and Tera are doing it too.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kalis View Post
    MMO-C, where a shill for Putin cares about democracy in the US.

  10. #10
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Abysal View Post
    The problem is actually getting enough people to just pay for cosmetic/convenience to make the game profitable. These companies have to pay their employees and server costs somehow and your idea for most games simply doesn't get the job done in terms of generating revenue. That's why we have what is called "F2P" today.
    They could always, you know... Sell their game for a price instead? That way they will be able to afford paying their employees without adding all the extra charging crap.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Lora Twinblade View Post
    They could always, you know... Sell their game for a price instead? That way they will be able to afford paying their employees without adding all the extra charging crap.
    That's a one time purchase, and for a MMO that's not going to be enough to cover ongoing development/maintenance costs anymore. You need a cash shop, DLC (content sold rather and provided for free), or a subscription (or a mixture of these things) to fund a MMO after it launches if you're going to continue to support it.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Abysal View Post
    The problem is actually getting enough people to just pay for cosmetic/convenience to make the game profitable. These companies have to pay their employees and server costs somehow and your idea for most games simply doesn't get the job done in terms of generating revenue. That's why we have what is called "F2P" today.
    League of Legends and Marvel Heroes seem to be doing ok. Maybe there is some magical secret - or maybe making content worth buying and pricing it reasonably leads to success.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaleredar View Post
    Nah nah, see... I live by one simple creed: You might catch more flies with honey, but to catch honeys you gotta be fly.

  13. #13
    Love it, south park is the best.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Lora Twinblade View Post
    They could always, you know... Sell their game for a price instead? That way they will be able to afford paying their employees without adding all the extra charging crap.
    Why spend billions developing a cure you can only sell once to every patient, when you could develop a treatment patients have to buy at regular intervals for the rest of their lives?

  15. #15
    Brewmaster SteveRocks's Avatar
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    This season has been pretty terrible, but I will admit to laughing my ass off at this episode. Particularly when Satan is "explaining things," to Stan in his room.

  16. #16
    Titan Yunru's Avatar
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    Too bad they only Parodied the mobile games.
    I would laugh hard if they made a moba game where you run araund killing people by spending money.
    Click on player---)wana kill this player? ----) spend money ----) that player is dead
    Dead player---) Pay cash too revive or wait 10 minutes
    Don't sweat the details!!!

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Vizardlorde View Post
    while not exactly F2P Anet is doing it, And I believe Rift and Tera are doing it too.
    ArenaNet pushes the limits a bit hard. If you're literally rich and silly with your money you can buy the best equipment in the game with real money through the currency conversion. Thing is, they set that cost so insanely high that it's not remotely likely to happen without someone turning around and claiming their card was stolen.
    Soothing Mist:"Healing them for a minor amount every 0.5 sec, until you take any other action."
    Jade Serpent Statue: "The statue will also begin casting Soothing Mist on your target. healing for 50% as much as yours. "
    [What's half of minor?]
    "Statue casts Soothing Mist at a nearby ally for toddler healing."

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Descense View Post
    Too bad they only Parodied the mobile games.
    I would laugh hard if they made a moba game where you run araund killing people by spending money.
    Click on player---)wana kill this player? ----) spend money ----) that player is dead
    Dead player---) Pay cash too revive or wait 10 minutes
    Except that doesn't exist. The example they use, does. That's what makes it funny and that's why it's relevant.

  19. #19
    I look forward to watching this new episode of South Park here in Australia in 5 years or so!

    -_-

    Quote Originally Posted by Njorn View Post
    South Park keeps getting better
    Well... it's kind of sinusoidal IMO :P
    Quote Originally Posted by Tojara View Post
    Look Batman really isn't an accurate source by any means
    Quote Originally Posted by Hooked View Post
    It is a fact, not just something I made up.

  20. #20
    Nice video. Most "F2P" games block off content until you pay to bait people into paying. (and it works, but cosmetics are more efficient) Free to Play games should only ever offer purchases for cosmetics or the ability to speed up a grind.
    Stay salty my friends.

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