Concern: Value-added services

[Banard]

There is a think tank going on right now on how to add more value-added services. Get your wallets ready!

[Soon-TM]

There is a think tank going on right now on how to add more value-added services. Get your wallets ready!

Not that it would surprise me, but where do you get this info from?

[Deleted]

Not that it would surprise me, but where do you get this info from?

Indeed. Or maybe it is called Scientific Revenue and is not a think tank but a company already in tight cooperation with many game companies? Google it up. It’s working.

[Temp name]

Wait, so what you're saying is.. There's people working on how to get money?

Seems legit

[HuxNeva]

At Activision Blizzard they call these 'Live Services'. It's already half of their revenue (4B$+), and the fastest growing segment by miles.

It was presented in the last Investor call as on of the 4 'Growth Drivers' where hey stated that 'continued improvement of out Live Services model is one of our largest growth opportunities'.
(in case you wonder about the 'Growth Drivers', besides game releases, there is 'expansion of the franchises to mobile' and 'New engagement Models' which was detailed as eSports and Advertizing revenue)

[Deleted]

At Activision Blizzard they call these 'Live Services'. It's already half of their revenue (4B$+), and the fastest growing segment by miles.

It was presented in the last Investor call as on of the 4 'Growth Drivers' where hey stated that 'continued improvement of out Live Services model is one of our largest growth opportunities'.
(in case you wonder about the 'Growth Drivers', besides game releases, there is 'expansion of the franchises to mobile' and 'New engagement Models' which was detailed as eSports and Advertizing revenue)

But but but - what is so wrong ... people want to pay ... let them pay ... etc. etc.

[kamuimac]

At Activision Blizzard they call these 'Live Services'. It's already half of their revenue (4B$+), and the fastest growing segment by miles.

It was presented in the last Investor call as on of the 4 'Growth Drivers' where hey stated that 'continued improvement of out Live Services model is one of our largest growth opportunities'.
(in case you wonder about the 'Growth Drivers', besides game releases, there is 'expansion of the franchises to mobile' and 'New engagement Models' which was detailed as eSports and Advertizing revenue)

if this means new wow mount with unique model every month that would piss off forum warriors - yes pls i would buy a dozen if they released them at once

[Softbottom]

Holy shit a business trying to increase their revenue. Who would have thought??

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Wait, so what you're saying is.. There's people working on how to get money?

Seems legit

lol Ikr? Anyone who thinks a company the size of Blizz doesn't have people working on revenue streams... is like someone thinking forums won't start goofy threads about the strangest things.

[Voltsmasher]

Well, I don't want WoW to go away anytime soon. If this is what it takes to keep em up then fine, I can't afford to buy the extra stuff but I salute those who can and do

[Mazinger-Z]

There's no issue with trying to figure out what people will want to pay for and then offering it.

The issue with MTX has always been the developers putting the thumb on "fun" and only offering more "fun" if you're willing to pay out the wazoo.

And that issue has always been the attempts to subtly manipulate things in order to encourage more MTX.

Games like GW2 come to mind. They tied their in-game economy to their MTX by allowing gems and gold to be freely exchanged.

Then they made their end-game crafting things (or farming dungeons without a trinity to get tokens for buying gear or materials for crafting things).

So they tied their RNG drop system to their revenue. Which gives you the impression that they'll make drops rare out not of the idea of these things being hard to come by, but because if their value and rarity dropped, the wouldn't be worth as much gold->gems->money.

WoW got the same criticism with the additional grindiness of BfA. That the developers were doing all they could to slow things down from Legion to extend subscription time.

Additional services people are willing to pay for are fine, so long as it doesn't look like the developer is taking additional actions or changing the way things have historically been to encourage patronage of that service.

Players are more likely to pay for an additional service as a "gift" or "perk" to themselves, because they view their indulgence as a reward to the business for treating them well. It's not something they view as "have to do" to enjoy themselves, but what they "want to do."

This is why Apple is getting flak for the oncoming price increases and the recent announcement that the Apple Pencil 2 will cost 30 bucks more and not have extra heads in the package, like the Gen 1. From a customer perspective, they're getting milked and no value is being added.