DLC, DRM, Monetization

Maybe they do it like paradox interactive? You dont have DRM in the game but you get a key with that you register on the forum for receiving tech support and to obtain all the cool mods?! I think it works pretty fine for hearts of iron?

On the other Hand PA is a game that i think will be only played and appreciated by the Fans!? So this group of people will probably buy the game anyway...

That's not necessarily the case. If the money you payed will be used to make a patch that fixes an issue you had trouble with you will profit from it, even if you can only start using it a month later.

There's all kinds of issues with this mainly how would you make it work without server DRM. Requiring subscription for basic game functions is a big no-no. Then again maybe they could have a special "Call of Duty Elite" thing (that may be a bad example, no idea how that works!) that say, gives you access to all DLC and some other stuff for a small sub. Not that I'm a fan of the thought at all.

I'm not a huge fan of subscriptions, I meant more like a mini-series of campaign expansions (chapters) that you pay a little bit for each time.

We are definitely going to be finding ways to monetize the game going forward. This is necessary so we can keep working on it. However, I expect this to be an experiment over time as initially we are definitely concentrating on just making a fun game we can sell.

I'm kind of surprised you think it will need to keep being worked on in the future. It seems like it will have everything we could want built in from the start! What kind of things are you thinking? New races, campaign? I guess PVE Galactic conquest against some kind of invading force might be cool. Or are you thinking more just add extra units.

You could launch a kickstarter every year for one year's post-launch support, I know many people that won't buy a legal copy of the game but willing to pledge for it.

Bugfixes, customer support, hosted servers (if they have any), that kind of stuff. Even if you're not creating new content, maintaining a piece of software is expensive. So it makes sense they'll be want to be creating an extra revenue stream to pay for all that.

These are basics and essentials, people managed bugfixes and hosted servers for years without the necessity of continuing monetisation. If the game is fixed any responsible developer fixes it, likewise it is an reasonable expectation that some servers are hosted, at least for a while. But that's beside the point I would expect they would want to make money for its own sake, I don't question why they want to monetise the game going forward, only what form it could take.

vahilior, I'm curious, what's your experience with the game Industry that leads you to that conclusion?

Mike

Honestly I miss the old "Expansion Pack" model. Release a game, patch it for a year or two to keep people interested, then release another big $20 expansion pack with a ton of content. The last two Fallout games, XCOM, and Skyrim are the only modern games I can think of that still do this sort of thing.

I know that monthly subscriptions, and microtransactions that sell people a game one bit at a time make a lot of money these days, but I have always liked to just be able to pay a chunk of money, get a fully functional thing, and own it forever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSNu-unfMeU

I miss it too

Another thing that I think is sorely underused nowadays: A free demo, giving a pretty big slice of the game, maybe time limited, that links you to the purchase page when your time is up. Sort of like shareware. This way people can try before they buy without pirating.

Demos are touch and not something to approach lightly, give this a watch.

TL;DW - Demos cost time and money for little to-no real benefit.

Mike

And your source on that is a Penny Arcade video? Would it really cost that much time and money to just lock off the multiplayer and give a timed slice of the galactic war, maybe playing around in the editor without save functionality? It's not like they would have to create new content...

Which reminds me: in my experience there are a LOT of people who will pirate any singleplayer only game, but will pay for a multiplayer game. If they could easily play online with a pirated copy of PA they may not be pushed into buying as they would otherwise. I know this game is supposed to be DRM-free but is it out of the question to only let you connect to the web through a valid Ubernet key. Basically Starcraft 1 level DRM, which I suspect most of the backers would be happy with. What is Uber's stance on this I wonder? Will the game be so DRM-free that you can easily play online games with a pirated copy? Because I suspect that might cause a big loss of sales.

Id say, make updates to the vanilla game free, but for DLC expansions you would have to pay for. This is the way most games are, and the way most games should be.

However, to prevent piracy, the Vanilla game should require a verified 6 (or) 12-pin security key to install, but to play the game, you would have to register it with Ubernet (With proof of purchase), and they can give you an official activation key (For free) To activate the game and play it.

Best idea I can come up with, that way, Uber has control of what games are out there, and they can tell if a game was pirated.

And thier sources for the Numbers used to come to that conclusion are from EEDAR.

Mike

No cosmetic DLC. In other games, sure, but in PA the art makes a point to have bold, easily identifyable units. Cosmetic DLC would water that down.

WTF people? We campaigned on KS for a game without DRM and that didn't follow some F2P/DLC model, and now you're discussing how to add DRM and F2P elements? Come on!

Now I definitely prefer the old days of Game + Expansions, like zachb mentioned. But I realize that Uber wants to keep supporting PA for a long time, which is something few games get. Valve can support TF2 for so darn long because of the item shop. Uber's own SMNC does something similar. I don't particularly care for these elements, but I think its something I can live with if the result is long-term support for the game and some extra cash for Uber.

Fortunately it won't become too much of an issue, as PA will provide more ways to play the game than just on Ubernet. (Custom servers, LAN, etc.) So if it goes in a direction that I'm not particularly fond of, I'll have that alternative.

Oddly enough this sounds just like those companies that say that pirated games are lost sales, which is not true at all. On the same note, that penny arcade video claims that those people that played the demo were going to buy the game if the demo did not exist. That's not true.

The reason why today we have few real demos is because everyone is releasing their demos as "Betas", which actually has more benefits than simply releasing a demo.