Reply With QuoteHow about...
Money = good
?
Gamasutra has this article and interview up about the SOE Station Exchange and how many money hats its made for Sony. Can someone read this and summarize it for me? :P
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20...zenke_01.shtml
I did like this quote, though.Character advancement time on the two Station Exchange servers did not seem to be significantly impacted by the introduction of RMT to the game. Characters at high levels on a Station Exchange server are (on average) wealthier than their counterparts on non-SE servers, an indication that coin purchasing via the exchange has risen the average level of wealth.
How about...
Money = good
?
Sony only made $274k in the first year. That's not a great deal of money. It's only the equivalent of 1500 subscriptions. More importantly, it doesn't include ancillary costs for creating and properly managing the service. On the other hand, they didn't quantify how much they saved with lower customer support costs on the exchange servers either. I'd bet it's a wash overall.
It's quite likely that the overhead for the service is lower than the overhead for a regular account. So it may well be worth more than 1,500 subs to them.Sony only made $274k in the first year. That's not a great deal of money. It's only the equivalent of 1500 subscriptions. More importantly, it doesn't include ancillary costs for creating and properly managing the service.
Furthermore, customer service tends to be one of the most expensive pieces of post-release maintenance for a company. Reducing CS costs is huge.
Generally my estimate would be that the results are overall pretty positive but this also isn't making them big bank.
Your name is awfully similar to SirBruce.
Uhh....because it starts with an S? Because I capitalize two letters?
Wait a second.......Stroker Ace?
Very clever. Admit it, you're Sir Bruce!
...
Sorry, no relation. I'm a mobile game developer and only a part-time MMO pundit. I don't have time to play them anymore let alone obsess over a few graphs.
I like StGabe, he's got spunk.
Damn.
StGabe is about to make you his bitch. Suck it down!Originally Posted by StGabe
Wait... SpoofyChop --- you could be SirBruce!
Uh huh, nice try at misdirection SCharlatan.
I'm SirBruce!
$274 is NOTHING. I remember when Smed or McQuaid bragged to Forbes or Fortune that they made over a million bucks just in NAME CHANGES.
Google isnt helping me find that tho.
Here it is, found it:
http://www.timeinc.net/b2/subscriber...514908,00.html
SamHidden revenue streams are just starting to be understood. Sony runs about 42 versions to avoid overpopulation in any one world. But instead of simply load-balancing the number of players per computer, it allows fans to relocate their characters to different worlds on other servers -- for $50 a move. "Would you believe we've generated over $1 million in revenue simply from moving characters?" Smedley marvels. While the company discourages players from selling off their personae or equipment for real dollars, black-market auctions are commonplace, with some gear going for as much as $2,000. (See The Real Economics of Virtual Worlds.")
NO IM SPARTICUS
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