This video gets it dead-on. Worth the watch.
We’ll have to wait and see when Frost Giant opens their Open Beta for Stormgate.
SC2 ain’t the only RTS out there and certainly not the best hands down.
Not so optimistic as it is free to play. I’d rather pay for a complete game with some MTX based cosmetics to buy here and there like what SC2 had. Who knows what money making tactics they could bring in to cover all the costs and make a profit.
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Yep it’s true. The best RTS games SC, SC2, WC3, Command and Conquer, Age of Empires 2 all have content for players that aren’t competitive try hards. They tend to have good editors. Also the path finding / unit responsiveness was 1) was very good for its time of release.
If they do it the same was as SC2 4.0 then I’m down for free to play, but I’m certainly hesitant thanks to the likes of Diablo showing us what companies want modern free to play to look like.
Admittedly pre-paid games still have some scummy monetization in overly numerous DLCs that could’ve been added there for free or should have been there since day 1. But at least you get exactly what you pay for not some random lootbox BS.
TL;DR, don’t dismiss a game just b/c it’s f2p. Actually consider the game on its own merits first
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You do realize that Sc2: WoL has been free to play for roughly 5 years now? In case people who are reading this and never touched Sc2 for themselves, the difference is day and night from the worse (note I said worse, not worst) p2w games on mobile. Sc2 is quite the proper PC game. People hear “free to play” and automatically get really bent out of shape. Look, I get that there are poor experiences with this, but there are also good PC games that are free to play.
Other things to consider…
—They need to grow the player base to make modes like MP (multiplayer) work (so the likes of Coop, Coop campaign, competitive)
Saying this game is “by the same legendary blizzard developers/team of Sc” doesn’t mean anything to a generation that grew up on MineCraft, etc. Saying the game is free to try has a MUCH BIGGER impact.
—Judge the game on its own merits first
Yes, Diablo Immortal is terrible. But if you’re going to assume that “f2p” automatically means it’s going to be like that, then I don’t know what else to say :\
—There really isn’t a good price for the “pay once upfront” model
$60 is just too expensive for even a AAA video game. Vg are sort of a luxury. It’ll price themselves out, people will just pick another of the numerous options there are in this hobby. You and I may be willing to pay $60, but many more won’t. They’ll only bite if there’s a sale. And if it’s 50% to 75% off. Also consider that here and on Reddit, we had a fair number of ppl asking when the $5 COs will go on sale. Five, freaking, dollars! I get that some people are struggling students and otherwise, but if they’re not going to bite on that, it doesn’t look encouraging.
I don’t know if they can make $10 to $30 work either. Something with recurring payments just works better this day in age.
—f2p is flexible
If all you’re willing to invest is… nothing, then it didn’t cost you anything financially, but you can still try it out. The idea is to get players to keep playing b/c the game is fun, but it can be a tough sell when every game requires a $10 to $30 purchase, only to realize you don’t like it. Going through reviews is free, but costs time.
If you do like the game, then spend more $$ on it to support them! I spent about $75 in Coop (bundles, warchests of days past) and don’t regret it b/c there were no ads, p2w bs, and each CO got me A LOT of extra content of time.
Unpopular opinion, but I wish they charged more for Coop stuff, including missions. At least they would’ve given a few ****s about Coop. Instead, Blizzard had bigger fish to fry like D2:R, D4, WoW Classic, and Overwatch 2 (dunno if they’re still working on fixing WC:Reforged). An 11 year old RTS game is probably a rounding error in their profits. I won’t touch games like Diablo Immortal (and Plants Vs. Zombies 2: It’s About Time was another), but I also want the dev studios to stay in business. In the past couple of decades, video gamers lamented how AAA corporations were buying up indie studios, and many of them fell by the wayside. However, the ugly truth is that many of those indies were hemorrhaging cash, and were begging to get bought up.
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Yes it’s F2P now but you had to pay up-front to be able to play it from the start. And you still need to pay for campaigns. So blizz already made a profit way before it was made F2P. With SG starting out as F2P how do you think they will regain their ROI? Selling cosmetics, commanders, and some small campaigns won’t cut it unless they get millions of purchases or make it expensive af. RTS already has a very small slice of the gaming community pie.
I’d rather they sell it for an up front cost and then have mtx for the splurging players at least they are assured of profit and players will not get differentiated too much based on what they’re spending on the game.
Not saying F2P is entirely bad. But from my experience F2P games are either too greedy with monetization or they create too much of a gap between whales and ordinary (even spending) players. So I’m wary of anything with F2P slapped on it. I’ve been burnt out playing F2P games where even if we put the same effort in grinding and participating in events, whales simply overtake us by lightyears since they have money to spend on gacha/lootbox items and slowly build their power creep over free players as the game ages.
Edit: But yeah as you said if SG it turns out to be a great game I will no doubt be spending some of my earnings on it.