Dont live service depend on microtransactions for finance?
It seems Dice was not ready for this. The amount of stuff to buy are very little and of low quality imo. And is it somthing that the BF base wants in large scale, Can only speak for my self, but I wouldnt spend any money on skins.
IMHO you have hit the nail on the head! BF Players did not spend enough on microtransactions for live service to succeed (I haven't spend one cent on the game since buying it). And that is why the next game will be aimed at players who will spend on skins, etc. I believe the premium model is dead for AAA games.
The unpleasant truth is that major game developers are just not interested in the typical BF player.
The notion that Battlefield V failed not because it had a bad live service but because it simply had a live service is laughable.
I don't like the live service concept, but I can tolerate it. But like so many other aspects of the game, BFV's live service never had a chance because DICE completely blew it by failing both in content support and monetization.
The thing that irks me is this nonsense false dilemma people have invented. "You can have Premium and split the player base, or you can have live service and get no content guarantees." It's not true. A premium model could work just fine without splitting the players where it counts, and a live service is no excuse to lack a clear picture of future content. But doing a bad job of either is going to negatively impact the game.
Just asking, aren’t the live service games predominantly BR? If that is the case, it isn’t what core BF players want. Again, just asking, because I don’t check many other games out accept soother shooters.
“The greatest
disruption of entertainment is the combination of streaming and subscription,”
says Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts. “It’s not unreasonable for us to believe that
… we might entertain an additional 100 million players through subscription
than we would in the traditional model.”
"Looking
forward to Fiscal 2021 our goal is to grow net bookings and underlying
profitability, even as we invest in new platforms. We anticipate live services
to be the primary growth driver, followed by the launch of new content across a
broad range of genres," EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said in the recent earnings
call.
We will never know. What I know is that live service didn't work, where all the other BF games (Premium model btw) were much more successful. Coincidence? I think not.
Live service for other games worked just fine. Its dice/ea problem that they couldnt make it work.
It was more an issue with the community. EA and Dice certainly share some of the blame, but the community spent all their time griping about the (optional!) paid cosmetics and whining about weapon balance instead of fixating on the actual issues. And then no one really bought the cosmetics, the one thing that was actually paying for the continued support of the game, EA was mostly fine because of all their other products but Dice was steadily going into debt trying to keep the lights on and provide new content.
They griped rather than fixating on the "actual" issues, and in your eyes, that gives the community some of the blame?
This is the thing, I like unlocking stuff in games, premium gave maps, modes new vehicles and carrots to chase in terms of skins for guns etc, live service just wants my cash and doesn't let me chase a carrot, well the way they did it anyway.
When a game is f2p people are more inclined to install it and see how it plays. Then if they like it they are more willing to buy some cosmetics and extra features.
When you have to buy a game, and overall amount of players isn't great, you're less inclined to spent money on mtx.
The major problem with this game though is, popularity. It's not popular, there are not many advocating how great it plays etc.
It got a bad rep from the start and hasn't improved since.
I don't find the live service bad or poor. It delivered objectives, goals to reach, prices like skins and weapons.
Maybe 1 week was too short. There is always room for improvement also.
But at the core it under performed, and any new player sees that when firing up the game and going 2:20 kdr in no time. Fun goes away quick then.
Anyway, I liked the game best the first 6 months. After that it went worse after each patch. No live service can help against that.
(Quote)
Ehh...£120 BF1 was like £40-50 on release. Premium has always been £39.99
The irony is BFV's boins currency for cosmetics/skins was far more expensive to acquire than premium
And that is the major problem with this Live Service.....
Previously, under Premium, it bought you almost a whole games worth of 'stuff' that was mostly guaranteed. And it felt, to me anyway, value for money.
Under this Live Service', it gets 2-3 skins and an undefined amount of other 'stuff' albeit free at the point of delivery. If people don't buy the skins, the 'free stuff' isn't going to be as forthcoming.
Let's not condemn live service in general, as there are other developers that actually care about the customer and offer great support. Take Call of Duty for example, their live service is actually working well for Modern Warfare. However! It may not be a fair comparison because their "battle pass" has been more lucrative that DICE's microtransactions, so Activision has more incentive to invest in a live service. If DICE made a good product in BFV right off the bat and more people bought the game and purchased microtransactions, I guarantee DICE wouldn't have halted development this early.
This is probably the reality for the "live service" model. The content we as a consumer will get for "free" depends heavily on how willing we were to purchase microtransactions, if we as a consumer refuse to purchase microtransactions, then we will likely face the result of a limited live service like BFV. So in reality, live service is really no different than premium. If you want content, you're still going to have to purchase something(s) or the developers will not bother with new content.
Funny, I remember pre-ordering every title since BF4 (got back into BF shortly after BF3 launched, after having not played any since BFBC1) and even the early enlister edition w/ Premium didn't cost more than $100.
Premium itself saved you ~50% on the DLC based on the post-launch standalone prices, and getting it as part of a bundle cut the price another ~50%.
RIP BFV, it got what it deserved, and those who wanted live service have hopefully learned a valuable lesson.
Let me guess. You eat One bad Steak, you then condemn all steaks.
Seriously man, live services have worked, and are currently working out great for many games.
BFV failed at it in many ways, but that doesn’t mean that a live service model can’t be good.
RIP BFV, it got what it deserved, and those who wanted live service have hopefully learned a valuable lesson.
Let me guess. You eat One bad Steak, you then condemn all steaks.
Seriously man, live services have worked, and are currently working out great for many games.
BFV failed at it in many ways, but that doesn’t mean that a live service model can’t be good.
I already said before that it can absolutely work for other studios and other games. But not here.
If DICE tries to repeat the same formula with BF6, it will without a doubt fail again (I mean, abandoning BFV is probably going to make BF6 underperform in sales anyway), and EA will make sure to introduce DICE to other studios... like Visceral Games.
Live service for other games worked just fine. Its dice/ea problem that they couldnt make it work.
One of DICE/EA's biggest problems right now is them trying to make the Battlefield experience too much like other games. The live service model in BFV is a good example of that.
The problem isn't the premium pass, the problem is the lazy developer team. GTAV never had a premium pass and still gets content even 6 years after it's release. Service games like Destiny have proved that this way is better than any other. So the problem is EA/DICE, who understimated their public
Comments
The unpleasant truth is that major game developers are just not interested in the typical BF player.
I don't like the live service concept, but I can tolerate it. But like so many other aspects of the game, BFV's live service never had a chance because DICE completely blew it by failing both in content support and monetization.
The thing that irks me is this nonsense false dilemma people have invented. "You can have Premium and split the player base, or you can have live service and get no content guarantees." It's not true. A premium model could work just fine without splitting the players where it counts, and a live service is no excuse to lack a clear picture of future content. But doing a bad job of either is going to negatively impact the game.
“The greatest disruption of entertainment is the combination of streaming and subscription,” says Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts. “It’s not unreasonable for us to believe that … we might entertain an additional 100 million players through subscription than we would in the traditional model.”
"Looking forward to Fiscal 2021 our goal is to grow net bookings and underlying profitability, even as we invest in new platforms. We anticipate live services to be the primary growth driver, followed by the launch of new content across a broad range of genres," EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said in the recent earnings call.
Wow, just wow.
I didn’t spend a penny on boins.
Who did spend £70-£100 on skins?
This is the thing, I like unlocking stuff in games, premium gave maps, modes new vehicles and carrots to chase in terms of skins for guns etc, live service just wants my cash and doesn't let me chase a carrot, well the way they did it anyway.
When you have to buy a game, and overall amount of players isn't great, you're less inclined to spent money on mtx.
The major problem with this game though is, popularity. It's not popular, there are not many advocating how great it plays etc.
It got a bad rep from the start and hasn't improved since.
I don't find the live service bad or poor. It delivered objectives, goals to reach, prices like skins and weapons.
Maybe 1 week was too short. There is always room for improvement also.
But at the core it under performed, and any new player sees that when firing up the game and going 2:20 kdr in no time. Fun goes away quick then.
Anyway, I liked the game best the first 6 months. After that it went worse after each patch. No live service can help against that.
If there was an option to buy D-Day and Eastern front contents with Premium, i would buy it anyway, because i like WW2 games.
Thank you EA/DICE, robbing us of this. I've bought all of BF games include Battlefront series, but everything is changed anymore.
The irony is BFV's boins currency for cosmetics/skins was far more expensive to acquire than premium
And that is the major problem with this Live Service.....
Previously, under Premium, it bought you almost a whole games worth of 'stuff' that was mostly guaranteed. And it felt, to me anyway, value for money.
Under this Live Service', it gets 2-3 skins and an undefined amount of other 'stuff' albeit free at the point of delivery. If people don't buy the skins, the 'free stuff' isn't going to be as forthcoming.
This is probably the reality for the "live service" model. The content we as a consumer will get for "free" depends heavily on how willing we were to purchase microtransactions, if we as a consumer refuse to purchase microtransactions, then we will likely face the result of a limited live service like BFV. So in reality, live service is really no different than premium. If you want content, you're still going to have to purchase something(s) or the developers will not bother with new content.
It didn’t. Was like £80 for the early enlister edition and £50 on top for premium.
I remember distinctly pre-ordering it over £100 and was laughing at how expensive games had become.
Here is an old article I quickly found:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2016/8/24/12628654/battlefield-1-s-premium-pass-dlc-details
Premium itself saved you ~50% on the DLC based on the post-launch standalone prices, and getting it as part of a bundle cut the price another ~50%.
Let me guess. You eat One bad Steak, you then condemn all steaks.
Seriously man, live services have worked, and are currently working out great for many games.
BFV failed at it in many ways, but that doesn’t mean that a live service model can’t be good.
I already said before that it can absolutely work for other studios and other games. But not here.
If DICE tries to repeat the same formula with BF6, it will without a doubt fail again (I mean, abandoning BFV is probably going to make BF6 underperform in sales anyway), and EA will make sure to introduce DICE to other studios... like Visceral Games.
One of DICE/EA's biggest problems right now is them trying to make the Battlefield experience too much like other games. The live service model in BFV is a good example of that.
So the problem is EA/DICE, who understimated their public