Over and over again I see this phrase used. Along with it's cousin "nickel-and-dimeing" Would somebody please inform me as to what is considered: - A legitimate form of income for the game - as opposed to... ...A cash grab. ...Nickel-and-dimeing. Cheers. Bonus points if you use the phrase "I have rescued the dreams", in a believable context, in your reply.
"Cash grab" 1) A scheme by companies to make poorly made product just for the purpose of making money 2) Referring to an expensive but poorly made product Use this in a sentence: "This excuse for a game is nothing more than a cash grab!" -via Urban Dictionary
Those terms are very loosely used, it's like people calling stuff pay to win, pretty much every time you have seen it used it was incorrect. Some people seem to think anything outside of a subscription is a cash grab or money grubbing or whatever term they can think of. People got so bent out of shape over Tine Capsules that they can only see them in terms of the real money option for them and can not see the free aspect of them. True DGC has been over using the TC system and feats being in them is an issue but the anger put towards TCs isn't warranted, neither is all the cash grab talk.
A cash grab is what the developers are doing right now. I'm going to go ahead and assume that you think these Time Capsules and pathetic overly expensive vendor items (quark vendor) are actually income for the game. As Jack Ryder would say: You are wrong. Daybreak is owned by an investment company (Or Daybreak is the investment company? Someone correct me). They want DCUO to maximize their cash production rate so the people who invested in this game can become rich. On top of that, a lot of the money made goes to pay the salaries for the developers that work so hard on this game. Very little of the money goes towards paying for actual mechanics or the "Tech" that the game is desperately lacking. Why pay people to spend hours recreating the style unlocking system if they could just add a couple of gambling box keys onto the marketplace and make thousands from the people that are unfortunate enough to have a gambling addiction. This game is nothing but a cash grab. They want your money so it can go into pockets of the higher ups, not so it can go back into improving the game. That's why it's not a legitimate income for the game. But I know people like you. Everything I just said went from one ear out another. You'll go on with your day and continue to buy thousands of capsules because getting the new batman gear for thousands will "Support the game." Edit: Maybe the last 3 sentences don't apply to you. I wouldn't know if they did or not.
That's kind of the purpose of every company. None of us know how much of the money generated by DCUO goes back into DCUO but, as you said, the devs have to be paid, higher ups have to be paid - there are a lot of people that have to be paid before money can be distributed back into the game itself. On top of that Daybreak also has an unannounced title in the works. Money to pay for that and the staff working on that has to come from the revenue generated from other Daybreak games such as DCUO, Everquest and H1Z1. After all, if a game hasn't been released yet then it can't be generating its own revenue, so the money to pay for its development has to come from other sources. The fact they're developing new systems, such as the Artifacts that were recently announced, does prove that some of the money generated by the game is going into the game to provide new things. It's just that we don't know how much of the money generated by DCUO goes back into it, and that's not something we ever will know because we don't work for Daybreak (or Columbus Nova). Just in case you think I'm one of the "in one ear and out the other people" - I'm not. I just take a step back and look at the reality of how a company works. Money generated by one game cannot be funneled just back into that game, that would make no sense. There are a lot of places that money needs to go. As far as I'm aware, Columbus Nova are an investment firm. The best investment you can make is to invest in the longevity of something. The longer something is alive, the longer it can make money for you. If that thing stays static and doesn't evolve it will get stale and lose customers, thus losing money. It's all a domino effect. Smart investment companies will play the long game, maximising their profits over a long period of time rather than just getting as much as they can as quickly as possible. As for the term "cash grab" - well, like the term "pay to win" the definition varies from person to person. What one person may see as a cash grab another may not see that way. It's all subjective and opinion based.
You'd be wrong,. But stating that it's "what the developers are doing right now" neither answers my question, nor appreciates that the developers have *absolutely zero say* over what goes into the game. Or why. Admittedly, the name "developer" doesn't make sense, except within the industry, since it is a historical term. Developers develop ideas into actual stuff. They make things. And they make what they are told to make. That is not how investment companies work. I could go into detail about how and why DBG became a thing, but the short version is that they needed money to continue after Sony wound up SOE. Effectively, they took out a loan from somebody (an investment company - Columbus Nova), and they have a commitment to repay that, with interest. Whether this arrangement is short-term (in which case CN will be paid off, and leave DBG to their own devices), or long-term (in which case CN are effectively the owners), in neither case does CN want to see DBG fail. No DBG, no repayment, and no income. Somebody is getting paid, for sure - but not at the expense of DBG thriving. Bleeding DBG until it drops would be like buying a racehorse and then just shooting it. Throwing money at something rarely overcomes technical limitations. And focussing your resources on what the player base want is considerably wiser than bowing to the few. Did you answer the recent survey? Style unlocking was on the list of things to prioritise - but since Styles are probably the most difficult thing to make cross-faction as the game design stands, I can see why it would be foolish to commit to it if it has little benefit. Would it be out of place to say here that in my experience *the majority* of the spending of a game company goes to the back room - that is the people that develop and implement new "Tech", the art talent, the voice talent, pretty much everybody that you say it does not go to. In short: Bollocks. They do not, as you may have noticed . DBG have to find the money to continue to develop the game, whilst paying off the "mortgage" they have with CN. I'm fairly certain that this is why Jackster was brought in. He has a proven record at bringing in cash. He's ****** up, for sure, and I am distinctly uneasy in the way this game has passed, over it's lifetime, from ProSieben to SOE to DBG... but in order for the game to continue, money needs to come in. If you don't buy stabilisers, don't cane replay badges, and don't care about the limited number of SP available in TC (what is that - 7, now?), then you are winning. If you do, then the game is winning - and so, by assocaition, are you. The game will continue. If you're a completionist that has to have something *right now* that will be superceded by something *right now* in 2 months time, then... good luck to you. I'm still rocking the endgame, fee-free and without Phoenix Material.
I'm not sure what this means. Are you saying there are 7 TCs or 7 SPs available? If the former, you are correct. If the latter, you are incorrect.
I object. I gamble on everything. If we ain't betting we ain't having fun. We set up a mini golf course in the back yard. Nothing special but two holes were 60 something yards and 4 were between 40 and 60. By the second hole it became a dollar a shot and a dollar a hole. Atlantic city............ Better keep those stories under wraps but minus gambling we never paid for anything. Not rooms not food not shows I mean notta. Cash grab often misused To me time capsules are a great example Should be for sale with a back up currency with every item fairly priced in a vendor Dcuo cash grab method First make them as needed as possible. Skill points added New rare styles added Cool emblems requested since 2011 added Aside from the items I could individually list is also the ever adjusting drop rates. Yea jacketed flat out said drop rates vary pendinlockssales. Multiple RNG walls per time capsules One setups fun and adds to the game. Players spend a little and get cool rewards. Dcuos setup is straight up designed to take peoples money. NOT add anything fun or to better the customer experience. Nope Dcuo adds so much to make them must haves and then uses systems to leave us empty handed Qwark vendor pricing. I am afraid to do the math but the costs are super high. Like super duper high Second example Shared loot locks. One thing we know for certain is people will replay until they are fully geared. The replay sales will be there. Its a gimmie yet Dcuo takes that extra step. Sadly Dcuo keeps doin this. Its so unnecessary. Sure they lure some in but they also lose people
