Is money a real issue for DBG, or does everybody just assume it is. I mean if they really wanted more, why not just make more platnium weapon skins. More armor, More whatever. I feel like its just not that big of deal for them, or not as big a deal as everything thinks it is. All the AE weapons, all the limited time camos, all the platnium weapons... why are they not just in the market place?... all the time? People that missed out because they were on breaks or whatever would surely buy them. I think there is a lot more "we don't give a ****" than "we need more money".
People forget DBG is a company with a bunch of different games under their umbrella. PS2 money doesn't go to PS2 development. It goes to DBG. H1Z1 money goes to DBG...etc. It's up to DBG how much they "spend" on PS2 development. Has nothing to do with how much we spend. Though it could persuade DBG to allocate more development if they think it willl push their bottom line. I can guarantee if PS2 costs too much they'll stop development or shut it down. So there is that. Want a better picture of a company's health? Follow stock prices, quarterly statements and year end reports.
its an effective marketing move, i've purchased plenty of things like that for several different games, if people only have a limited amount of time to get a hot camo then they feel more inclined to buy it while they can. even if they don't have a current use for it, otherwise they could decide not to bother buying it until they "need" it, or they could wait and see if a better camo will come along, since there is no urgency.
1) You can't make money off of what people can't buy... that is a more effective marketing move than limited time offers. Period. Urgency does not make me check every month when I'm taking a PS2 break looking for deals (its not the same level of marketing as "you can get a free car if you check in April!")... but I will buy what I missed if its available... that makes 100% more sense than "limited time offer". 2) I don't care where the money goes... it goes to logical reason that if PS2 makes more money it will get more love. As ******** as I'm sure DBG is, money makes things magically happen regardless of who is in charge.
Technically true, though if a game proves to be more profitable than the others, it stands to reason that they would allocate more resources for its development.
Skinning an existing weapon with lightning bolts or whatever, can't take that long... honestly it should not. And that one gun has to make plenty of cash... I see plenty of people running around with the HeatWave weapons bundle... even if that only made $5K to $10K... it took somebody at DBG ZERO time to make (honestly that decal just looked like it was bought off of some stock art place and slapped on the guns). That's all I'm saying... people will buy anything... make more stuff for them to buy.
Personally, i think they simply charge to much for all the stuff they have. Seems a bit contradictory, but i think they would make more money, if they lowered the prices. I'm willing to pay for stuff and have pump a fair bit of money into the game, but looking at what they want for weapons now, i just feel like i don't get my moneys worth. 10 bucks for a single weapon? 150 bucks, if you want the construction bundles?? That's not a fair asking price, that's extortion.
I 1000000% agree with this. I would spend lots more overall if things did not just cost massive amounts. I also think they would make far more money with a 50% to 60% reduction in costs across the board. What do they have to lose? It costs then just about ZERO to make a digital item. I think they would find there are far more people who would upgrade from Free To Play to Aux if they costs were half or less. Having 10 people paying 10 bucks... or 50 people paying 4 dollars... seems simple enough. And the game would not suck so bad, if they did this as well.... it just seems like win - win - win - win. the items to have to be quality tho... I do think that internally they make bad calls on sale items... "well the ugly butt-face helmet did not sell when it was 50% off ... that must mean people don't want to spend money overall!"... you hope that is not what some fool is thinking.
Collectors will pay far more for rarity than they do for anything else. Take Ravenous Weapons. They are offered once or twice a year for a very short amount of time. They arent any different than any other cammo so all they have going for them is rarity. Myself being a collector I will pay extra for rarity. Being one of maybe 25 guys on the server is worth the price to me. If it was always available? Like black or gold trim weapons...I wouldn't buy it. Couldn't care less about it. So they make more money off of me, and people like me, than they would otherwise if they had no "limited edition" Items.
The items are rare because nobody buys them but a small group of people, it has nothing to do with when they were available. If they NEVER EVER release them again... which they will ... then they would be collectors items in the sense that you are referring. But for making more money... they should just dumb the costs down and sell to more people.
There are two kinds of marketing to consider - finding out what your existing customers want and finding out what would attract new customers. New gear and weapons and fixing game problems is response to the first kind but you can only raise so much extra from your current customer base (or reinforce customer loyalty to try to keep them). I wonder if some of the bigger stuff they are doing is about making the game ready for targeting new audiences, which is the better way to ensure viability and greater income.
