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( I put this in a blog rather then a thread because frankly I've seen semi-similar threads pop up before )
The common thread of games beating the pants in viewership off SC2 is the free to play system. With no barrier to entry people all over the globe who own a PC good enough to run the game can play the game. So there is no risk to obtaining and playing the game, this lack of a barrier to entry is a brave new world for developers; in which having an upfront cost to your game can actually hurt you.
These players are not always easily converted to viewers, but there is so many when your game is free that even at a low 5% conversion margin if you have 10 million players (entirely obtainable for free to play SC2) that's 500 thousand viewers.
So enough intro here are my thoughts on how SC2 could successfully convert to Free to Play while importantly still generating revenue to justify blizzards development costs. Please discuss and add on your thoughts in replies.
Two major things
#1. People who paid for a hard copy of the game simply have everything they've paid for period. You don't want to bite the hand that feed you for years.
#2. If possible initiate this by LoTV release.
What a Free to Play version would be
* You get access to 1 race, which could rotate on some timeline. You'd have to cough up money if you want to keep it permanently. (more on this later)
* More skins get added, these are accessible to either version of the game, they cost money to have period.
* To gain access to ranked ladder you must pay (one time fee) or have a paid version of the game. Otherwise you only get access to unranked ladder.
* Certain Battlenet features would only be accessible for pay, you can debate these but off hand I'd say messaging to anyone not your friend, creating chat channels, things of that nature that could be abused. So basically there would be a Battlenet light and a battlenet paid for version. Same as ranked ladder one time fee.
* Access to any campaign would require a one time fee for that campaign.
* Arcade should probably be free, but it would be good if blizzard finally gave makers of content the storefront they talked about forever ago so money can be made there by both parties.
All of this basically breaks the existing game into a free if you don't want to pay, but if you want everything it costs you money game. So the game experience you get is an a la carte experience where you get what you pay for. But does not stop someone from picking it up and playing it at no cost to them.
To go more in depth I'd say it'd be smart to create a way for people to gain certain features simply through playing a lot. For instance making the level grind for each race much more time consuming but at max level if you don't own a race you can keep it. Essentially using existing features to work with the system rather then creating all new features to implement such a system.
These are just some of my thoughts, it may actually never happen. However as someone who has always loved starcraft in general, I'd like to see a bold move such as this by blizzard to keep SC2 on the fore front of competitive gaming and not just a niche. Please do add to the discussion your thoughts/ideas/suggestions, or you can tell me I'm completely insane I won't lose any sleep  .
  
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Sounds like you're talking about nearly every app that exists...
Which as a consumer and gamer, is really annoying. I hate having to pay for shit once I've got into a game, and nearly always I quit the game/app.
I honestly think the best approach is the free trial business model.
a) people have full access to everything, enjoying the game to the fullest extent; where as a consumer may not bother purchasing the game later on based on the poor experience the consumer had
b) you become "addicted" in a sense. If the free trial is 30 days, after 30 days, I don't want to lose my progress, or quit the game, because at that point I enjoy it a lot.
c) you have ample time to experience many things in the game, again adding to this "addiction" feeling. Higher probability of purchasing the game later.
d) a full game offers convenience to consumers, not having to be interrupted by "pay for this option", putting a bad taste in the consumers mouth.
I strongly disagree with the idea of playing half, or a quarter of a game, with the option to buy more to play more. It's not a casino.
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I think any game that wants to be an esport needs to be free to play, and have an avenue for some kind of competitive play with a free account. Its harder to figure out a system with sc2 than it is with a mobas. I think 1v1 matches should cost and so should the campaign. Let team games and the arcrade be free to play with starter edition.
I think the pay-per-release model is actually now archiac and will ultimately kill any chance sc2 has of being anything close to LoL or Dota 2.
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here's another idea...
make sc2 multiplayer completely free to play, but demand money for LotV beta access and for singleplayer content. it will most likely decrease blizzards revenue, but it would strenghten sc2 as an esport.
i am the greediest person i know, yet i'd pay for LotV beta even if it eventually was free to play.
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On August 10 2013 20:31 beg wrote:
here's another idea...
make sc2 multiplayer completely free to play, but demand money for LotV beta access and for singleplayer content. it will most likely decrease blizzards revenue, but it would strenghten sc2 as an esport.
i am the greediest person i know, yet i'd pay for LotV beta even if it eventually was free to play.
"it will most likely decrease blizzards revenue, but it would strenghten sc2 as an esport."
Simply off that line, it wont happen. But to be honest I highly doubt SC2 will ever be F2P, even after the 'final' expansion and like 1-2 years I don't think Blizzard would make it completely free. Would be a huge kick in the balls to everyone that spent like 200 dollars for all the games/expansions in the end and wouldn't really make Blizzard any money by doing so which is their primary concern.
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East Gorteau22261 Posts
I remember someone writing about talking to a Blizzard official near the release of HotS and when the subject of F2P was brought up, the reply was a simple "It won't happen". Besides, Blizzard's primary desire is income. If going F2P would reduce income, they wouldn't do it.
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Until all the background architecture is there to support it, I doubt they are going to do something like this.
The Battle Net client which in the future no doubt is going to go into a direction similar to Steam is already in Beta though, and with it it will probably get way easier to do things like payments etc. ingame. I think Blizzard is not stupid, they know what possibilities there are and how other free to play games are doing it, but it has to make sense for them and right now it doesn't, because they don't have the structures built around features like that that are necessary to make it worthwhile and managable in the long term.
I'm pretty sure they are planning with SC2 for a longer time than just LotV release though, I'm hopeful that there are many exciting things to come.
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I don't think SC2 can really be turned into free-2-play easily.
I think a f2p game always needs to have gameplay related content that you want to buy for gameplay reasons. I'd say the way to go with a f2p RTS game is the following design:
- low amount of races (2-3), so that balancing every matchup becomes very easy.
- units that are accessible during a game have to be selected before the game. This would allow the game to feature 100units, but only 10 would be in a players reportaire in a game. And only very few of them need to be very unique and balanced, the rest could be (considered) underpowered and variations of the other units.
- new units can be bought and there could be free trials for units (like with heros in LoL)
- new skins/decals can be bought
- singleplayer campaigns and mods can be bought
and then there is a lot of other stuff that could be done:
- units/upgrades/buildings being "sponsored" by real companies: The Mercedes Siege Tank, Red Bull Stim Packs... Like a Siege Tank with the Mercedes Star on its side, or Marine running around with small red bull logos after upgrading
- every player has to choose a race for each account. Which will sometimes lead to players buying the same stuff multiple times (like maps) as they would use different accounts and may get bored switching all the time just to play a certain map
- Popular and/or Tournament configurations can be bought in one Upgrade. E.g.: Buy all the units/skins that Stephano used in this week's WCS finals. Additionally features a short guide on how his style works!
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well put. For awhile i was feeling the exact same as you and im glad someone pointed this out.
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F2P wouldn't decrease their revenue if they do it correctly. The idea that F2P will reduce their revenue is the talk of people who don't understand why F2P is successful. In the F2P model, one could simply make sup'ed-up models of all units, make new models for base structures, make text that plays around the starting zone, all for pay; skins for those who want to call it that. Make name changes pay-to-get, make clans a small fee to create (though IMO that is pressing it a bit). It is incredibly easy to monetize the game without making ranked matches F2P. Riot didn't write the book on F2P, but they're following it pretty well, Blizzard is short sighted to not see how much more money SC2 could be making with F2P.
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Blizzard is too greedy, unfortunately that will probably be the reason starcraft dies when it does (hint, not any time soon).
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On August 11 2013 03:04 9-BiT wrote:
Blizzard is too greedy, unfortunately that will probably be the reason starcraft dies when it does (hint, not any time soon).
Exactly my thoughts. Blizz is an old company and has old perceptions on what the market wants. SC2 probably won't be around 5 years after the launch of LotV, but people at Blizz couldn't care less as long as they sold enough copies of the game to make them a nice revenue.
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Sc2 will never go free to play, this game is a campaign based 1 time buy game for Blizzard and that's it. The only reason they support any esports is out of complete charity, they do not make money from keeping Sc2 a popular esport. Sorry guys but Valve/Riot level F2P support is a pipe dream because they games were designed in completely different ways.
Blizzard is too greedy, unfortunately that will probably be the reason starcraft dies when it does (hint, not any time soon).
Sc2 will die when Blizzard releases Starcraft 3 or Warcraft 4, there is currently zero RTS competition and nothing on the horizon and Blizzard will always have loyal fans even if TL/Reddit (a giant vocal minority btw) doesn't think so. If another company releases an amazing RTS we might see people migrate but I don't see it happening anytime soon because everyone is focused on trying to make the next League/Dota.
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On August 11 2013 05:26 Esoterikk wrote:Sc2 will never go free to play, this game is a campaign based 1 time buy game for Blizzard and that's it. The only reason they support any esports is out of complete charity, they do not make money from keeping Sc2 a popular esport. Sorry guys but Valve/Riot level F2P support is a pipe dream because they games were designed in completely different ways. Show nested quote +Blizzard is too greedy, unfortunately that will probably be the reason starcraft dies when it does (hint, not any time soon). Sc2 will die when Blizzard releases Starcraft 3 or Warcraft 4, there is currently zero RTS competition and nothing on the horizon and Blizzard will always have loyal fans even if TL/Reddit (a giant vocal minority btw) doesn't think so. If another company releases an amazing RTS we might see people migrate but I don't see it happening anytime soon because everyone is focused on trying to make the next League/Dota.
You don't need an rts to compete with and rts as an esport. All my friends that used to play starcraft play league now.
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On August 11 2013 09:36 9-BiT wrote:Show nested quote +On August 11 2013 05:26 Esoterikk wrote:Sc2 will never go free to play, this game is a campaign based 1 time buy game for Blizzard and that's it. The only reason they support any esports is out of complete charity, they do not make money from keeping Sc2 a popular esport. Sorry guys but Valve/Riot level F2P support is a pipe dream because they games were designed in completely different ways. Blizzard is too greedy, unfortunately that will probably be the reason starcraft dies when it does (hint, not any time soon). Sc2 will die when Blizzard releases Starcraft 3 or Warcraft 4, there is currently zero RTS competition and nothing on the horizon and Blizzard will always have loyal fans even if TL/Reddit (a giant vocal minority btw) doesn't think so. If another company releases an amazing RTS we might see people migrate but I don't see it happening anytime soon because everyone is focused on trying to make the next League/Dota. You don't need an rts to compete with and rts as an esport. All my friends that used to play starcraft play league now.
If people who used to play SC2 play LoL now, then doesn't that kind of make the point that "it's popular because it's FTP" invalid, since these people already own SC2. They are obviously choosing to play LoL because they want to, not for some monetary reason.
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SC2's problem is not that it doesn't get enough new viewers, its that it can't retain old ones. The game was pulling 100k+ viewers less than a year after release. Its just that most of them left for greener pastures. You can't blame that on anything other than gameplay.
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On August 11 2013 09:52 deathly rat wrote:Show nested quote +On August 11 2013 09:36 9-BiT wrote:On August 11 2013 05:26 Esoterikk wrote:Sc2 will never go free to play, this game is a campaign based 1 time buy game for Blizzard and that's it. The only reason they support any esports is out of complete charity, they do not make money from keeping Sc2 a popular esport. Sorry guys but Valve/Riot level F2P support is a pipe dream because they games were designed in completely different ways. Blizzard is too greedy, unfortunately that will probably be the reason starcraft dies when it does (hint, not any time soon). Sc2 will die when Blizzard releases Starcraft 3 or Warcraft 4, there is currently zero RTS competition and nothing on the horizon and Blizzard will always have loyal fans even if TL/Reddit (a giant vocal minority btw) doesn't think so. If another company releases an amazing RTS we might see people migrate but I don't see it happening anytime soon because everyone is focused on trying to make the next League/Dota. You don't need an rts to compete with and rts as an esport. All my friends that used to play starcraft play league now. If people who used to play SC2 play LoL now, then doesn't that kind of make the point that "it's popular because it's FTP" invalid, since these people already own SC2. They are obviously choosing to play LoL because they want to, not for some monetary reason.
while you are right in the sense of monetary value, blizzard isn't losing any money.
BUT as a esport title, the game needs to draw in and capture the players.
honestly the worst part about sc2 isn't the high skill requirement for beginners, it's the stale strategy part (almost identical unit composition in all matchup) and lack of variation in maps (even maps don't dictate strategy very much anymore, especially TvT, TvZ)
LoL has constant new patch that has huge influence on metagame (similar to infestor fungal change), new champions, new items etc. even though the champion picks, starting items and bans are predictable, still so much change available
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On August 11 2013 15:41 ETisME wrote:Show nested quote +On August 11 2013 09:52 deathly rat wrote:On August 11 2013 09:36 9-BiT wrote:On August 11 2013 05:26 Esoterikk wrote:Sc2 will never go free to play, this game is a campaign based 1 time buy game for Blizzard and that's it. The only reason they support any esports is out of complete charity, they do not make money from keeping Sc2 a popular esport. Sorry guys but Valve/Riot level F2P support is a pipe dream because they games were designed in completely different ways. Blizzard is too greedy, unfortunately that will probably be the reason starcraft dies when it does (hint, not any time soon). Sc2 will die when Blizzard releases Starcraft 3 or Warcraft 4, there is currently zero RTS competition and nothing on the horizon and Blizzard will always have loyal fans even if TL/Reddit (a giant vocal minority btw) doesn't think so. If another company releases an amazing RTS we might see people migrate but I don't see it happening anytime soon because everyone is focused on trying to make the next League/Dota. You don't need an rts to compete with and rts as an esport. All my friends that used to play starcraft play league now. If people who used to play SC2 play LoL now, then doesn't that kind of make the point that "it's popular because it's FTP" invalid, since these people already own SC2. They are obviously choosing to play LoL because they want to, not for some monetary reason. while you are right in the sense of monetary value, blizzard isn't losing any money. BUT as a esport title, the game needs to draw in and capture the players. honestly the worst part about sc2 isn't the high skill requirement for beginners, it's the stale strategy part (almost identical unit composition in all matchup) and lack of variation in maps (even maps don't dictate strategy very much anymore, especially TvT, TvZ) LoL has constant new patch that has huge influence on metagame (similar to infestor fungal change), new champions, new items etc. even though the champion picks, starting items and bans are predictable, still so much change available
Having a meta-game that unstable is actually bad for competitive play, while it might be more exciting for the casual players I think most pros would be pissed if the game was undergoing massive patches and gameplay changes every few weeks. You would have a lot more situations where a random player comes in and wins a tournament with some funny new strategy that nobody else has seen yet and then it will just get patched out 2 weeks later anyway.
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On August 11 2013 09:36 9-BiT wrote:Show nested quote +On August 11 2013 05:26 Esoterikk wrote:Sc2 will never go free to play, this game is a campaign based 1 time buy game for Blizzard and that's it. The only reason they support any esports is out of complete charity, they do not make money from keeping Sc2 a popular esport. Sorry guys but Valve/Riot level F2P support is a pipe dream because they games were designed in completely different ways. Blizzard is too greedy, unfortunately that will probably be the reason starcraft dies when it does (hint, not any time soon). Sc2 will die when Blizzard releases Starcraft 3 or Warcraft 4, there is currently zero RTS competition and nothing on the horizon and Blizzard will always have loyal fans even if TL/Reddit (a giant vocal minority btw) doesn't think so. If another company releases an amazing RTS we might see people migrate but I don't see it happening anytime soon because everyone is focused on trying to make the next League/Dota. You don't need an rts to compete with and rts as an esport. All my friends that used to play starcraft play league now.
Except there is a large group of people who have no interest in playing Moba/ARTS games and enjoy the 1v1 RTS genre and they will stick around until something better comes out.
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On August 11 2013 18:05 Erik.TheRed wrote:Show nested quote +On August 11 2013 15:41 ETisME wrote:On August 11 2013 09:52 deathly rat wrote:On August 11 2013 09:36 9-BiT wrote:On August 11 2013 05:26 Esoterikk wrote:Sc2 will never go free to play, this game is a campaign based 1 time buy game for Blizzard and that's it. The only reason they support any esports is out of complete charity, they do not make money from keeping Sc2 a popular esport. Sorry guys but Valve/Riot level F2P support is a pipe dream because they games were designed in completely different ways. Blizzard is too greedy, unfortunately that will probably be the reason starcraft dies when it does (hint, not any time soon). Sc2 will die when Blizzard releases Starcraft 3 or Warcraft 4, there is currently zero RTS competition and nothing on the horizon and Blizzard will always have loyal fans even if TL/Reddit (a giant vocal minority btw) doesn't think so. If another company releases an amazing RTS we might see people migrate but I don't see it happening anytime soon because everyone is focused on trying to make the next League/Dota. You don't need an rts to compete with and rts as an esport. All my friends that used to play starcraft play league now. If people who used to play SC2 play LoL now, then doesn't that kind of make the point that "it's popular because it's FTP" invalid, since these people already own SC2. They are obviously choosing to play LoL because they want to, not for some monetary reason. while you are right in the sense of monetary value, blizzard isn't losing any money. BUT as a esport title, the game needs to draw in and capture the players. honestly the worst part about sc2 isn't the high skill requirement for beginners, it's the stale strategy part (almost identical unit composition in all matchup) and lack of variation in maps (even maps don't dictate strategy very much anymore, especially TvT, TvZ) LoL has constant new patch that has huge influence on metagame (similar to infestor fungal change), new champions, new items etc. even though the champion picks, starting items and bans are predictable, still so much change available Having a meta-game that unstable is actually bad for competitive play, while it might be more exciting for the casual players I think most pros would be pissed if the game was undergoing massive patches and gameplay changes every few weeks. You would have a lot more situations where a random player comes in and wins a tournament with some funny new strategy that nobody else has seen yet and then it will just get patched out 2 weeks later anyway.
I am not sure if we should value competitive play OVER viewer's enjoyment.
Don't know if you were around at that time but destiny and spanishwa became super popular after the infestor change, there were two style of zerg play in ZvT, korean with the muta style, the EU started the trend of double ups infestor style.
so much were unexploited and a lot of new strategies were invented etc
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Charge an extra dollar per month for WoW. Cash cows are here to be milked.
Call it the ESPORTS tax.
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On August 10 2013 20:44 Zealously wrote:
I remember someone writing about talking to a Blizzard official near the release of HotS and when the subject of F2P was brought up, the reply was a simple "It won't happen". Besides, Blizzard's primary desire is income. If going F2P would reduce income, they wouldn't do it.
I'm aware at one point blizzard said it wouldn't happen, but they've already made augments to that with HoTS when they released the 'freeish' version for PC-Bangs in South Korea. Aside from that though I would argue a properly done F2P system is far greater in economic potential then any pay to play system, It's been proven time and time again.
Whether blizzard would actually ever in a million years consider it or not, I just see more upside with free to play models then downside. Sure it'd be difficult to adjust SC2 to a proper F2P model, but it would just seem that if you can build a really good game (i'd argue SC2 is a good game), the long term financial gain far out weighs a more short cited here it is pay for it approach.
Not to mention the whole fact that a F2P model would be healthier for the game then a pay wall. Assuming no decrease in dev support of course.
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With the announcement of their new mmo not being subscription based maybe their attitude on their games is changing. We can all pray for miracles right?
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EPT
