Has The Elder Scrolls Online become a cash cow for ZOS?

volkeswagon

So many ignorant comments in this post. Got a headache from all the head shaking

Eifleber

ZOS' business philosphy in case of ESO definitely is NOT:

"Let's make this an as fun as possibe game for people who pay subscription and buy our expanions"

I regard everything in the crown store beyond pure cosmetics as cash cow stuff.
Which really is quite a lot.

Personally I find it a bit saddening that paying subs apparently still isn't enough.
Also very disppointed that a lot of small stuff never gets fixed.
Sometimes I miss the love of creating and improving and perfecting from the designers side.
*

Sarannah

The game isn't in maintenance mode, so they are still making money off of it. They are also still adding expansions, DLC, and new systems(antiquity). They also recently announced the EU server was busier than it had ever been. And they are still making infrastructure/database improvements, which so far have helped quite a bit already. So even though they do not treat the game as a cashcow, they are making money.

The main problem I think they are having is the engine. The game is making money, but not enough to rewrite the engine, or re-make the game in a new engine. Resulting in some of the things happening that are happening, like lag/delay/etc. Which they are trying to fix by doing the infrastructure/database improvements, despite this not making them any money directly.

Maybe if the game slowly keeps improving, growing, and keeps drawing more players in, then in time they might be able to fix the biggest issues.

RobZha

When you leave for a year and in that time see that they're doing performance updates, then think things might be fixed but get into Cyro when you get back to see that you still can't even use skills properly against NPC's at a resource point, the hope for things getting any better doesn't stick around that much.

Maybe other parts of the game, but I can't get my head around why they have such problems with pvp, especially when it used to work well from what I've read in places. They obviously broke it at some point so how they never managed to work out what caused that to happen and reverse that problem for years on end is really strange.

Elara_Northwind

Kittytravel wrote: »

Genuine question because I absolutely do not understand and I've wanted to ask for awhile for anyone in this thread; what exactly makes New World a direct competitor with ESO over things like FFXIV, Black Desert, and WoW?


On topic: Yeah a game is a cash grab; that's always the goal. I think the only issue I have with ZOS and their microtransactions and why I don't partake in more than just the sub is because many of their "micro" transactions are "macro" transactions. I mean a dollar per crate is the normative for gambleboxes in most entertainment games but ZOS ramped them up to $4 for a digital piece of nothingness; only coming down to the $3.33 a piece if you buy them in bundles of 15. For digital content that has absolutely no limit on it their prices are excrutiatingly painful and I really wish they'd take advantage of their unlimited supply to realize they can use that to just mass sell $1-5 junk digital items instead of making them cost $15+
The amount of people I know who'd buy some of those crappy made mounts in their crown store for $3 is hilarious; but not many people want to pay $18 for a bland lion/wolf/bear/camel. And forget the $30 for the horse with a horn taped to its head.

I've played the closed beta of New World, and although people who were invited aren't allowed to talk about or show screenshots etc. as per the NDA, myself and a couple of others I know who were invited were very disappointed by it. In my opinion it does not even come close to competing with ESO

JonnytheKing

zos is making a killing off this game witch makes it even sader that pvp is still in the state that it is , zos likes to act like they doing everything they can and they care about pvp , but ever action shows they true colours. the truth is they have the money to fix it , but they see it in the way that pvp makes them very little money so spend money on fixing it isnt importent. but i dont think how much it must be hurting them, when a lot of the time the biggest streamers are pvp streamers , i have people asking on my stream all the time if they should buy the game , and the anaswer is simple NO.

DrOuttaSight

Yes.

The real question should be
are we getting VFM?

Lord_Draevan

Honestly I'd rather have 1 Orisinium sized DLC (what I'd consider "large") per year than 1 medium sized zone like Grey

Zer0_CooL wrote: »

Bradyfjord wrote: »

In my opinion, Greymoor feels much smaller than Morrowind or Summerset, which I would hold as the better examples of how ESO should have it's chapters.

Orsinium is the only good example of how a chapter should look like. Awesome and big map that invites for exploring with multiple worldbosses, public dungeons and even an Arena. Also nice costumes that were gained through playing not purchasing. That all accessible with ESO+.

Personally, I'd rather we get 1 Orisinium/Morrowind/Summerset sized DLC, what I'd consider "large", per year than 1 medium sized zone like Greymoor in Q2 followed by one small sized zone like Dragonhold in Q4. It's a shame ZOS reduced the Q2 zone size but still charges the same price for it...

EIGHTS

I don't think so. You don't need stuff in Crown store or spend more money to play ESO.

Paske

Pritty much

Comparinng interaction and feedback from first 2-3 years and today the difference is staggering.

I guess they are working on other projects.

Have a smaller team working on ESO content wise, but as far as investment into better servers / performance is simply "not in budget".

It comes down to passion, for profit. Sadly it looks like ZOS has put ESO on a backburner while they work on unannounced project.

Paske

JTorus wrote: »

Lysette wrote: »

Sergykid wrote: »

you are playing a business, not a game. So why do you complain? Tell me an MMO that is not a business. I don't know any MMO that cares about balance and ingame activities rather than content to sell or stuff to sugar the eyes of the consumer

I know one though - which is done by passionate devs, experienced in proper balancing doing it really careful and well and it is around since 2003 not going anywhere anytime soon - I let you guess what MMO that is - hint: it's pvp everywhere.

Spreadsheets in spaaaaaaaaaaace

YOu guys are talking about game that lost over 50% of DEV-s ?

Community team dissembled ?

Lost best talent to RIOT ?

Has a CEO that is textbook definition of narcissist disorder ?

Got sold to a Chinese publisher after a series of poor business investments that were in line with minimal investing into base game and all of that led to half of concurrent loged in accounts ?

Yeah... Im afraid you guys kinda missed the best part of that game.
And it was a cash cow for a long time and payed the price with almost ruining CCP in process.
Neglect your property and it will go to ruin.

JTorus

Paske wrote: »

JTorus wrote: »

Lysette wrote: »

Sergykid wrote: »

you are playing a business, not a game. So why do you complain? Tell me an MMO that is not a business. I don't know any MMO that cares about balance and ingame activities rather than content to sell or stuff to sugar the eyes of the consumer

I know one though - which is done by passionate devs, experienced in proper balancing doing it really careful and well and it is around since 2003 not going anywhere anytime soon - I let you guess what MMO that is - hint: it's pvp everywhere.

Spreadsheets in spaaaaaaaaaaace

YOu guys are talking about game that lost over 50% of DEV-s ?

Community team dissembled ?

Lost best talent to RIOT ?

Has a CEO that is textbook definition of narcissist disorder ?

Got sold to a Chinese publisher after a series of poor business investments that were in line with minimal investing into base game and all of that led to half of concurrent loged in accounts ?

Yeah... Im afraid you guys kinda missed the best part of that game.
And it was a cash cow for a long time and payed the price with almost ruining CCP in process.
Neglect your property and it will go to ruin.

Nope, we're not talking about that game in here. We're talking about ESO. It's pretty obvious if you read the thread.
Sorry if some bees swarmed your mining barge in null sec and then pod killed you. F (Though, your criticism seems to be oriented around company management.... I'll take "Things that make you go hmmmmm" for $500, Alex)

FWIW I don't think it's fair to compare just about any MMO to Spreadsheets in Space.

Elsonso

Eifleber wrote: »

ZOS' business philosphy in case of ESO definitely is NOT:

"Let's make this an as fun as possibe game for people who pay subscription and buy our expanions"

I expect that it includes fancy-pants terms, like "engagement". That is what drives revenue. Players marinate in the game's monetization strategy, and the longer they marinate, the more likely they will come out all tender and tasty for the marketing department feast.

OmniDo

I notice that many fail to realize that this game is a business.
It serves no other purpose for the shareholders than a profit-driven machine.
Nothing.
Notta.
That's it.

For those of us who play the game, we (incorrectly) perceive that our purchase of the game, and even to some small extent, our monthly subs (for those of us who do), is all we need for equal representation, as if our wallet's all counted as an official electoral college vote.

Except that, they don't.
We agree to their Terms of Service, and they quite explicitly state that they can basically do whatever they want.
This isn't a democracy. ESO isn't an essential service, and if we're going to equate voting with our wallets as an example, well then the crown-whales are the SuperPak's.

The only way anything will change substantially is if there is a mass exodus of players subscriptions, and a cessation of crown-store purchases.

The numbers required for this are quite staggering actually...anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 players.
And realistically, all that will do is aggravate the investors, who will promptly demand that ESO's leadership team(s) make whatever necessary changes are required to generate revenue, or they will withdraw their financial support.

Our "Fun" is irrelevant to the investors.
All they are concerned with is profit.
So, that said, if you want to impact the future of the game, stop paying.
Since ESO is (currently) free-to-play, then by all means continue playing, but don't give the company one dime of your funds.
Don't buy anything.
Nothing.
Do that en masse, and watch how quickly they start "communicating".

It's rather sad to think that in this day and age we basically have to threaten other people's livelihood (Z0$'s payroll) in order to get something done. But, that's the world we currently exist in. I never claimed it was fair, but it is the reality...for now.

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo

It feels like there's no community drive behind the game, that's for sure.
It's just like 'hold my beer' *puts beer on your head*

JTorus

OmniDo wrote: »

So, that said, if you want to impact the future of the game, stop paying.
Since ESO is (currently) free-to-play, then by all means continue playing, but don't give the company one dime of your funds.
Don't buy anything.
Nothing.
Do that en masse, and watch how quickly they start "communicating".

You're spot-on with everything, except for perhaps this.
Continuing to play, for free, feeds them something that could be considered more valuable than your money.
Your Data. It is perhaps the most invaluable commodity that exists today.

We're all lab rats here.

ZOS_Lunar

Greetings everyone,
As this thread has run its course and is no longer constructive, we are now going to close it. We always encourage sharing opinions, but we ask that they are respectfully stated when doing so. Thank you for your understanding, and please keep the Community Rules in mind when posting on the forums.