ZOS is hiring an ESO Monetization Designer

Darkmage1337 · May 2018

Attention, this is a Public Service Announcement.

ZOS is hiring an ESO Monetization Designer.
Sources: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/318841/Get_a_job_ZeniMax_Online_Studios_is_hiring_an_ESO_Monetization_Designer.php and http://jobs.gamasutra.com/job/monetization-designer-hunt-valley-maryland-32993

Interested? More details below. Apply here at ZOS's website: https://jobs.zenimax.com/requisitions/view/1830#no_rewrite#no_rewrite

"
ESO monetization team members understand and value all areas of game monetization including core game engagement. We strive to bring premium products and services to our players that further enhance their in-game experience. Not only do we shepherd our features through development, we also work closely with the Live Services Team, Community Team, Customer Service and Marketing to ensure a successful launch of our products.

Responsibilities:

Develop and manage the economy/monetization components of our games
Develop and manage a calendar of offerings, updates, and events
Work with other teams to ensure the success of offerings, updates, and events
Work closely with design team to develop a framework for a successful live game
Manage the pricing of virtual goods and balance free vs. paid currency in the game economy
Design game features that monetize and re-engage players
Review reporting on in-game currency usage, earning and purchasing
Drive new initiatives for monetizing the customer base
Work with a team of analysts to propose new features and define, collect and analyze metrics
Requirements:

3+ years as a monetization designer or similar role in the gaming industry
Experience working with industry standard tools
Bachelors in Computer Science, Finance, Math, Statistics and/or related field
Excellent knowledge of the monetization of video games
Experience working in a live game environment where updates and events are a way of life
Knowledge and understanding of game design fundamentals
Strong mathematical and analytical skills
Ability to work independently and as part of a team
Excellent organization skills and ability to multi-task priorities
Strong communication and writing skills
Ability to work in a fast-paced and confidential environment
Passion for making great games
"

Hopefully whoever ZOS hires will make the Crown Store virtual good offerings and prices more realistic in the future!

#MakeESOGreatAgain

Aliyavana · May 2018

Hopefully they encourage zos to finally add mount rewards for actually doing their content, so that they make content worth running past the first few months and have more people to experience the content that they work hard to create.

Morgul667 · May 2018

Hopefully Zo$ will stop the cash grab madness

I doubt though

Doctordarkspawn · May 2018

Hopefully they'll encourage ZOS to have a bloody auction house.

ALSO, WHOEVER GETS THE JOB.

STOP WITH THE CROWN CRATES. LET US BUY GOODS. STOP WITH THE TIMED EXCLUSIVES. ENFORCED SCARCITY JUST PISSES US OFF.

FloppyTouch · May 2018

Lol well I see crown prices going up and crate drop rates going down gg

Darkmage1337 · May 2018

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

Hopefully they'll encourage ZOS to have a bloody auction house.

ALSO, WHOEVER GETS THE JOB.

STOP WITH THE CROWN CRATES. LET US BUY GOODS. STOP WITH THE TIMED EXCLUSIVES. ENFORCED SCARCITY JUST PISSES US OFF.

Pretty much.
I, too, really wish ZOS did away with crown crates and timed sales / flash-sales.
ZOS really would indeed make more money, sales revenue, (and therefore more profit) by individually offering each virtual good, at all times.
Obviously we don't have access to ZOS's Crown Store sales data to crunch numbers since they are a private company, but we ESO players all surely know that ZOS would have a lot more new customers and returning customers if they did away with RNGesus Crates and simply enabled permanent individual virtual goods sales at realistic prices, whether it be with real money or with crowns.

Hopefully the New Blood will talk some sense into ZOS's Corporate Bureaucracy (e.g. their "Monetization Department").

Ankael07 · May 2018

Was there a monetization guy before and theyre getting a new one? Or there was noone in that department at all?

Because that sure would explain their astronomical pricings as if there was noone who understood the business.

Darkmage1337 · May 2018

ESO's Outfit-slot per-character (not account-wide) is most-likely the worst monetization example in ESO.

[Edited for removed content]

MLGProPlayer · May 2018

Ankael07 wrote: »

Was there a monetization guy before and theyre getting a new one? Or there was noone in that department at all?

Because that sure would explain their astronomical pricings as if there was noone who understood the business.

They've always had one. They're just hiring a new one.

I know the former monetization expert from SWTOR worked for ZOS from 2016-2017.

Darkmage1337 · May 2018

Ankael07 wrote: »

Was there a monetization guy before and theyre getting a new one? Or there was noone in that department at all?

Because that sure would explain their astronomical pricings as if there was noone who understood the business.

According to the job-listing on the links provided, it is a team of people. Probably a small number, not sure how many "ESO monetization team members" that ZOS has. But with the current state of the Crown Store, I think they really need to step-up and increase their inter-departmental communication (Sales/Monetization/Marketing team(s) talking with the Designers, etc.) as well as communication with the playerbase.

DoctorESO · May 2018

MEMO TO SELF TO INCREASE MONETIZATION

Reduce the cost of crowns, but raise the cost of items (and the difficulty of receiving good items in crown crates) so that there is the false appearance of a price reduction.

Ohtimbar · May 2018

I never thought I'd see the day when 'Monetization Designer' was an actual job title. Gaming is not what it used to be, for better or worse.

Darrett · May 2018

Ohtimbar wrote: »

I never thought I'd see the day when 'Monetization Designer' was an actual job title. Gaming is not what it used to be, for better or worse.

Gaming is big business now. The goal is to make money and keep shareholders happy, while balancing the perceived game quality with the amount of effort needed to create it.

It’s why they don’t care about things like class balance; until it’s so bad it starts impacting the bottom line, any effort on that front is wasted.

DoctorESO · May 2018

They also need to hire a Vet Trial Exploit Fixer and Justicar.

SlayerTheDragon · May 2018

Well this post has reminded me why I have stopped playing for more than a year.

In all honesty they are probably hiring someone to help squeeze out that VERY LAST CENT.

ZOS_Mika · May 2018

We have recently removed a handful of bashing and non-constructive comments from this thread. This is a reminder to keep the discussion civil. Thank you for your understanding.

Marginis · May 2018

They need to add the requirement that the prospective hire must play the game, or at least in some way understand gamer mentality, or maybe have some experience in community management. Otherwise I can easily see this role being filled by someone who doesn't care at all about the people and just about the numbers, which is incredibly short sighted.

Ravereth · May 2018

Morgul667 wrote: »

Hopefully Zo$ will stop the cash grab madness (...)

Rosveen · May 2018

Marginis wrote: »

They need to add the requirement that the prospective hire must play the game, or at least in some way understand gamer mentality, or maybe have some experience in community management. Otherwise I can easily see this role being filled by someone who doesn't care at all about the people and just about the numbers, which is incredibly short sighted.

Of course they will hire someone who understands gamer mentality. Here's the problem: gamer mentality is what made lootboxes so insanely profitable.

Marginis · May 2018

Rosveen wrote: »

Marginis wrote: »

They need to add the requirement that the prospective hire must play the game, or at least in some way understand gamer mentality, or maybe have some experience in community management. Otherwise I can easily see this role being filled by someone who doesn't care at all about the people and just about the numbers, which is incredibly short sighted.

Of course they will hire someone who understands gamer mentality. Here's the problem: gamer mentality is what made lootboxes so insanely profitable.

I realized after I wrote it how it could be interpreted. What I mean is how gamers feel about loot boxes, that the new hire understands that. Unfortunately I know exactly what you mean, which is kinda depressing.

BadSerpico · May 2018

Morgul667 wrote: »

Hopefully Zo$ will stop the cash grab madness

I doubt though

Games are made to make money and pay worker salaries. Crazy concept

Mojomonkeyman · May 2018

BadSerpico wrote: »

Morgul667 wrote: »

Hopefully Zo$ will stop the cash grab madness

I doubt though

Games are made to make money and pay worker salaries. Crazy concept

You know what made games become mainstream? Artists who were proud to deliver the most polished, balanced pieces of art they could create. Those old gems from back then were foundation for the big industry names we see now.

The greatest games actually weren't primarily made to make money, they were made by passionate, freaky people who were aiming to create the games they always wanted to play themselves but didnt exist at their time. Those kind of characters were very different to the business type ones we are seeing nowadays since the industry became mainstream.

I miss those freaky game designers from back then, and their games. They created art, not business. Business success was just a side effect of trying to make the best product they could think of.

Crazy concept, I know.

Elsonso · May 2018

BadSerpico wrote: »

Morgul667 wrote: »

Hopefully Zo$ will stop the cash grab madness

I doubt though

Games are made to make money and pay worker salaries. Crazy concept

If that is the goal, there are a number of other things that ZOS could do that would make money and pay worker salaries much better than what they have going now.

maboleth · May 2018

Mojomonkeyman wrote: »

I miss those freaky game designers from back then, and their games. They created art, not business. Business success was just a side effect of trying to make the best product they could think of.

Crazy concept, I know.

Golden days of gaming. Japanese designers still show craziness (Zelda or Mario anyone?) also some Indie teams like Ninja Theory, but yeah, big companies want big money.

Still, indie teams like Frontier Development show how projects (Elite Dangerous), while moderately successful (at least I hope so) completely lack funding and people to make the game reach whole new level and fix so many shortcomings (miles wide - inches deep gameplay). Development is either very slow or nonexistent, with the team understaffed or focusing other projects, with none of the key changes in sight.

So you cannot entirely blame big studios like Bethesda for wanting more money. They also offer so much more than Indie studios, from lux packaging to much more frequent updates, big chapters/DLCs and overall - much much bigger and layered games. It's a wild business, ultra high competition, many expenses and investments and gamers having attention span of a gnat. It is very tough. In my opinion, the team at ZOS currently shows they try everything they can to stay away from P2W model and do listen to the fans. So kudos to them.

AhPook_Is_Here · May 2018

You know what would be awesome is a random crown price fluctuation based on a rising stochastic, so the cost of an item will rise say as much as 200% over a 3 day period but if you keep an eye on it, maybe you can get it for 20-30% less of it's current average price.

I got a million good ideas like that, ZoS if you want a pro-milker shoot me an email!

Thogard · May 2018

Right now there are two ways to get epic cosmetic stuff:
1. Buy it from crown store
2. Do really hard achievements

I’d like to see a combination. Like you can buy a skin for $20 but you have to be a grand overlord in order to qualify to equip it. Many of the crown store items are looked down on by people because there’s no in-game barrier to entry and I think that perception needs to change. I think that’s a good way to keep the money flowing for ZOS so they can keep updating and improving the servers without making the game pay to win.

geonsocal · May 2018

ZOS is hiring an ESO Monetization Designer

Phase 1:
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Phase 2:

Phase 3:

Phase 4:

xeNNNNN · May 2018

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

Hopefully they'll encourage ZOS to have a bloody auction house.

ALSO, WHOEVER GETS THE JOB.

STOP WITH THE CROWN CRATES. LET US BUY GOODS. STOP WITH THE TIMED EXCLUSIVES. ENFORCED SCARCITY JUST PISSES US OFF.

Only downside too this means apex mounts will probably be between 10k and 20k crowns. You know it will happen.

DoctorESO · May 2018

BadSerpico wrote: »

Morgul667 wrote: »

Hopefully Zo$ will stop the cash grab madness

I doubt though

Games are made to make money and pay worker salaries. Crazy concept

And to pay taxes to the government!

Chadak · May 2018

We're probably all doomed.

DoctorESO · May 2018

Mojomonkeyman wrote: »

BadSerpico wrote: »

Morgul667 wrote: »

Hopefully Zo$ will stop the cash grab madness

I doubt though

Games are made to make money and pay worker salaries. Crazy concept

You know what made games become mainstream? Artists who were proud to deliver the most polished, balanced pieces of art they could create. Those old gems from back then were foundation for the big industry names we see now.

The greatest games actually weren't primarily made to make money, they were made by passionate, freaky people who were aiming to create the games they always wanted to play themselves but didnt exist at their time. Those kind of characters were very different to the business type ones we are seeing nowadays since the industry became mainstream.

I miss those freaky game designers from back then, and their games. They created art, not business. Business success was just a side effect of trying to make the best product they could think of.

Crazy concept, I know.

Yeah, gaming has changed. Now, every game is basically a movie budget production that only the big companies can compete it. And consumers now seem to demand it.