ESO Business model - Someone enlightnen me

zaria · July 6

Arunei wrote: »

rafaelcsmaia wrote: »

Soarora wrote: »

My guess is because of the season pass FOMO. 4x premium season passes a year costs more than a Chapter but it’s spread out so we don’t notice as much. Let alone the people who buy the extra premium. ZOS also needed goodwill to bring back and retain players, who would then buy the premium passes and crown store items.

Soarora wrote: »

My guess is because of the season pass FOMO. 4x premium season passes a year costs more than a Chapter but it’s spread out so we don’t notice as much. Let alone the people who buy the extra premium. ZOS also needed goodwill to bring back and retain players, who would then buy the premium passes and crown store items.

Thats fair, but most crown stuff is obtainable with seals, i have so many of them i could get anything i want if it showed up now, for free. While i apprecciate not having to spend money, it also feels to me like a missed opportunity to monetize.

Only Crown CRATE stuff, along with a couple of odds and ends like the Spriggan Polymporphs, can be bought with Seals. They exist for existing or potential future laws regarding only being able to get in-game rewards via 'gambling' with no way to get them directly. And while there are indeed people who have thousands and thousands saved up because they haven't seen anything they want to spend on them, I'd be willing to bet my account that a much higher number of people have nowhere near that many saved.

Malprave wrote: »

rafaelcsmaia wrote: »

Title, id really want someone to explain to me how the move to make DLC content going forward free was a good call. Like for instance myself, i dont care about cosmetics and stuff, only time id spend money would be chapters and DLC, so now theyre gone, im not putting a single penny in the game, and i bet there are a lot of ppl llike this.

I know im not a business genius but that simply doesnt add up to me, the moment I saw this being announced i anticipated the team being impacted, as they were today.

It’s hard to say. But obviously they are privy to all kinds of information on the financial performance of the game that we don’t have access to. They looked at it and decided season passes were a good move.

Maybe the season 0 pass did not generate the anticipated revenue. Now we’re in the cost cutting phase unfortunately.

Sorry to see it. I’m a huge fan of the work all these people have done on the game over the years and that work was arguably very successful. They had a good run in a business known for turnover. Wishing them the best in whatever they do next. I’m sure there are many companies that would appreciate the efforts of these industry veterans.

The layoffs today have absolutely nothing to do with if Season O in and of itself did poorly or not financially.

True, now I replayed many dlc, I tend to do TG and DB on most alts as fun and give skill points and bonuses.
But at least for me, cosmetic need to have an use. Having people dodge roll out of an resource in Cyrodil is an use

Even here its an limit unless your for some reason want to collect everything.
And I see ESO+ as pretty reqired, yes its probably mods who can move stuff to an bank alt on login
But the main reason I left ESO after a year was the inventory mini game.
Came back just as housing became an thing,

AzuraFan · July 6

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

Gamers havn't technically owned the majority of their games for over a decade.

Depends where you buy your games. At GOG, you own them. You can download the files and they're DRM-free.

Malprave wrote: »

Maybe the season 0 pass did not generate the anticipated revenue.

If the season 0 revenue had anything to do with it, it might not have been a good idea to give ESO+ subscribers tokens towards purchase. In my case, I bought the premium+bonus tome with tokens, not real money. If that option hadn't been available, I would have bought the tome with $$ to check it out. But I'm not sure the revenue had anything to do with it.

tsaescishoeshiner · July 6

ESO+ is optional, but players pay for it. Cosmetics in the Crown Store are optional, but people pay for them.

Making content free encourages players to join the game and stick around—it's free marketing and very encouraging to new players I've spoken with.

If a player gets 4x Season Passes, in US dollars they would be paying more than for a Chapter. If they get pay for the extra pass content, that's more than getting the Deluxe upgrade for a Chapter was.

Stamicka · July 6

I don't think the recent news has anything to do with ZOS' monetization decisions. The game has been very monetized for a long time.

The truth is that Zenimax got acquired by a company with one of the worst AI products on the market (Copilot) and weird circular financing deals that probably won't pay off. Microsoft's stock is down 18% YTD, they were just looking for things to cut at this point. While the gaming side of Microsoft was seeing lower revenue overall, I don't think these layoffs would be happening had Microsoft stayed out of the AI race. AI infrastructure buildout is the true money furnace and they need more money to throw into that furnace.

Sephyr · July 6

Stamicka wrote: »

I don't think the recent news has anything to do with ZOS' monetization decisions. The game has been very monetized for a long time.

The truth is that Zenimax got acquired by a company with one of the worst AI products on the market (Copilot) and weird circular financing deals that probably won't pay off. Microsoft's stock is down 18% YTD, they were just looking for things to cut at this point. While the gaming side of Microsoft was seeing lower revenue overall, I don't think these layoffs would be happening had Microsoft stayed out of the AI race. AI infrastructure buildout is the true money furnace and they need more money to throw into that furnace.

Yeah. Honestly this kind of news is rocking a lot of titles right now. Minecraft was even sweating because they thought Mojang was getting sold due to the storm clouds that were coming (and finally arrived).

BardokRedSnow · July 6

Whatever direction we go in next, I hope the team steers very clear of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRRT1lq4Fm4

This is not good for the game's image and its not the vibe that sold the series. This is the vibe that sold the series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DZxYwQVJYE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRmHCJz86c4

The vibe of the game has been deteriorating and they need to remember why people wanted to play in the first place.

AScarlato · July 6

BardokRedSnow wrote: »

Whatever direction we go in next, I hope the team steers very clear of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRRT1lq4Fm4

This is not good for the game's image and its not the vibe that sold the series. This is the vibe that sold the series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DZxYwQVJYE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRmHCJz86c4

The vibe of the game has been deteriorating and they need to remember why people wanted to play in the first place.

I liked the cinematics too, though you still kind of get the first video after you log in lol.

I think they were probably just expensive to make I am guessing, and given everything happening today probably there was not the budget for new ones.