You know we would spend more money if the skins were cheaper.. like for example, weeks and weeks go by with me looking at $18 skins and having no interest to drop that kind of money on a cosmetic, however if they were half that price, I’d probably buy something out of every week.
Don't know what to tell you dude - the data is very clear. We would make substantially less money, to the point where the game might not be viable.
Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue on Tuesday, riding on the strength of its battle royale sensation "Apex Legends".
EA, however, expects second-quarter adjusted revenue of $1.23 billion,
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apex-legends-drives-eas-quarterly-200428291.html
No wonder you guys can't afford real servers and feel the need to price gouge a game aimed at children and young adults.
I really hope you don't think Apex Legends made $1.23B...
Server issues are due to bugs. No quantity of money will fix that - just smart people spending the time required to fix it.
Part of the problem is that you set your initial price point so high that even your discounted prices are still too steep for most people.
For perspective, in another popular online game, Elder Scrolls Online, you can typically pick up new outfits for between $5-10, with only the super fancy ones matching the default Apex pricing by clocking in at around $18-$20. In both cases, those outfits are much more prominent and visible at all times than they are in a game like Apex; ESO is a social-heavy MMORPG, where you and others around you will spend a lot of time looking at your appearance, as opposed to only seeing it in a character select screen and very briefly during combat itself. So, to recap, they're A.) usually cheaper than your offerings and B.) offer more value to boot, even when priced similarly.
To look at a different, more PvP-centric game, you can take a look at World of Warships. While World of Warships has some comically expensive items for sale, for the price you charge for a Legend or weapon skin you can purchase yourself a decent mid-tier premium ship. That ship is essentially equivalent to a new Legend, and you can spend many, many hours learning the ins and outs of said ship and getting a unique new game experience out of it. While I realize this is a bit of an apples and oranges comparison, speaking as someone who plays both, it's relevant: I have zero interest in dropping $18 on a new skin for one of my weapons or Legends that I'll honestly rarely see when I could instead spend my money on a different game that offers me something much more substantial for the cost.
With the two examples you're showing exactly the issue. ESO has a subscription and WoW has $$texas$$ pay-for-power items.
Yeah but he called "someone" a dick. Not you in particular.
I think technically I was calling gamers dicks? I dunno. I had a spicy lunch, feelin' it.
You are people, not very good people but people nonetheless.
I hope your day gets better.
"Iv been in the industry long enough to remember when players weren't asshats to developers"
Oh.. Well I guess you can also remember when developers weren't money grabbing fucks that scammed their players too? Free to play blah blah blah that doesn't give you any right to charge $20 for a skin you should be setting the tone for other company's to follow and stop fucking your player base who commit their time to play you're game. Good riddance to your game I loved it at release bought both season pass's lvl 100, hundreds hours but after seeing how greedy you got (no surprise really as you're ea's bitch) the games uninstalled and anything from you in the future can die as quickly as its released IMO. And fuck anyone that's saying this is better, like take there dick out your mouth and have some respect for yourself. Yes iv gone over the top and I can blame the whiskey all I like but iv gone from thinking oh shit these devs care to yep just as bad as ea's reputation. You had no choice but to answer "risky" comments so get the fuck off your high horse.
Edit 1- People think this is a troll post.. Its not. I admit I worded it wrong and I don't condone being disrespectful as I was but I'm fed up of company's pulling shit like this only to revert a few days/week later and acting like they didn't know this backlash would happen. Also was called a dick by a dev so my nights complete :)
Edit 2- Fixed grammar & thanks for silver. Surprised at how much shit my comment has caused but I'd type it all over again if it got the project lead to show his true colour.
Edit 3- link to screenshot of dev reply which he has since deleted, link courtesy of u/LordDiMask https://m.imgur.com/Vgq4xGQ
^^^
Hey everyone - found the dick I was talking about. Guess what, I didn't even read your comment except for the first sentence and last. This kind of garbage doesn't warrant a reply - but lucky for you I already made a comment about this earlier. Go find it.
I have a sincere question @dko5... by buying the battle pass each season, am I supporting the game in a way that makes it feasible to operate profitably? In other words, is $40-$50 / year per player enough to make this game work or is that not enough of a contribution?
I think of my purchase of the battle pass as my support for the game, rather than spending a lot of money for specific skins in a one-off event. But would be interested to know if I actually qualify as a real supporter at that contribution level.
I'd have to ask much smarter number people to answer that question. The reality is, though, that most people don't buy a single thing.
We're open and honest and doing the best we can.
so thats why it took you 3 days to show your face in this sub
Would you rather we come on here and go "Uhh, nothing to say yet. Sry"? We needed time to ensure we could get the items in the store, get approval for the changes, and ensure we weren't going to be promising stuff we can't fulfill. This stuff takes time.
Amen. Sorry if my post came off as rude by the way.
Nah, you're all good :)
Calling the reaction your playerbase had a temper tantrum in the same breath that your company is admitting they fucked up with the pricing model is really disingenuous. Personal attacks suck, but the vast majority of the complaining I saw was about the content you guys are admitting was a misstep.
Being upset with the event is fine, thats not what I'm saying. What I am say is that we won't just magically show up, post a bunch of random promises, and shower everyone with cosmetics when a thread gets upvoted that is nothing but a hate parade.
Is that why you felt the need to tell us we have no idea how companies are run? Even though yours had to be saved by EA after two bombs? It's amazing how fortnite has managed to be as huge as it is without your surprise mechanics. Did you ever stop to think that your store would be better off if you had awesome skins in it like from this event more often instead of the generic recolors you charge $20 for? Maybe it's us who are wrong the whole time. Btw paying streamers to open your boxes so kids will buy them is still scummy.
Again, the misinformation in this thread is huge. Titanfall and Titanfall 2 were huge successes. Please don't let anyone tell you otherwise. They made profits, and since we were independent at the time we got royalties. If you think selling a small studio for almost half a billion dollars is failing - I wish I could fail a lot more often!
Yeah, if we wanted to chase 200M players and sell even more expensive skins we could. We'd make the game VERY different than what you're playing now, and that is just not the creative vision we have for Apex.
And we don't pay streamers to open Apex Packs. Where did you hear that randomness?
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Thanks for the great feedback.
But the complaints and such were a factor, right?
The reality is that anytime we add something to the game that costs money there is negative feedback. People just want free stuff. We knew that was coming - but what we hadn't fully appreciated was the bond we broke. My comment was in reference to /u/Billyxmac saying we would lose a huge amount of players. By looking at graphs we did the exact right with Iron Crown, but looking at our hearts shows we dun goofed.
They didn't respond quickly because people were blowing $200 to get the skins they want and heirloom. Once they saw a drop in the amount of people buying they made the announcement.
Jeez, whats with the conspiracy theories? This event has been quite the success, and I can't say that any clearer. We're making changes that will most likely reduce revenue, but we're doing it because its the right thing to do.
we just need to make enough money to keep the game going and make more stuff for everyone.
https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/03/22/apex-legends-earns-over-92-million-in-its-first-month
Dude, lol
Don't bullshit us
You have no idea how this industry works, what development costs, or how companies operate. Please don't call me a bullshitter.
They're coming out and basically saying they fucked up. If they were to do this again, they would lose a huge amount of players. I don't think this will happen again.
Not sure if this is what you mean - but in reality the Iron Crown event has been a success, both with revenue and player engagement. Our numbers are up across the board.
This was not a decision made in any way other than to fix the broken promise we made to everyone at launch about providing choice on how players can get items. This doesn't mean every item is available for grind or purchase or Apex Pack - but providing ONLY Apex Packs for the Iron Crown skins was a misstep on our part.
EA said in their earnings call at the end of July that Apex was getting 8-10 million players per week during season 2.
/u/psilty is correct
$20 is a lot better then gambling with those Crown Packs. They listened, they heard, and hopefully the next event will be improved. Atleast they are communicating with us. Probably why they didn't respond so quickly because of so much backlash. I like Respawn. I respect them. Thanks for the update!
We've said it before, but we will not engage with temper tantrums, and personal attacks or virtriolic threads are completely unacceptable. We took a look in the mirror this week (lol - thanks for all the attacks guys) and decided we hadn't met up obligations and are making changes because we believe in our approach.
I've been in the industry long enough to remember when players weren't complete ass-hats to developers and it was pretty neat. I forged a bunch of long lasting relationships from back then. Would be awesome to get back there, and not engaging with toxic people or asking "how high" when a mob screams "jump" is hopefully a start.
Read moreWhy don’t you say what will happen ‘before’ the event starts? Rather than say nothing until the day it drops, that would probably solve that issue and save you guys a lot of embarrassment
Uh, thats kind of what I've said?
...thanks?
I mean I was able to understand it. It's just that part of your "messaging" issue is you're talking to us about a video game like this is a Human Resources Convention.
Well, posts like this do go through about 28 people before they get posted, so... apologies?