Free To Play Video Game Makes Over $2 Million Selling Just One Item [Update: Or Not]
from the damn dept
For whatever reason, some people falsely seem to think that part of what I argue is that no one should ever try charging money for digital goods. Nothing is further from the truth. I have said over and over and over again, the important thing is figuring out what it makes sense to charge for, and what it doesn't make sense to charge for. The problem we have is when people just assume that because they put a price on it, that's the right price. On top of that, those who charge without recognizing the potential pitfalls of charging for things in certain situations shouldn't complain when that effort fails. But if you do it right, you can absolutely charge for certain digital things -- and, in fact, many of the examples we point to of success stories involve charging for digital things.Aaron DeOliveira points us to another fascinating example, involving the free-to-play online video game, DarkOrbit. Within the game, there's a special item, known as the 10th drone -- or the Zeus Drone -- that is highly desirable. As you might imagine, to get the 10th drone, you first have to get all 9 previous drones... and some blueprints to make the 10th drone. Apparently, this is quite involved. BigPoint, the company behind DarkOrbit, also tried another tactic: the company has run an occasional promotion, where you can buy the 10th drone for 1,000 euros (~$1,330). Here's the amazing part: apparently two thousand people paid, bringing in about 2 million euros, or $2.7 million. For a single digital item. Update: Or.... not quite. A clarification makes it clear that it did not bring in that much. People did buy, but they had to buy with in-game currency. You can sometimes buy such currency... and sometimes it's discounted. If it wasn't discounted and you had none in the game... then the cost of the drone would have been 1000 euros. As that's not likely to be the case, while the game did still sell 2000 such drones, it was clearly for less money. However, it is still an example of where people can be willing to pay if done right... just not as amazing.
But the real key here is in what they did to make this possible. First, used "free" to get lots of people in the door, connect with them, and make them totally bought into the game, such that they'd be willing to spend. Then, build up the overall "value" of such an item, and then offer it in a way that people really wanted to buy even at what many of us might consider to be an insane price. However, it's a perfect example of how if you really connect with fans, and carefully figure out what it makes sense to charge for... you can do quite well.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: business models, darkorbit, digital items, drone, sales, virtual goods
Companies: bigpoint
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Disappointing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Disappointing
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/21/user-created-tf2-items-bring-in-up-to-47-000-for-some-steam- mem/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
How do Manchester United and Arsenal feel about Manchester City and Chelsea?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
(I put all the blame with the developer in these situations, as I can relate to people who would rather buy an item than grind for hours to unlock it).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Even if there's no obligation to pay and the benefits of paying can also be gained through normal gameplay? [Extra Credits did a good episode about this, which you might find interesting if you've never seen it.]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Their reasoning is that the number of people who buy might not be many, but they'll gain lots of money. And they don't care about game balance, because if not so many people buy it, then the chance of a non-paid player fighting with the one buying this item is low. So it won't happen quite often that it will discourage the non-paid players. And if many people buy it? They'll get money.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
http://www.gamesbrief.com/2011/11/bigpoint-does-sell-the-tenth-drone-for-1000-eur-but- may-not-have-made-eur-2-million-from-it/
Essentially the 1000 Eur is only if the players bought every Uridium needed at that time. the currency could be earned in game, or sometimes there were sales.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I've never seen any comments by people misunderstanding that particular point - are you sure you're not making up facts as you'd like them to be ?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
A lot of it, I think, has to do with whether you're dealing with an open/closed system or platform. Music, for example, is typically platform-neutral and easily acquired via multiple channels [and in fact, consumers expect the ability to port it to multiple platforms at low or no cost]. When the platform is locked down and centrally controlled, as in a game with a single provider of content who can limit distribution to effectively mimic a scarce good, it absolutely makes sense to leverage the infinite-turned-scarce digital goods if you can. So long as your purchasers valuate it the same way, you're in the clear.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
At least that's what the last two sentences seem to say. And as long as some people are willing to pay the price, it's all okay.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
Generally the type of DRM that is protested here, is when consumers expect to be able to do certain things (like transfer MP3s to any device they own) and are told by the rights holder they can not. This type of DRM is not wanted by the consumers and is viewed negatively. What this means is it takes value away from the consumer instead of adding to it. It's all part of understanding your customers.
And it's absolutely about what people are willing to pay. It's basic economics, the higher the price the less people will pay, the higher the price the more people will pay. Exactly how the curve moves is dependent on alternatives and necessity. In reality laws tend to move money away from both the producer and consumer. They'd likely be much better off experimenting with their price than with trying to buy laws.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
What these people are doing doesn't require government intervention being that one's game status is controlled by a remote server and the info is stored on a remote server.
Though, as others have pointed out, perhaps from a gamers perspective, game status should be based on one's merit within the game and not on how much one can pay. Then again, different games can have different niches I suppose, for some who want a game based purely on game merit they can choose games that accommodate their wishes, for others who don't mind a game where people can pay for game status, they can choose their desired game accordingly.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
There are things that are copyright infringment.
There are things that are nothing more than people sharing information at a personal level, even if a ton of people can see it in different countries.
The problem is trying to lump both under the same umbrella and make it a crime.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ultimately
That is always what sales strategy is about - the digital domain simply throws it into sharp relief.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Two Ways to Solve a Problem
2. Throw money at it.
Give people a choice, and some of them will pick door #2.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Two Ways to Solve a Problem
Secondly, (for example) someone in World of Warcraft takes 30 hours to earn say 100,000 gold. In that time with overtime at work they could earn lets say $600. The gold costs $200 to buy online, so overall what they are buying is more free time as the overtime would only run to 5hours.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Two Ways to Solve a Problem
Of course, comparing gaming business models to the other Entertainment industries is comparing apples and sparklie ponies.
The gaming industry hit the sweet spot on pricing of digital goods at the right time.
Music and movies, maybe now (Spotify, etc), but that was already after they sat on their hands, then sued their fans, and now all this mess with 'laws must save meh!'.
Big Content is going to work at it to get my money flowing back to them. However, since I haven't gone back to any ex, I'm pretty sure our relationship is over.
For now, here Blizzard, you may have my money willingly, along with more money for pets/mounts for my friends, and a 2nd account, and the next expansion, and this trading card game flag that allows me to go 'haha' on top of my dead enemy.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
i.e. artificially make it much more difficult in order to sell you item to make life easier.
a notorious game for this is Maple Story, which is free to play. However, if you want to have any hope of leveling up or progress in the game in a tolerable pace, you have to spend.
Another notorious game is a Chinese one called "Zhengtu". I won't get into details for that one and you can look it up.
In this case, DarkOrbit probably DIDN'T plan to sell this at that price and probably come into realization later that it might be a good idea. Thus the selling of this is not really "forced" on the consumers.
To do it right, games shouldn't be altered to be difficult thus buying digital item becomes necessary. It should be as difficult as required or properly designed, but with an option for people to buy if they are not willing to spend the time.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Charge whatever you want for whatever you want but don't try to stop others from acquiring something at a lower price range or from somebody else.
Part of sales is making people want to buy from you and not the other guy, that is and always has been part of the WORK!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not as good as you think
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What were the companies costs to make those sales?
There is a big difference between gross sales numbers and profit.
From Kassandra's link (above):
"The 10th Drone isn’t available for cash. It is only available for the in-game currency Uridium. Uridium can be acquired by playing the game, or for real money. Bigpoint sometimes holds sales, which means that people can acquire Uridium at varying exchange rates to real money over the course of their involvement with the game..
So Bigpoint has sold 2,000 drones for Uridium that has an equivalent value of €1,000 if a player has not earned any Uridium nor bought Urididum at a discount in the past.
I suspect that Bigpoint doesn’t know exactly how much money it has made from the 10th Drone"
Nice house of cards there td.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
OH, IT'S FANTASY MONEY! Mike's specialty!
Don't you have ANY skepticism, Mike? No, you just snapped up the rather stunning E1000 x 2000 figure and gleefully mis-extrapolated. BLATANT FAIL, AS USUAL.
This one just perfectly epitomizes Techdirt: WILD optimism about instant riches, turns out mostly fantasy.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: OH, IT'S FANTASY MONEY! Mike's specialty!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: OH, IT'S FANTASY MONEY! Mike's specialty!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: OH, IT'S FANTASY MONEY! Mike's specialty!
How's your script coming? Any bites on the $100 million funding?
I certainly can't wait until your movie comes out. I'm literally giddy.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: OH, IT'S FANTASY MONEY! Mike's specialty!
Have you ever been to 7-11, OotB?
There are these cards, right next to the gift cards.
You pick one of those cards, go to the cashier, and pay money.
Then, you drive home, go to your computer, go to Zynga, and input this card number, which gives you 'in game currancy' to buy 'in game items'.
Yes, that is right, real money for fake money. Been done for a long time in the gaming world (First time I personally saw it was in Second Life).
As far as the Update portion, unless you understand how purchasing fake money with real money works, and all the factors involved, it's hard to pin down numbers. There are so many other things at play here, from the company perspective, and the player perspective.
Every industry has their own set of 'seedy underground people' that try to get something for nothing, but you don't see the gaming industry all up in Congress trying to get laws passed.
They innovate; true innovation. Blizzard introduced a way to purchase a pet in their store, and then sell it in game. Basically, it made in-game-gold selling 'legal'.
It gave people a reason not to use the seedy side (aka the mass gold sellers that are mostly scammers, and account hackers), and it makes money for Blizzard in the process.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: OH, IT'S FANTASY MONEY! Mike's specialty!
It's basically a 'bring it on' shot from Blizzard to the Gold Sellers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Against it before you were for it
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Against it before you were for it
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Feeling good about what you buy
I ended up spending 20 bucks on in-game items...
I realized later how significant that was. I had never bought an in-game item before. Because this was free I figured it was a pretty good deal to spend twenty bucks on a game that I liked and get some cool stuff as well.
That shouldn't have worked on me, I'm pretty shrewd about this sort of thing. However, it not only worked and got me to spend some cash, I actually felt good about it...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hard part is to build a kick a** game
We have too many cr@p games that have amazing pricing plans. Too bad that no one will play them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Free to play is good, but...
What about offline single-player games? Ultimately, the best option is to give away all of the digital content for free and monetize it somewhere that relies on actual exclusive and rivalrous goods/services.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Free to play is good, but...
Examples, Metalstorm or even Smurfs.
ALSO, perhaps you can explain why software applications that cost 699.00 for a PC/MAC only cost 9.99 to run on an Ipad. Granted they don't all have the same utility but .....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Another free game that makes money
Free does make money!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Spiral Knights has three currencies: 'Mist' energy, 'Crystal' energy and 'Crowns'. Doing almost anything in the game requires energy (Mist and Crystal are interchangeable). Mist regenerates up to a maximum limit over 22 hours, while there is no limit on Crystal. The catch is, Crystal can only bought for real money, or for Crowns from other players... who bought it with real money. Crowns are earned by doing in-game activities.
This allows one to play for free for a limited time per day, or pay up to advance faster. As much as it gets disparaged on the game forum for being "money-grubbing", it seems to be a successful business model.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
play video games online for free
[ link to this | view in chronology ]