DC Universe Online Adds A Cool Million New Players
Huh, how about that. Guess there's something to be said for this whole free-to-play model after all, eh?
Published: November 10, 2011
Something amazing is happening over in Massively Multiplayer Online Game Land: huge, hundred-hour long experiences are becoming free to play. What would previously have cost players upwards of $15 or so bucks a month can now be experienced for the far more reasonable cost of nothing. Zippo. Zilch. Nada.
There are conditions, of course; many MMOs that have gone free-to-play have limits to things like the number of character slots that can be used at a time, or areas that can only be accessed by paying customers, but publishers have clearly combed over the data and discovered that by hiding many of the costs to play these games inside microtransactions rather than an up-front cost, they not only see the player base swell, but the revenue from all those players as well.
It's an interesting strategy, and one that on the surface doesn't seem like it would work. How could a publisher supplant a guaranteed amount of money every month with far smaller bite-sized transactions throughout the life of the players' time with the game? The secret may well be in the sheer numbers that making a game free can add. What kind of numbers? How about a million new digital denizens of Sony Online Entertainment's DC Universe Online for starters? Clearly lowering the barrier to entry into a game where you get to fight alongside the likes of Superman and Batman is compelling stuff; it just took a little drop in price to make it irresistible to comic fans. Not surprisingly, SOE is plenty happy about the new influx of players.
"DC Universe Online's transition to free-to-play has been welcomed by the community and gamers with heroic enthusiasm. In just one week alone, 1 million new players have joined DCUO with a 50/50 split between PC and PS3," boasts SOE Austin's Executive Director of Development, Lorin Jameson. "DCUO now joins the ranks of SOE's other successful free-to-play titles, including Free Realms and Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures.
"Our business model philosophy of Free to Play Your Way makes DCUO accessible to every type of player so they can choose to play the game in a way that suits them best. We have a lot of exciting things coming up for players to enjoy in the game and are thrilled at the initial enthusiasm for the game's free-to-play transition."
See? Nothing but smiles and high-fives in Austin -- and really, we can't blame 'em. Not only are those fantastic numbers, but as we mentioned in our review, DC Universe Online wasn't without problems, but it had plenty of promise. With time, many of our gripes have been at least partially addressed, and those that haven't are a whole lot easier to take when you've had to shell out precisely bupkis. If you've got a few hours (yes, hours) and want to give the DCUO download a go yourself, it's available anytime from the PlayStation Store.
There are conditions, of course; many MMOs that have gone free-to-play have limits to things like the number of character slots that can be used at a time, or areas that can only be accessed by paying customers, but publishers have clearly combed over the data and discovered that by hiding many of the costs to play these games inside microtransactions rather than an up-front cost, they not only see the player base swell, but the revenue from all those players as well.
It's an interesting strategy, and one that on the surface doesn't seem like it would work. How could a publisher supplant a guaranteed amount of money every month with far smaller bite-sized transactions throughout the life of the players' time with the game? The secret may well be in the sheer numbers that making a game free can add. What kind of numbers? How about a million new digital denizens of Sony Online Entertainment's DC Universe Online for starters? Clearly lowering the barrier to entry into a game where you get to fight alongside the likes of Superman and Batman is compelling stuff; it just took a little drop in price to make it irresistible to comic fans. Not surprisingly, SOE is plenty happy about the new influx of players.
"DC Universe Online's transition to free-to-play has been welcomed by the community and gamers with heroic enthusiasm. In just one week alone, 1 million new players have joined DCUO with a 50/50 split between PC and PS3," boasts SOE Austin's Executive Director of Development, Lorin Jameson. "DCUO now joins the ranks of SOE's other successful free-to-play titles, including Free Realms and Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures.
"Our business model philosophy of Free to Play Your Way makes DCUO accessible to every type of player so they can choose to play the game in a way that suits them best. We have a lot of exciting things coming up for players to enjoy in the game and are thrilled at the initial enthusiasm for the game's free-to-play transition."
See? Nothing but smiles and high-fives in Austin -- and really, we can't blame 'em. Not only are those fantastic numbers, but as we mentioned in our review, DC Universe Online wasn't without problems, but it had plenty of promise. With time, many of our gripes have been at least partially addressed, and those that haven't are a whole lot easier to take when you've had to shell out precisely bupkis. If you've got a few hours (yes, hours) and want to give the DCUO download a go yourself, it's available anytime from the PlayStation Store.
