EVE General Discussion

…but the PLEXes they buy still cost $17–$20 so that's still the revenue the PLEXers generate for CCP.

It's not really any more of a problem than letting people log in. All they're doing is delivering a service someone has paid for.

It may be a bit more predictable, but the sustainability is no different.

and the CFO would tell you: NoNoNo, who TF did employ you anyway and what for, sure not for ******* up our revenue stream, but to clean the toilets!

and why would he say that?

A wants to play Eve. He either subscribes now and pays now or he buys a PLEX in-game with ISK and activates the PLEX.

In the first scenario, CCP gets their money now in the second they already have the bucks for quite some time already.

As 10 bucks you received ten years ago should be worth more today than ten bucks you receive today (interests), the second scenario is far better on a company valuation point of view.

All the PLEX being stored in hangars or in market orders is cash CCP already earned and that potentially will never be used for game time.

basically they got almost kinda free lunch thru PLEX.

What I keep thinking:

An entertainment service business model that relies on one group effectively "subsidizing" another will not work for very long, once the group doing all the paying works out how stupid it is to do so and/or works out themselves how to "play for free."

I don't give a rip about cybernetic arms, tattoos or paintjobs for ships. But that's what we get in terms of "new developments" from CCP. And they engineer it so PLEX is the way to obtain said perks.

Again, this seems to indicate the lack of a sustainable business model rather than some brilliant one.

Maybe this is why they are recruiting a "director of monetization"...

I can only use my own experience as an example: I started playing, decided PVP was my "thing", bought some PLEX with RL money to jump-start my PVP experience. Now I can do what I want and no longer buy PLEX. So who is buying it? New players, for a limited amount of time, who then stop.

Suggests CCP better be focused on keeping large numbers of new "casual" players rolling in, since the "hardcore" players are generating no revenue at all for the company. That or change the business model to get money directly out of those "hardcore" people.

"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons."

Your plan improve stability by reducing CCP's revenue by about 30% is interesting. Can you explain how definitely earning $700 per month is better than earning ~$950-$1050 per month?

I don't care if a PLEX costs 3 billion ISK.

CCP will never receive another RL penny from me.

IMO plex is the best method for controlling RMT without destroying the internal currency market. Not convinced that you are offering a convincing argument as to why its not sustainable - not going beyond the horizon of current MMO designs, EVE seems closest to sustainable to me.

Reality is, people like to decorate spaceships, more than they like to decorate space barbies, and that will probably be reflected by better monetization results, simply because this game collected 300,000ish spaceship pilots, minus a bunch of alts.

Ok then.

Then you are a concrete example of the fact that no changes are needed.

I don't know what the proportion of CCP revenue derived from PLEX sales is vs. paid subscriptions or what the revenue impact would be of switching PLEX over to subs.

If that is indeed the case, and switching all accounts to paid subscriptions would in fact reduce the revenue stream by 30%, then perhaps the current model is the best one possible for the time being. In that case I'd simply wonder how to sell more PLEX and hope the pubbies keep buying them.

Sometimes I forget that these forums are actually all about flames/trolls. I shall refrain from trying to make any constructive comments in future and stick to snarky comments aimed at other posters. After all, this is EVE.

I get what some people are trying to say, the existance of PLEX does front-load the system, since people paying money for PLEX are going to be the same people paying for a subscription (because I like to think no-one would be dumb enough to buy PLEX for money, then use them for their sub), while the people buying PLEX for isk to sub their game, aren't going to be buying them for money too.

So in effect, half the players are paying for all the subscriptions, making the game less resistant to a sudden outflux of players (since people playing for free have no reason to stop their subs if temporarily unhappy with the game, so any outflux is going to be in the paying half, and cause double the hit). That said, since a PLEX bought today doesn't have to be used on a sub for months or even years in the future, CCP is getting their hands on a large chunk of sub-money early, and assuming they treat it as that (and don't just spend it as "free money"), the price and abundance/scarcity of PLEX on the market can give an early-warning system to CCP that something is amiss. If people stop buying PLEX, CCP can react before the supply dries up, using these "early paid subs" as a safety net to buy them time to correct whatever caused the outflux.