Immoral?
War Thunder’s monetization is a kitten compared to industry standards.
@MajloActual
PVP games clearly aren’t for you, which is fine.
Not everyone will like PVP for the sake of PVP.
I would too. But this monetization makes them a whole lot more money, everything is monetized, vehicles, modifications, crewskills.
Main issue with subscription models is global customer base.
Americans make 17 dollars/hour flipping burgers for ~3000 dollars/month.
Hungarians are happy to make 1710 dollars/month with a master’s degree working in big pharma.
Americans can easily afford such subscriptions.
Hungarians, russians, romanians, poles, balkan countries and so on likely won’t.
I know I couldn’t.
My “subscription” to travel anywhere within my county at any time with anything (train, tram, ferry, bus, metro, long-distance train, long-distance bus, rentable bikes) is a whooping 26 USD/month. If I so pleased, I could board a train and ride it 24/7 and would still have it covered by my subscription (provided I stay within my county).
60 USD/month for like, 6 hours each weekend, maybe a bit more? Insane money.
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I dont think forcing people to suddenly start paying $60 a month is a good idea.
Most people spend $0-30 a year and you want to bump that to $720 per year.
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If you’re willing to pay the monthly subscription to a lot of people that don’t want this mechanic, isn’t dumb enough having to pay different streaming services because one don’t have a specific content but the other does?
No reason why a subscription model can’t be alongside other types of “membership” such as existing Premium - it doesn’t have to be either/or.
Not sure I’d want to pay US$60/month even for instant access to having everything unlocked - top tier just doesn’t interest me at all, and, like many, achieving steps in “the grind” is kind of satisfying.
But I don’t see why something like that shouldn’t be available - maybe a couple of different levels - $60 for everything, $50 for all of any 1 nation, $30 for everything up to end of Tier 5, $20 for everything in any 1 mode (air/sea/land) of any 1 nation, etc…
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i mean u can just not pay, but u suffer
but then suffering = happiness, so suffer then u can be happy
like me, im happy, because i spend 1k+ hours on this game to play one of my favorite tank that got butchered by Gaizine modelling
but i have fun(atleast)
Its potential is squandered by uninspired game modes 3cp and tdm on small maps. You already pay a subscription in this game (premium time). And honestly for probably the majority of players without the dopamine hit of unlocking new stuff the gameplay would get stale and they wouldnt play nearly as much and just play for a week when the updates hit then leave until the next.
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There’s a lot of people that wouldn’t pay 60 a month, I wouldn’t even pay half that, heck I wouldn’t even pay a quarter of that and neither would any of my 3 kids that play…
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I surely hope that I don’t have to pay more than a triple A title every month for War Thunder…
The only pack I’ve ever bought was F-4S at 50% off, and a Chinese starter pack that someone bought for me in return for a favor. 60 USD is even worse than the current predatory model for virtual vehicles.
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I´m pretty sure they would do the same like they do with gaijin coins. Doing a one to one, no matter how much the currency is worth in comparisen to another.
When i hear how much content creaters say “Holy heck you guys buy alot of premiums”
and how many premiums i encounter pn average, over all gamemodes.
I doubt that number.
Yea, Paradox interactive does that right now. For 5$ you get acces to all Stellaris DLCs, that normaly would cost 200$-300$ outside a sale.
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Depends - I’ve been on since 2016 and have a lot of Premiums - not sure how many, but “most” in every branch of every tree - many of them never played!!
Almost all obtained long ago and I couldn’t tell you how much I paid - but I know now I’m a lot pickier and even with 50% sale discount ain’t nothin’ guaranteed
I only ever see guides for what to buy for the sales.
The fact that sale are basically the only time anyone buys premiums should show what people are willing to spend.
I didnt buy my stuff all at once. Its been over years and i think it is safe to say that most others also do the same of buying maybe one or two vehicles a year
Contrary to popular belief, most sales don’t occur during sales.
I do get what your post was going for though.
You can put this to the test, when next update hits. lets see how many of the new premiums you find around the week after.
Well, premium account is practically a subscription.
Guys how many of you have studied marketing at least till a point?
They market premium with “you get bonuses” etiquette, when actually you play the game with the rates it is intended to be (yes it still is slow , just not that slow as F2P) .
Meanwhile they keep the F2P etiquette because it’s easier to get people into and because you don’t need sub to have an access. And you keep your expectations low , because ^it’s a small , familly company and the game is F2P" . You want new maps? When we can, we’ll deliver… Want this that and the next one? When we an… meanwhile you can buy the next premium because !!! IT IS PREMIUM -you GET BONUSEEEEESSS!!!
This way , they expect people to buy “premium” at some point , because intentionally the grind after a point becomes boring , but you are already invested in the game and you may like to ^main ^ the game.
The ^marketing ^ PoV , says : tell the customer what he likes to hear , but do your own thing anyway.
People hear ^premium bonuses ^ and think they are ^gaining^ , when in reality they just play what GJ intented.
They tell you F2P till endgame, and they are true, you can play anytime…you can grind also, but that’s not ^the intended^ … The intented is them to get money. It’s a company.
Same with vehicles. They treat them as an expansion. If you get a high tier one and have a premium account as well, you get through the TT like knife through butter…add free boosters to it here you go.
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Imho you have to consider 3 things:
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The game is not made for mature long-term playwers. The game is optimized to be attractive for shooter-driven kids with access to credit cards. The eternal grind is a key part of their sales strategy. Any entry barriers for minors like monthly subscription fees would reduce gaijin’s income.
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As people are different - so are countries and available cash around the globe, that’s why some markets have a regional pricing. So your own amount you are willing to spend for entertainment is not representative.
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From a neutral and sober pov any subscription model needs to consider that the game itself is a mess and actually the equivalent of a low quality product like a cheap lawn mower; it might do the job for a certain period but the fun is rather limited as soon as you identify the flaws.
Regarding the “real” value of the game:
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Having played the game for thousands of hours i would estimate a fair value of the game itself in the range of 250-350 $/€. This mainly based on the vehicle variety.
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The game play in itself is more or less unchanged in 10 years and marked by countless open and hidden buffs or nerfs of vehicles or weapon effectiveness and certain RNG effects.
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Every long-term player will agree that the challenge whilst playing the game is to find his personal sweet spot / comfort zone in which he can play around the countless flaws or they have the least effect on his perception.
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Having funds for entertainment purposes does not mean that there is a necessity to spend this money. Usually the demand for high quality products increase the more funds are available - the only reason to spend money in wt is from my pov just the lack of competition and not that they offer a fair value for investments.
I would be happy to invest some money if gaijin would offer:
- A vehicle performance (not player performance) based BR setting policy
- An actually demanding game play
- A bug free game play without artificial vehicle buffs/nerfs
- Immersion regarding game play ( like CW, NATO vs WP, CW II…)
- Actually balanced teams regarding skill distribution
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Chris Roberts is that you ?