Bioware Hiring Plan - F2P

My requirements are onerous, of course, due to my objection to working for the ethically challenged. If BioWare were on its own, the requirements would be significantly lower. Then again, if BioWare were on its own, the game wouldn't need a cash shop monetization optimizer, would it?

Then again, if BioWare were on its own, the game wouldn't need a cash shop monetization optimizer, would it?

I was waiting for this reply. Nobody wants to see a company that offers a great product do badly. What we don't wanna see is super giant mega corporation try to milk customers for a sub par game that has a shiny Star Wars label on top of it's turd coated innards.

On the other side of your Sean Hannity-esque statement nobody seems to understand that a corporation should have to put out a superior product to make money. Good doctors don't get into the medical profession "just to make money". Good game designers shouldn't get into the game designing profession "just to make money". People that have a passion for the job they do tend to put out better products. EA has a passion for buying successful studios, running them into the ground, and then closing up shop. They are the vampire of the gaming world.

Heh heh. I can tell them exactly how to monetize it.

Step 1
-SNIP-
[*]Add new lockbox drops to all loot tables. Make the drops fairly frequent - at least one per hour of average adventuring / daily quest farming. Make the lockboxes give a modest number of credits and on-level green items 99% of the time, slightly higher credits and an on-level blue items 0.5% of the time, and use the last 0.5% to ramp up from level 50 purple equivalents to one tier below top-tier raid equivalents. Put keys in the cash shop (exclusive to the cash shop) that unlock these boxes. Charge cartel coins such that a subscriber's allowance could get them ~25 such keys per month. Make the boxes bind to legacy. On second thought, make them unbound. More of them are more likely to be unlocked that way. People who won't spend the coins on the keys to unlock them will post them to the GTN for others who will gamble. Back to key price, start sort of high and monitor how many boxes are getting destroyed. The goal is to optimize key price such that the largest possible number of boxes are being opened rather than destroyed. You may also want to include a chance at a super-special item, like a speeder model that can be found nowhere else and the rider cannot be knocked off of. Make this exceedingly rare, like 1 in 100,000 or tougher. Make the drop unbound so it can be sold on GTN. Do not tell people it's in there. Wait until someone finds it, then the forum crowd calls bullsh__ on the person who found it, then have your forum team post that it's true - that's possible to get. Keys will sell like mad and no box will ever be destroyed after that.[*]Add a holocron/datacron that grants a 5-20% bonus on credits gathered while adventuring for a duration of 1-2 hours. Charge enough for this that a subscriber's monthly allowance can buy maybe 10 of them. Monitor usage; ignore forum outcry.[/LIST]-SNIP-

I don't see any problem here. Let people who want to spend tons of money on vanity items spend their money. It will keep the game afloat. I think there is a problem with charging for actual new content however (Makeb, level cap increase, operations/FPs/warzones, etc. as opposed to vanity items). That's just milking and betraying the trust of your already loyal subscribers.

I think the first option is very realistic to keep the game afloat. I work at a AAA game studio and although I can not disclose much, it's clear to see that a very small portion of the playerbase (5-6%) can, and do contribute as much as 50% of total profit solely through vanity microtransactions. People like spending money on things they see the value in. People don't like the feeling of being required to spend money just to be on equal footing with others. Include me in that small percentage of subscribers - I am not very stingy and I'd give pretty much anything to wear outfits like the Sith, Jedi, or Bounty Hunters in the movies.

I guarantee that within one year the cash shop will be generating more than $15 per F2P player per month on average*. If it is not, I will resign and return the hiring bonus. (* Some caveats to work out such as how we count F2P players)

You speak like you have inside information and know somehow that this is their first and only staff position to focus on monetized content.

When they post a job position for a graphics designer, or a developer, or a software QA person, or a community support person..... do you also assume that they are just now for the first time doing game graphics, game developement, software QA, or community support?

Or were you just looking for a soundbite as a foundation to be critical of EA again?

Monetizing content is a growth role and an ongoing process for a game that moves to Freemium. Nothing remarkable here, and certainly nothing worthy of ranting about EA. Surely you can find more solid foundations for that TUXs.