The One About The Long-Awaited Business Model Announcement
Hi guys,
We arrived at our business model after hearing the views from gamers on the forum over the past few months.
I must say it is a very fair system that advocates to the 3 different schools of thought: a) Item Mall Advocates, b) B2P Advocates, c) P2P Advocates
School Of Thought #1: Item Mall Advocates
First of all, there were several problems in the F2P model which required tweaking. Two gamers, nightbloom and WarForge said it best on the forums:
i) Bots and Farmers
“There is a downside to f2p with item mall, especially in an international game. Bots and gold farmers are the majority of the population and even sporadic mass banning does nothing to stem the tide. There is no real loss for gold farmers or players who bot chars up to max level as the pay items in the item mall can be bought with either credit card fraud or not at all.
F2P DOES mean more people, but it doesn’t mean more players.”
- nightbloom
ii) Freeloaders leeching off supporters game play
iii) Overcrowding of servers by freeloaders
iv) Freeloaders leeching off paying supporters’ customer support
v) Troublemakers who can keep returning since there is no cost involved
“F2P is good to some extent, however if you think about it in a logical point of view it doesn't all fit in. Sure it may be free, and you are free loading... however, think who you are freeloading off? I know in most F2P games, the ratio between supporters to freeloaders are big... there might be a ratio of 3:5 or even less than 1:5. Does it not bother you that a supporter is giving out their money just to support 15-xx freeloading amount of people? - and most of those freeloaders are going to be nuisance makers ( eg: botters, flamers etc)
But hey, what can you do? When everything is free who cares about it, because you won't be the one to supporting the game and when the F2P market runs dry and the F2P supporting the server unexpectedly leaves, guess what's going to happen? There will be a progressive path leading to denial of service.”
- WarForge
These were good points made by the gamers on our forum and are problems that are already being faced in our open beta phase when we conducted a mock trial of the F2P scenario. Ultimately, we would like to have responsible gamers who are truly supportive of the game and are willing to support the game through contributions.
Thus, in order to cater to this group of supporters – we came up with a hybrid system, where you have two options:
1) Free game time whenever you purchase G-points to buy items from the item mall.
| Code Types for GVC/Box | G-points Provided with Game Time | (USD) |
| 1 day Unlimited Play GVC | 200 | USD 0.50 |
| 5 days Unlimited Play GVC | 650 | USD 1.00 |
| 10 days Unlimited Play GVC | 1600 | USD 2.00 |
| 30 days Unlimited Play GVC | 5000 | USD 5.60 |
| 90 days Unlimited Play GVC | 15000 | USD 15.00 |
| 180 days Unlimited Play GVC | 30000 | USD 27.00 |
| 1 year Unlimited Play GVC | 60000 | USD 40.00 |
2) More G-points without any game time.
| Code Types for GVC/Box | G-points Only (W/O Game time) | (USD) |
| 1 day Unlimited Play GVC | 230 | USD 0.50 |
| 5 days Unlimited Play GVC | 750 | USD 1.00 |
| 10 days Unlimited Play GVC | 1800 | USD 2.00 |
| 30 days Unlimited Play GVC | 5800 | USD 5.60 |
| 90 days Unlimited Play GVC | 18000 | USD 15.00 |
| 180 days Unlimited Play GVC | 35000 | USD 27.00 |
| 1 year Unlimited Play GVC | 70000 | USD 40.00 |
School Of Thought #2: B2P Advocates
For B2P (Buy To Play) advocates, there will be Granado Espada box sets being released in the near future which are bundled with extensive free game play time and hey, you even get your money’s worth of G-points as well! The following chart is indicative of what is potentially found in the box set:
Well, P2P advocates, I’m happy to tell you that this is one of the cheapest P2P games around.
Most other P2P games charge an average of USD15 per month. Granado Espada charges only USD5.60 per month! On top of that, you even get 5000 G-points to go on a shopping spree in the item mall! If you REALLY want your money’s worth, purchase the 1 year plan instead and it will only cost you USD3.40 per month and woot! 60,000 G-points comes along with it as well!
| Code Types for GVC/Box | G-points Provided with Game Time | (USD) |
| 1 year Unlimited Play GVC | 60000 | USD 40.00 |
IAHGames Thanks The Open Beta Testers: 90 Days Free Gameplay For All
We will be going into our commercial phase on 30th August 2007, 0000hrs (GMT+8).
In order to show our deep appreciation for the open beta testers who have supported us all this while, we will be rewarding ALL open beta gamers who have at least one Level 20 character with 90 days of free game play. This means to say, anyone who signs up for Granado Espada from the start of POBT till 29th August 2007, 2359hrs (GMT+8) AND has at least one Level 20 character, will get to enjoy 90 days of free game play after the commercialization date on 30th August 2007.
P/S: I heard that these 90 days of free game play may be extendable, but this is very much dependent on community enthusiasm and response. ;)
Posts
24 comments:
Not too bad to an extent, just improve player comfort in the games =)
So will the botters buy the game time and keep on botting in the game? If so i don't see any improvment being done to the botting issuse, they will continue to lag the game even more, leaving people with no place to train with their massive amount of army bots!
Money is of no big concern to me. Frankly speaking, most of us, even those 14 or 15 year old youngsters, spend at least 20 dollars on a day trip to town. The point I'm trying to make is, one month of Granado costs less than a one day movie outing. I think there shouldn't be anyone making noise about the game being pay to play.
In fact I was kind of hoping that it would be more expensive. At such a low cost, botters will feel no pain in paying the measily 5 bucks, because they can earn so much more farming and selling.
Seriously, making it so cheap is just making the game "Pay to Play in name." Its like GE is wants to earn big money, yet is afraid of too many people leaving the game (I guess all those broads worked to intimidate IAH); the business plan is really neither here nor there. Make it TOO cheap, its really not pay to play at all. "Pay to play" as Hrin described, makes the player feel he is "investing" in the game. For something like that to occur, it must be a certain substantial amount. That is probably why most games stay at the 15 US dollars benchmark. It isn't too much, yet it isn't too little.
Business model aside, I just wanna congratulate GE on being the nicest MMORPG game (awesome graphics) available today. But Hrin, won't you consider Baron squadding?
Sen
what about those who has the limited box set is it 90+180 days?
If i am eligible for the 90days of free game play,
does it mean I only need to purchase "G-points without game play" during the duration of the 90-days ?
the unique system of p2p is gonna be really effective. the price of the monthly game play is below average. i'm definitely gonna play. as for the box set time. i'm guessing that the day do add up, so you get 180 + 90 = 270 days of game play..
Thats to say current botters will also have 90 days of free time after aug 30th
I read in the website that the GVC can be bought at retail outlets in Singapore, Malaysia and Phillipines. Then how about those player that not in those countries, where should we go to buy the GVC?
Didn't anyone tell you only those that can support remain? Those that are willing to support but can't access to GVC in whatever mean will have to pack and leave just like they expect the botters to leave. One thing is certain for now, there will be many players or botters ( sarcastic ) leaving the game. A dark future for GE but yes it help to kill the botters ( or whatever unproven malicious activist ) and many more potiential customers including oversea customers.
Thumb up for IAH and for those that fight to stay alive in this game with your P2P model, congratulation. keep up your support to the last and dont you all dare to quit because guess again, this is what you want.
USD 40.00 per year = RM 3.80 ( estimated ) x 40 = RM 152.00 per year. Just to login? It's cheap? Hmmm.... Try work out your living and tell me how many hours you spend to earn those RM 152.00.
Cheers.
Hattori :
As of today
USD 40.00 per year = RM 3.47734 x 40 = RM 139.093 per year.
That is about RM 11.60 for every month, very cheap indeed.
Question :
If I cannot purchase GVCs from my local area, is there any option to purchase virtual GVCs using my bank fund transfer or credit card?
p2p is good. Rid the bots but guess some will still come back. Having already harvested since POB they can sell the stuff and buy the time required to bot some more. Profits? Virtual stuff Hrin, its FOC.
Concern:Will actions be taken to those who disrupt the game and community - talking about bots/greedy goldminers, its not that they cannot manage financially. Clerverly storing goods/vis in a vault acc that might not bot.
Hi i was just wondering, what would be the payment system be like? Through online payment via credit card? Or i have to purchase prepaid cards through an appointed vendor? As i'm playing out of Singapore I would like to know.
Is the payment mode via Credit Card or by PPCs that are bought at retail outlets in Singapore?
Because if the payment mode is via Credit Card then i guess i have to stop playing cause my parents will kill me for this... Lol
hi...
I'm from Brazil and I just want to know if shall I can play after the comercial launch or the ip's from my country will be blocked?
Back to Rappelz! :)
Well, since a majority of the gamers will be having free 3 months, I am guessing they will purchase just G-points.
WITH GAME TIME
US 0.50 - 200 G-points + 1 day
WITHOUT GAME TIME
US 0.50 - 230 G-points
Is this right? Sorry, I still don't understand the table lol.
If this is the case... then the extra 30 Gpoints isn't really much is it? It'd be more worth it to buy it WITH game time. But we already have 3 months free, so we're forced to pay without game time (at the moment).
Isn't that really expensive? Someone please enlighten. Thanks!
i like e plan and is quite cheap too...THANKS
well just a comment...will there be more player or farmers+botters leaving after commercialised? i have this mentality that if people are willing to pay for a game they will be willing to pay these farmers...so i was thinking that there might be more player leaving than farmers/bot leaving this game...lol just my 2cent thoughts
I LIKE GE
wha 1st time hear of such a chim p2p mtd that u need a phd degree to understand. Yeah its cheap and stuff, but if the game does not reach p2p quality ppl will leave anyway
I was just wondering if Hrin could make clear if G-points are transferable between players?
Thanks
Lol, the table looks confusing. Why all the sudden there is some pink code in the middle? I wonder why they didn't allow us to buy game time only...? Hey..Hrin, will the GVC cards stack? Eg i went to buy 3 1 yr cards for USD$120, then, if I pump all three in, does that mean I can play for 3years or you have to wait for each to expire before putting another card in?
me sad, me sad, me sad, me sad, me saddddd T.T. i dotn even have money to cacth a bus Xp
hi,i'm TriAxis from Pechelbel,just a q.
what if i buy a p300 load now.and activated the g-points provided with game time,will the game time be carried after the 90 day free time
Hi Hrin,
I've a couple of questions.
1) I heard Item mall is opening on the 16th. But since no one has G-points, when will it be ready for use and sale in SG?
2) I've a boxset. When will I be able to claim the G-point for use?
Thanks :D
when r they releasing the 1 year game time
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