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Originally Posted by Triplash
10,000 of us even having $1000 to give might be too much to hope for... but 10,000 of us averaging $100 each is much more reasonable. That comes up to $1,000,000. Obviously by itself that isn't a fraction of the cost necessary to purchase the IP and engine license. But what it is, is proof to potential investors that City of Heroes has a sizeable and dedicated customer base*. What an experienced investor should see in that number is a group of fans so loyal they'd spend money not for the benefits of a subscription, and not for the items or services in a transaction, but solely as a means to keep their chosen game existing. Just for a chance, no less, not even a guarantee. Combine that with the success of the Freedom model, plus the extent to which the newest expansion would make future updates even easier to produce (namely the Lua scripting and demorecord additions), and in all honesty, any investor who can't read the word "profit" between those lines should find themselves a new line of work.
(* It can also act as immediately available operating capital for things like payroll and utilities, to carry them through the negotiations and the initial "get back up to speed" phase - the period before development can begin again, during which they need to work out details like rewriting contracts, hiring and training replacements, possibly finding a new office, and so on.)
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This is the whole part of this I can't quite wrap my brain around. This game didn't become a desolate town with tumbleweed rolling thru it, which makes the decision to end the game quite easy. This game still has quite an active customer base, still actively playing this game. It was a game still in the black (perhaps I should say blue), and not in the red, therefore still on the side of profit, be it whatever that amount truly was. How do you just axe that scenario? It makes no sense.
And the game holds characters and work created by its customer base, many like me who started playing this since back in 2004, who want to keep it running for just those reasons. All of their works, their lives, the lives of their superhero characters, who become in ways part of their lives.....like pets. I don't know about other people, but to us these characters we put so many hours of our lives into and watched them grow are almost like living beings, and now they'll "die".
The problem is, if you can't find a gaming company to support this game who DOES understand how MMORPGs work....trying to explain it to $ individuals who have no earthly idea of this type of world and the IP it includes, well, it's a whole marketing/educational job in and of itself trying to do that.
Speaking of marketing, just as a side note, I gotta say this game NEVER had ANY visible, legitimate marketing or advertising campaign or strategy whatsoever (w/exception to being at gaming conventions). And look at the customer base it has, WITHOUT it. That is a big thanks in part to us, the players, by way of word of mouth. Had NCSoft put ANY type of marketing budget / advertising behind this game at all, their profit margins would have been much higher. I put that squarely on their heads. I can't tell you how many times I'd tell someone about this game (and some avid-gamers no less) -and they're like, "City of Heroes? What is that? I never heard of it." And they'd try it, and get completely ADDICTED! "I love this game!! Why did I never hear of this?" As they fly around Paragon City. This just happened recently with a friend of mine (fly at a much earlier level, now, made my sales pitches so much easier, thank you for that developers!).
Countless times this happens. Why have I never heard of this game? I've been playing this game since 2004 for cripes sake, and people STILL hadn't ever heard of it unless I TOLD them about it.
Alright, now I'm just venting. But I had to get this point across. It's frustrating. And so now if we have to basically take it upon ourselves to market this freakin' world ourselves in a matter of 2-3 months, then so be it. We'll do it ourselves!
I've never been a big forum poster here over the years, tho I'd read it all the time. But admittedly, that felt pretty good.
Thanks.
Every MMO should have an end-game plan in place from its inception. As in, if/when the game comes to an end, we have budgeted for and planned how it will exist once further development has ceased.