CoX Quarter Earnings - Q1 2011
By
0zymandous,
Posted on: 2011-05-17 24:06 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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Is one million US per month even enough to pay the Devs' salaries?
If I recall what TheNet said on that Ustream, they are working out of a warehouse, not offices...looks like the beloved game might be on its last legs after all. 
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They've been there since Paragon Studios was formed |
Originally Posted by Neuronia
If I recall what TheNet said on that Ustream, they are working out of a warehouse, not offices
|
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Honestly, it's pretty clear that Going Rogue failed. The meager bump in subscriber numbers that the game experienced when Going Rogue went live is gone, and now the game has even fewer subscriptions than the period before Going Rogue. Too little, too late I suppose.
Though it does explain why they're charging $8 for emotes, and the game servers have become increasingly laggy over the past couple of years...
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My point was more to how sustainable it is.|
Originally Posted by Golden Girl
They've been there since Paragon Studios was formed
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If you split three million by 15, that gives you 200,000 accounts.
Now...chances are there AREN'T 200,000 accounts. I'd gauge it at closer 110,000 to 125,000, more or less and declining. That isn't terrible by any means, but you'd have to think they can't keep all these humans employed and new content coming out for free for an indefinite period.
Maybe F2P with bonuses isn't a bad idea?
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What is the blue square in the upper left corner? Is that my account?
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It's a quarterly number, so should also divide by 3 months.
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Originally Posted by Neuronia
If you split three million by 15, that gives you 200,000 accounts.
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Was it launched by Cole or Nemesis and does it go by the name "all your funding streams are belong to us"? If so count me in!!
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Originally Posted by Neuronia
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Quote:
Not to get too off topic, but you have to wonder if ingame "authorities" have noticed THE GIANT FLIPPIN' ROBOTS ACCOMPANIED BY NOTABLE PRAETORIANS INVADING PARAGON!!!! One thing I've always disliked about these things is cities look the same afterwards...would be nice seeing a broken Atlas Park for a few weeks. |
Originally Posted by Exodus_V
Was it launched by Cole or Nemesis and does it go by the name "all your funding streams are belong to us"? If so count me in!!
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Which gives us about 67,000 subscribers. Which sounds like an accurate number.
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Originally Posted by Pebblebrook
It's a quarterly number, so should also divide by 3 months.
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Also note that this graph is new game sales only. It doesn't include: continuing subscriptions, returning subscriptions, booster pack sales, etc. (at least, that's what these numbers usually are, correct me if I'm wrong)
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Originally Posted by Bubbawheat
Also note that this graph is new game sales only. It doesn't include: continuing subscriptions, returning subscriptions, booster pack sales, etc.
Just for emphasis.
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Don't know about that graph but the revenue number in the quarterly report does include all CoX sales including continuing subscriptions and the other stuff you mentioned.
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Originally Posted by Bubbawheat
Also note that this graph is new game sales only. It doesn't include: continuing subscriptions, returning subscriptions, booster pack sales, etc.
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No, it's global sales, as mentionned by Pebblebrook. I just copied the exact denomination that NC uses in their report.|
Originally Posted by Bubbawheat
Also note that this graph is new game sales only. It doesn't include: continuing subscriptions, returning subscriptions, booster pack sales, etc. (at least, that's what these numbers usually are, correct me if I'm wrong)
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Originally Posted by Pebblebrook
Don't know about that graph but the revenue number in the quarterly report does include all CoX sales including continuing subscriptions and the other stuff you mentioned.
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Its also important to note that these are numbers reflected during a major economic down turn.
Every sector has been seeing losses.
So its really not that abnormal. In fact its impressive considering its a 7 year old game that they got the bump they did with GR launched.
I plan on staying til they shut off the servers, then I hope they have a stand alone game I would play that.
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1. Even other games have had overall subscription losses recently.
2. At the current rate of decline, CoH only has 5 years left before it's too expensive to keep going! DOOM!
3. The GR bump was a bump from extra box sales. While that did not seem to translate to more ongoing paid subscriptions, it does represent a nice bit of extra income.
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So 67,000 accounts? Of course, you'd have to adjust for pay services and boosters, but that sounds about right. Apparently we see servers in the yellow and red due to the downscaling of hardware (with another round of downscaling having just been tested).|
Originally Posted by Pebblebrook
It's a quarterly number, so should also divide by 3 months.
|
It's sad to see such a solid game find an all-new low in earnings with every quarter. But the answer is before us as had been mentioned: F2P. Problem is, NCSoft simply does not understand or like F2P.
Going Rogue and the end game have both failed to prop the game up. GR's problem was obvious: 20 levels wasn't enough content. People did the 20 levels and left. It didn't help that those are some of the most annoying 20 levels to get through (both mechanically and thematically) in the game. The end game is one of the most-cited reasons on various MMO fora for people leaving the game. Those people feel the Incarnate system has turned the game into one they no longer recognize. I can see their point, even if I don't necessarily agree.
AE was another misstep for the game as well. Mass interest turned into mass exodus. I don't see future MMOs including player-content features as the concept has been pretty well shown to not work.
PvP 2.0 certainly didn't help, either.
But as I said, the answer is before us: F2P. But will NCSoft's corporate culture allow it?
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Yes thats right hardware downscaling thats why they want us to try and get more then 3500 people on at once to test load on Freedom on the 27th.|
Originally Posted by Daemodand
So 67,000 accounts? Of course, you'd have to adjust for pay services and boosters, but that sounds about right. Apparently we see servers in the yellow and red due to the downscaling of hardware (with another round of downscaling having just been tested).
It's sad to see such a solid game find an all-new low in earnings with every quarter. But the answer is before us as had been mentioned: F2P. Problem is, NCSoft simply does not understand or like F2P. |
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The major effect from that might have happened 2 years ago. Think the majority of people who had a need to evaluate if CoX was worth keeping in light of their financial situation decided back then.|
Originally Posted by ransim
Its also important to note that these are numbers reflected during a major economic down turn.
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The subprime crisis started 4Q 2009 ish. Prior to that CoX sales were:
1Q09 6,837
2Q09 6,673
3Q09 5,471
Then the 15 months after:
4Q09 3,928
1Q10 3,348
2Q10 3,491
3Q10 5,709 (GR sales temporary spike)
4Q10 3,239
1Q11 3,055
Although the past year is still decreasing but is doing so with a more tapered rate. To me that might appear that decrease will mostly be from the merits of the game instead of a need to cut expenses.
But since the quarterlies doesn't specify the cost per game, we can't really know how low it can go before NCsoft will consider it as no longer financially viable. If the cost is way lower than that then it can still go for years.
But the decline is still somewhat worrying for me, since if it does keep decreasing that means more cost cutting somewhere.
(Totally stole the graph idea from LISAR, though I made it myself with my bare hands!)
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