50,000 players a month to be profitable. So how long do we have left?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Canterbury, Sep 22, 2018.

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  1. Canterbury

    Canterbury Avatar

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    Start around 7:30



    Given we clearly have nowhere near 50k per month as active users - I'd query if it was even over 1k myself - how long does SotA have left? After all, the finances didn't look that great at the time of the SeedInvest and there's been no appreciable increase in numbers since then. If anything, the numbers seem to be going down.

    So how long do we have left?
     
    Last edited: Sep 24, 2018
  2. Spungwa

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    What???

    In a pay to play rather than subscription model, what difference does active players make?
    New players buying the game (regardless of if they stay or leave) and add-on store sales is surely all that matters?

    Regards
    Spung
     
  3. Canterbury

    Canterbury Avatar

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    Well presumably there's a metric that 'x' number of people will never buy add on stuff and 'y' number will only buy a certain amount, etc, etc.

    Meaning it makes perfect sense that there would be a number of active players you'd need to be at, to ensure that enough add-on material was bought monthly.
     
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  4. Steevodeevo

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    Sigh. Not YOU and not THIS again. Don't you ever get tired of banging the same drum?
     
  5. Greyfox

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    Expenses have been drastically cut. I recently conducted some calculations based upon limited facts. I believe the new number is closer to $100k per month, for Portalarium to just survive.

    I suspect most of the debt shown during the SeedInvest was due to salaries owned. I suspect the primary stock owners were not directly taking a salary until the game became profitable. So those salaries would be the debt shown in the SeedInvest documents. If not, what else would cause millions in debt?

    While SOTA is obviously on relatively thin ice, it benefits no one outside a handful of people who once supported this game but sold out, for the game to shut down. This vocal group is very set on the game failing so they can be proven right and do the classic "I told you so." How terrible must someone's existence be to focus on such negativity (OP care to answer)?

    Day to day IT operational costs are very low. Salaries, rent, and utilities in Austin Texas are relatively low. A small team of 10 or so can continue to push out content until the tipping point is reached and the game improves enough to attract and maintain new players. This assumes the Developers stop making dumbass moves like focusing primarily upon PVP. Even then, it would just delay the point of sustainability.

    Portalarium owns the IP, server costs are minimal, the foundation is established, the consumers currently supporting the game are mostly high income hard core fans. Unless Portalarium really screws things up I believe the future is sound although there is definite uncertainty.

    OP, report back to Reddit.
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2018
  6. Chatele

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    It is posts like this that scares new comers away, all this gloom and doom chit.... When people come to this forum and read all the negative crap, they don't bother to even give the game a try, because they get the impression the game is a failure and a waste of their time and money, and go and look else where.... Maybe if we start focusing on the positive, and give good feed back to the devs for what needs to be fixed, like some people already do, we certainly can do without all the naysayers…. JMHO
     
  7. Spungwa

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    OK, but that is a very crude metric, so there would be a huge variance.

    You are also making the assumption that when Darkstarr said that he had any kind of real information about the average spend of the "average" SOTA player.
    That would seem ALOT of player for the early years of a niche game. Eve Online had like 2k concurrent player peak for the first 1-2 years. By year 2-3 that jumped to 30-40k concurrent player, they actually never published the subscription number but did publish the concurrent players when you logged in.
     
  8. Arradin

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    Dont feed the trolls.
     
  9. that_shawn_guy

    that_shawn_guy Bug Hunter

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    we who forecasts all perils will never sail the sea.

    to answer your question, we have 7 left. 7 whats is anyone's guess.

    continue to play the game and participate in the community as long as you find it enjoyable. in all cases, nothing will last long enough.
     
  10. 3devious

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    Whatever happens I hope I'll always have a place to blow off steam with you guys. Even if I don't agree with a lot of people I still have dreams of feeding all of you who aren't MGT members, Avatars Radio DJs, folks that frequent the NBNN lot to @Dinsoo.
     
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  11. Feeyo

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    And this is also one of the reasons WE as community insisted the monthly sub to support port with at least a continues income. Plus weekly telethons they should be fine I hope.
     
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  12. Ataniiq

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    Like a dog who returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.
     
  13. jiirc

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    Even a blind squirell finds a nut once in a while. As long as the keep spouting doom and gloom on a regular basis, someday he doomsayers will get it right. Someday this game wil shutdown, but from what I see not anytime soon.
     
  14. Greyfox

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    These guys keep coming back stalking like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

    [​IMG]
     
  15. Sketch_

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    Whats crazier is the reddit - someone will post something neutral and you get a dozen people ranting about how the game is dead and how portalarium is suxx0r etc.

    Like, why are they lurking the reddit of a game they hate so much?
     
  16. Kain Darkmoor

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    I thought for a second someone bumped a year old thread. Nope it's a new one.
     
  17. Paladin Michael

    Paladin Michael Bug Hunter

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    I think there's no reason to be harsh about a question someone is asking?

    Wasn't the answer to this and a few other questions of "how can it work? / what will happen?":
    42 ... ? ;)

    Well, of course, if we believe into the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy :)
    Maybe the machine was little confused and the number was 42.000 ? ;)

    However: I have to confess, I don't care about $ digits.

    I like the story of this game, even if people mention, the quest system is broken (and yes, it is, but not "as hell" as some people are claiming).
    There are always two sides of view. And where our focus is, there is our mind and what we're thinking ...

    In my mind is that:
    end of year this game will be, what we were expecting at official launch.
    (And we will wonder why they didn't chose this date! It doesn't matter anyway.)
    And next year with Episode 2 the digits (new players and of course $$$) will raise ...

    To honestly answer the question "So how long do we have left?":
    Nobody knows! ()
    May be I will make it to experience Episode 5 - may be not. I really don't know. Hopefully me and all of the people who like to(!) will make it :)


    Beside of that I would say to all that kind of anger in forum threads around the world, posted and twittered in a special kind of way:
    Don't be so 'trumpish' ... ;)
    ['Trump' was a part of a small town (where I lived) with people so-called 'anti-social' - in Germany!]

    Life is great. Not every day. But most of our time. Will we mistrust the greatness of life because of the few days we are a kind of 'trumpish' ?
    I don't think so :)
    Anger and hate destroys our health - friendship and at last the whole world.
    And we don't need to look back in our world history - just watch this game:
    The Cataclysm tells us about! Look at those poor Cabalists all over Novia! Only thinking about sieges and might!
    And one is for sure: they'll never win ;)
    Because they lost their Virtues ...

    So my view is the bright side of life:
    There is more in our life than counting digits, there is more to explore ...
    Early access for Episode 2 is coming soon!

    I am impressed how often a game or even a forum is representing the reality - sometimes I am scared about ...
    Than I take a deep breath, a damned good cup of coffee or tea, a sandwich, and enter SotA ;)
    To be fair: Sometimes if I am really scared I use Qi Gong, Yoga or Meditation to calm down.
    What should I say? Both of it (RL activity or SotA: it works :))
    Ok - again to be really fair: until I died 4 times and leaving this game scared from death decay, @Chris :)
    [You know: than only Qi Gong, Yoga or Meditation helps to prevent writing a kind of trumpish forum post ;)]
    As we know: things change - and as life gets better by exchanging (if people listen - and not only $ to Coto's!) so this game gets better and better with each release ...
    Today begins the rest of our (game) life - that's how I would answer this question :)
     
  18. Vladamir Begemot

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    A few things have changed since Starr said that.

    • The staff size is half what it was.
    • They have a new lease for a smaller office.
    • There is a subscription that almost doubled the monthly buy in of many accounts.
    • CF vendors, crafting tables, dungeons and more deco weapons have entered the store.

    I imagine the profitability target number is much smaller now. It's impossible to say what.

    Another thing to bear in mind is that we actively advised many Steam users to use the launcher because of the cry out about giant Steam downloads, and anyone coming in through the Trial does use the launcher unless they purposely change over. So the old "Steam is 1/4 of the user base" quote may no longer be accurate either.

    Personally I'm much more confident in Ports long term viability now than I was a year ago.
     
  19. evillego6

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    4 years of development on previously failed projects.
     
  20. Arkah EMPstrike

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    I think the answer was “itll be dead in 3 months” back then. Think thats the most satisfying.

    Anytime somone asks how long is left just say 3 months
     
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