The MiniBots Gambit
by NorseGamer, HSM Editor-in-Chief
Not only is 2012 the Year of the Game for Home, but it’s all about multiplayer gaming. And this is a good thing, because if done right it plays to Home’s strengths as a social network for gamers. Not only do I not buy the argument that Home games aren’t worth the same as a disc-based title — using that logic, people shouldn’t be spending vast sums of money on casual games from Zynga — but I believe that Home has some unique advantages if they can be properly harnessed.
There have been some fascinating pricing experiments in Home this year. Some worked, some haven’t. In particular, there’s a new economic battle which has emerged: to aggressively target the “whales” at the far end of Home’s power-law distribution, or to give away the store and try to recover the capital with broad-spectrum microtransactions. This battle is summed up quite neatly by two vastly different third-person shooters that have just been released into Home: VEEMEE’s No Man’s Land, and Juggernaut’s MiniBots.
Before we begin: this is not a direct comparison of the two games. They’re very different experiences, and they’re both highly entertaining. I’m one of the few people out there, it seems, who has publicly stated my ongoing enjoyment of No Man’s Land — because it’s chess with guns, it doesn’t try to annoy me with trinkets I don’t want, and it makes no pretense about demanding some level of money in order to maximize your odds of success. Yes, it’s an imbalanced game, and what fascinates me is that for all of the kvetching about lack of balance, the game sure does have a knack for pulling money out of people. Despite the complaining, I suspect the game is doing quite well financially.
Which brings us to Juggernaut’s new multiplayer MiniBots extravaganza. The MiniBots Battlebox is easily one of the top five active items in the history of PlayStation Home. Cramming a third-person shooter into an active item is so outrageous that you quickly suspect the reason why no one else developed it first is because no one thought it was even possible. It’s like putting a Veyron W16 engine into a Tonka truck. And now that the highly-anticipated multiplayer version is available, it gives us a chance to examine the game itself as well as its pricing structure.
We’ll start with some disappointments — none of which, I suspect, are Juggernaut’s fault. Although you receive the free MiniBots Training Facility personal estate upon entering the Hub, the centerpiece promotion is still the Midway $25,000 giveaway contest. And the Navigator does not point users to the Action District under the “Featured Games” tab. This exemplifies what may be the primary design flaw in the Hub and the Navigator: that only a few attractions, at best, can be spotlit at any given time. Given the amount of content flooding into Home these days, that interface really should be re-examined.
The disappointment continues upon reaching the Action District. It’s simply a matter of opening-day server load, but attempts to actually play MiniBots resulted in some of the worst lag and jumpiness I’ve ever seen in Home, ultimately culminating in horrible hit detection, the game kicking everyone out and being rendered unavailable. That said, I was able to get enough time in with the game to play it, and yes, it’s a hoot to play. It’s the same MiniBots formula, just beefed up with even more explosions and the thrill of competing against another human being. If you have yet to experience the MiniBots, you really have no excuse not to at this point.
Which formula has the right moves to win your heart *and* your wallet?
No, the real question is whether or not truly giving so much away for free is the right formula for the Home consumer base. The Training Facility estate is free. The game itself is free. The game allows you to use your own furniture to create a battlefield, which is risky considering the sunk cost involved in creating MiniBot-specific furniture. And premium content can be tried in game before deciding whether or not to purchase it. So in terms of revenue generation, the commerce really has to be driven by people liking the game so much that they choose to purchase upgrades for it — upgrades which add versatility and cosmetics to the game, rather than dramatically unbalancing it.
In other words, this is damn near precisely what the Home community — at least those on the Sony forum — have been asking for.
And that’s what’s worrying me.
Juggernaut is gambling that a wide level of exposure with no barrier to entry will provide a sufficient number of users who opt to go for low-priced microtransactions and receive permanent power-ups. They’re also gambling that people will choose, in sufficient numbers, to congregate in a private estate with their friends to play a game rather than socialize (which the gifting feature may help drive); off the top of my head, the last estate which offered a full-blown multiplayer game like this was Hellfire Games’ Novus Prime Officer’s Quarters and Hangar — but those weren’t free estates.
The question mark in all this is how much of the development cost for the private estate, the multiplayer features and everything else was already recovered via the revenue stream from the single-player Battlebox sales. Juggernaut may have sufficient cushion to experiment with giving away so much of the house for free. Sure, it’ll win lots of praise on the Sony forum, but praise doesn’t always equal revenue (just as condemnation doesn’t always equal a lack thereof — people might dislike the commerce model used by VEEMEE’s No Man’s Land, but judging from the number of upgrades I’m seeing, that game’s doing quite fine). How many players will actively choose to buy upgrades and invite friends over for multiplayer MiniBots sessions, as opposed to simply enjoying a free gaming experience for as long as the Action District supports it — and then move on to the next promotion?
Incorrect economics assumption.
I hate to sound so cynical, but human beings are freeloaders. Google “the Penny Gap” if you want more information on this rather interesting slice of freemium macroeconomics. While free does produce zero barrier to entry (and hence lots of user exposure), every freemium game out there has some sort of built-in pain which a purchasable upgrade fixes. SodiumOne is free, but you can only have the first five levels. SodiumTwo is free, but you’ll never be atop the leaderboards (unless you grind like crazy to earn enough credits). Novus Prime is free, but you’re at a constant disadvantage for a long, long time. All three Midways are free, but you have to wait for free-play windows. The Casino is sort of free, but you only get a taste of it unless you fork over some money. No Man’s Land is free, but only the most skilled players will be able to survive without upgrading.
If Mario was a freemium game, you’d have to buy these power-ups.
All of these gaming experiences are very profitable. All of them have built-in pain: you experience the game, decide whether or not you like the basic idea, and then pay to either level the playing field or tilt it in your favor by a specific margin. Each of them is deemed to be “fair” because one could conceivably achieve the same results without spending money, if enough time was invested — the lone exception being No Man’s Land, which makes it such a fascinating case study.
In the case of multiplayer MiniBots, I’m having trouble finding the pain. Sure, upgraded weapons improve your survival odds, but is it by a sufficient margin? No Man’s Land, by contrast, has a very large gap between default loadout and premium loadouts, and while people complain about this, it sure as hell appears to be driving sales.
I’m not saying one freemium model is better than the other. I happen to like MiniBots a hell of a lot, and Juggernaut has built a superlative track record of delivering top-notch content for Home. If a popularity contest was held on the Sony (America) forum, Juggernaut would beat VEEMEE.
Here’s the thing, though: popularity doesn’t always pay the bills. Yes, it’s important to build a great product and foster a strong sense of involvement with the community — hence how Lockwood and LOOT can get away with charging ten dollars for an estate and people applaud it while they line up to buy it — but what worries me is that Juggernaut may have been a little too generous, particularly in a fast-paced Home environment where the Hot New Thing only gets at best two weeks of attention before something else comes along, competing for the same dollar. How much attention will anything else receive after Mercia, Home Tycoon and Blueprint:Home are released, for instance? To say nothing of the even crazier stuff coming after that?
This time, I’m not the one responsible for inflating your precious freemium economy. *You* are.
So, ultimately, the Home community is responsible for what sort of freemium commerce it gets. Juggernaut gave the Home community exactly what it’s been asking for, and thus it’s time to put the money where the keyboard is. It’s so easy to bleat and cavil about how expensive everything’s gotten, how it’s all a giant money grab now, how we have to pay to win…well, guess what? Now that we finally have what has got to be the most generous third-party game in Home, going out of its way to bend over backwards and offer insane value to the community, this is the time to demonstrate that it’s appreciated. Because do you really expect to see anyone else experiment with this much generosity if this venture is a commercial failure?
Do yourself a favor and vote with your wallet. This is the time, right now, to support Juggernaut by helping MiniBots’ balance sheet. If this is the sort of abundantly generous freemium formula you want, then demonstrate it. I’d be hesitant to put things in such blunt terms if the game itself sucked, but multiplayer MiniBots is one of the coolest games that’s ever hit Home, and there really isn’t a justifiable reason — aside from someone just not liking the game for whatever personal reason — to not support it.
Or, if you prefer, feel free to join me in No Man’s Land, where my fifty-dollar loadout can beat your ass, and to hell with how you feel about it.
July 19th, 2012 by NorseGamer | 8 comments
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
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When i first saw the mention of a free space i tought” yeah yeah, buy the game and you’ll receive a “free” space to play it”…
Boy was I wrong! Not only we all received the free place but it comes with the game…FREE!
Now I’m a strong beleiver in the freemium model, but I see a risk there. If you dont plan to host games at your place. A $1 investment is about all you need to have more than a basic choice. I guess a lot of devellopment was already done with the battlebox. Most of the furniture given was already created in a blue version but still…
And theres no “expandable” either! well THANKS Juggernaut! I just hope you will still be there next year
I remember reading a gifting function was planned, didnt find it yet. Maybe that will provide more cash in.
There is a gifting built in already Dr. Do. When you go to the coin guy and buy coins then go to buy anything to upgrade from him he will give you the option to keep it or give it to your friends, but your friends have to be in the space to do this. It is instantaneous, they get it immediately.
I really love what Juggernaut Games is doing, I haven´t spend a single dollar in Home so I try to get all free things I can, but I would love to make the perfect battlefield and as Juggernaut Games have been so generous is time to make my first purchase in Home.
I absolutely love this game and the fact they are allowing us to buy for our friends and help them to level the playing field if they don’t have the other game is too awesome to describe. I live that you can use the ornaments you get free or purchase in other spaces as well, and the weapons you buy also give you an avatar item to use if you are so inclined.
They have also included 2 free weapons for those of us who have bought the game.
I didn’t see a player vs enemies mode yet, it is only player vs player right now, but the observe mode is great as well.
Oh and I don’t think they will lose much here Norse, they will get quite a bit from that gifting ability and also from future upgrades they are offering and then there is the mysterious coming soon room, hmmmmm.
I’m am truly thrilled with them for giving us this awesome game space. I have already purchased some coins and used them. Juggernaut “gets us”. They provide quality items and spaces and make sure their customers are happy and loyal. To me, that makes seriously smart business sense.
Hands up thank you! I did not think I would enjoy this new space, for when I had played the single game before, it did not thrill me.
But I have to say that now that I have played multi-player with teams I love it.
All it takes is a little practice and effort and it is easy to catch on.
What a great way for positive association in Home and I think it will make money for Juggernaut in the long run.
What a blast!
Is this still available? How do i get it.