Norse, I agree with what you said about the community fostering events in the KrazyFace post. You know they have a potential for some of us leaving without a sense of community. (I would say that community is the number one reason for me being on home- and I am in that sweet spot demographic of professional women -with spending income -that they truly want to reach just now).

But also -take note -they are not in the business for good will… how would their employees eat?

I have no buying remorse what so ever… let me just say this. I spent like what? then bucks on the gift machine for a male friend’s birthday. Man if this were real life I think it would take twice that to get a store bought present that I was proud enough to give him. (a decent card would cost me $5) Yet I practically bought out the machine and made a very down person -who thought everyone forgot his birthday -very extremely happy.

Same with games… how many hours of entertainment do you get from a game?- I pay 20 plus to see a movie with a friend for two hours in which I am merely a spectator. In games I get to participate in a story (concept borrowed from Bon’s previous article).

I mean all things relative this could be the guy sitting in the lazy-e-boy in an airplane partaking in the miracle of flight and complaining that he doesn’t have peanuts.

But on the other hand…

Fostering a sense of consumer loyalty is extremely important to this particular cross section of people- those of us with hard earned money to spend would rather spend it where it might do some good.

Lockwood’s endangered species is a prime example of this. Whenever I have my companions out and someone comments on them I be sure to tell them that money is going to charity when they purchase.

And I just wanna buy more from them because I really dig that they are doing this. (thanks for the article on that btw Bon).

Most gamers with money are not stupid. I think most of them can see blatant marketing tactics. When you catch a company at it it fosters a sense of distrust instead of loyalty.

I would warn psh marketers to be wary of that fine line. I think here on psh they are marketing to an intelligent group of people that feel the need to join another kind of reality often because they have felt victimized in the greater world. To fleece them here would be a sorry mistake.

Sony (and the other devs) wouldn’t have to try hard to make Home users feel appreciated really, but (I feel) it’s rather lacking in that department.

The hard part for us all to remember is that ultimately we are simply numbers on a spreadsheet, regardless of what business or industry we’re discussing. The companies that build the best loyalty are the ones who are the most successful at making you feel like something more than that. Indeed, it is a valid criticism to point out that while SCEA Home has gotten very adept at offering a blizzard of content for sale, their lack of community-fostering events in world (which, granted, come at a cost) has made it feel like a giant carnival with no soul. While this will save money in the short term, it creates a vulnerability in consumer loyalty which a competing product will be able to easily exploit.

Would this have created a lopsided playing field? Sure. But even the strongest boat, fully crewed, still has a limit to how long it can last in constant firefights. And the experience boost for finally sinking one would help propel lower-ranked players further up.

(Granted, it’s a moot point now, given what’s coming for Cutthroats, but I do wonder how the game would have performed if it was structured with a different financial model behind it.)

I doubt that this tactic would have worked for Cutthroats because levels 6-31 are exactly the same as levels 1-5. SodiumOne’s levels became progressively more challenging with upgraded equipment.

The only incentive to play past level 5 in Cutthroats are the rewards, which are not really worth much.

Going by the stupidity of the charts regarding the X7 fiasco, where the ENTRY TICKET outsold anything else that would allow forevermore access I can only come to the conclusion that most Home spenders are in fact, thick as dog’s *business* on a cold day.

You clearly enjoy studying this kind of business strategy, and Home is a microcosm for it but much other “incentives” cropping up in the games industry it saddens me that just for a better Eiffel curve, we’re all getting treated as robotic stats rather than good, returning (and more importantly) valued customers.

500 yen for the first month
700 yen afterward

We may not know how well the strategy worked unless they repeat the tactic again in Japan or elsewhere.

Good article, as always. I agree about Blueprint. Sales numbers would probably had been much the same at $10 instead of $8.

Now one thing I would LOVE to hear you talk about is a way to “flatten” the hyperbolic curve in long term. There is new user on Home every day. How do I make sure the new gal/guy feel she/he must buy my product in 6 months?, a year?…
And how about S2. How you name that strategy, beside freemium.

So many questions, so little time…