By Kieron Gillen on May 4th, 2010 at 11:17 am.
The APB Pricing model has been revealed and it’s not quite what we were expecting. Previously it was stated it would be subscription free. And it still kinda be. Basically, buying the game comes with 50 hours of actual shoot-and-driveage. After that, there’s other options, varying from seven dollars for an extra 20 hours, to a play-as-much-as-your-want (gasp!) monthly subscription fee for ten dollars. I’m going to quote the full current FAQ answer below, because there’s some stuff which is worth highlighting and talking about. Join me!
You can purchase a retail version of APB either in-store or via digital download at standard retail price (SRP $49.99/£34.99/€49.99). The game includes 50 hours of action game play out of the box plus unlimited time in APB’s social districts customising, socialising and trading on the marketplace.
Once your game time is up, you have flexibility to top up your action game time from as little as $6.99 (£5.59, €6.29) for an additional 20 hours, while more frequent players can switch to a 30-day unlimited package for only $9.99 (£7.99, €8.99) with discounts available for 90 and 180 days.
The retail package also contains a bonus 100 RTW points towards your next purchases.
An additional benefit to this evolutionary model is the ability for you to convert your own customisations and rewards to tradable products to give to friends or clan-mates or to place on the Marketplace to earn more RTW points (convertible to game time) or in-game cash. Check back later for more details
Okay – basic stuff would be that there’s other options, with paying for longer bits of subscription to save cash and – presumably – the ability to buy bigger than 20 hours hour chunks. And that the “time” only counts when you’re actually in an action area, rather than something in the social or customisation bits. Which is important for the second point…
The key thing is the RTW points idea near the end. As in, you can take things you’ve made, and then swap it for game time. Point being, it’s putting a little bit of a Second Life economy into the world. As in, people will be able to sell their own customised bits and pieces online, to gain more points… which they can spend on game time. So abstractly it’ll be free to play if you can make enough fancy stuff – and the fact there is a reward to create fancy stuff will encourage people to do it, so improve the quality of the content, so improve the quality of the game, which will… oh, you get the point. Neat thinking, basically.
That said, I suspect the 50 hours limit is going to raise a whole load of eyebrows. Talking personally, it wouldn’t stop me from buying the game, but for a game which claimed to be more inspired by Counter-Strike than World of Warcraft, the idea of monetizing the amount of time played will raise some community eyebrows.
04/05/2010 at 11:20 poop says:
yeah I am never going to spend real cash for RTW funbux so I can buy some assholes virtual shirt, especially when the customisation tools are going to make knockoffs really easy to make
04/05/2010 at 13:16 Clovis says:
But, as we all know, gaming companies are really concerend about the theft of IP. We can assume that they will actually be policing the creation of knock-offs. We’ve seen the lengths they’ve gone to to protect their own creations. I’m sure they will provide that kind of support to their users. Right?
04/05/2010 at 13:28 poop says:
they really wont be abled to stop me from nicking some dudes design when you consider how many are going to be and how hard it will be for the to proove, especially if I then dont try to sell my knockoff
still, I think the biggest issue is going to be with how *NDA ALARM* cash is so easy to come by in the game that there will never be any reason to sell your shit for anything other that RTWcash, so the market will probably not see much use
04/05/2010 at 13:47 Maltose says:
I doubt it’s going to be that easy to “nick” someone else’s design. I mean, just because you can grow your own vegetable in your backyard for cheap doesn’t mean you’re going to stop going to the super market right? Just paying someone a dollar or so for an e-t-shirt is easier than making it yourself.
04/05/2010 at 11:22 ChaK_ says:
As much as I undertand infrastructure cost and all, I don’t think I’m willing to pay montly for this game.
Except if it gets 9+ everywhere, which I doubt
04/05/2010 at 11:29 aldo says:
Not having played or owt…. my first thought was ‘oh well, never mind’. But 50 hours is actually not too bad a chunk of gametime, assuming the game itself is worthwhile for the majority of those hours.
Still a bit of a curious decision, though – I was expecting something like a Guild Wars model.
04/05/2010 at 11:30 Kieron Gillen says:
A note for the comment thread: There’s an NDA on the game. If you’ve played the Beta, be really careful.
KG
04/05/2010 at 11:42 Gremmi says:
Guess I shouldn’t mention the level with the kangaroos then, that really surprised me. Also the bit where you travel back in time to WW2, wow, what a mission that was.
04/05/2010 at 12:42 Rinox says:
Don’t forget about the zombie levels and the QTE dancing sequences. PURE GOLD
04/05/2010 at 12:44 Cunzy1 1 says:
I thought the “origin cave” with the cows and the cake was just a little bit too much fanservice.
04/05/2010 at 13:23 Man Raised By Puffins says:
I find it quite astonishing that they took the bold move of using QWOP controls for the on-foot action and only providing cricket bats as weapons, it really is quite something to see rival gangs of crims and rozzers stumbling down the street to batter each other senseless with malformed swings.
04/05/2010 at 13:55 Sarlix says:
I thought the level which had Jet-packing dinosaurs with lasers for eyes was the best, that might just be me though.
04/05/2010 at 14:13 Mac says:
What’s the worse that can happen – they take away my beta access which is limited to about 2 hours a week – wow fooking wow !
04/05/2010 at 14:35 oceanclub says:
I thought the “Hot Coffee” segment with John McCain was a bit much but they’ve assured me in the alpha, it will be changed to Sarah Palin.
(On the 50 hours kerfuffle; I reckon this is probably an attempt to balance the hardcore-vs-casual fanbase while still allowing them to pay for their servers. Just as long as you don’t leave your character idling, mind. Still, I spent what seemed like an eternity playing Oblivion, yet I think it was only(!) 110 hours, so in that context, 50 hours is a fair chunk.)
P.
04/05/2010 at 11:35 Brumisator says:
Then again, I doubt I’d play more than 50hours of it.
Sure, I’d love it to be… more free, but this is hardly outrage-worthy.
04/05/2010 at 11:35 monkeybreadman says:
Still think this isnt going to be all that good. But an interesting business model, i’m sure other publishers will be watching
04/05/2010 at 11:38 Sagan says:
Doing some quick calculations based on the numbers of hours I played Team Fortress 2 divided by the amount of months I played Team Fortress 2, this will be cheaper for me than a regular subscription. Especially since I plan to spend a lot of time in the customization screens.
So yeah, I’m happy with this pricing model.
04/05/2010 at 11:44 Chris D says:
I think I like this in principle better than the standard MMO subscription model. If I’m paying monthly there always feels like there’s a pressure to be playing that game or you’re not getting you’re moneys worth. If you can dip in and out when you like and the hours are still there then that pressure goes away.
Also I’d usually consider getting 50 hours out of a game a pretty good run. 20 hours for 5.99 isn’t bad either compared to about an hour and a half at the cinema for about the same price.
I’d still prefer to just pay once for unlimited play of course, and I suspect I’ll wait for a price drop before I actually dive in, but in principle I think it’s ok.
04/05/2010 at 18:39 bob_d says:
Yeah, the monthly fee is a two way street in that it not only makes people feel obliged to play more to “get their money’s worth,” but from a design perspective being subscription-based means the game has to be as padded out as possible so that subscribers *have* to play for months to achieve any progress in the game. The standard trick for RMT-based games is similar, to make it as grind-y as possible and then sell some item that temporarily increases character progression speed (with the end result being that it’s even more padded than a monthly-fee game). A game where people pay per hour creates pressure to design a game where every hour provides concentrated, engaging and rewarding play. As a designer, I’d personally rather make games that provide rich, engaging experiences rather than padded, drawn-out slogs.
04/05/2010 at 11:46 John Peat says:
What I’m seeing is a publisher who believes people will mostly play less than 1 hour-per-day (as it’s cheaper to subscribe if you don’t intend to do that).
What I’m seeing is a publisher who has done the sum total of zero research into the topic…
Most people who play non-subs online games like COD, BFBC etc. will exceed 1 hour a day – at least for the first couple of months.
People who play persistant online games tend to “turn up the wick” a bit more again…
Summary: they announce a “subscription free” game which it transpires really does have (and for most people will need) a subscription – if they can’t get that bit right – erm…
04/05/2010 at 12:46 meeper says:
I know there’s a lot of hardcore gamers out there, but that isn’t the market segment they’re looking to target with this subscription model. Case-in-point: My wife and I thoroughly enjoy WoW but can often only swing a few play sessions a month, consisting of no more than an hour or two each. For us, an hourly rate comparable to APB’s pricing plan would be a *much* better option than a monthly recurring bill. And there’s a whole lot of 30-somethings out here in the same boat as us.
04/05/2010 at 16:04 Lack_26 says:
Well, from what I’ve heard, the developers have been really surprised by how long people play for, they expected about an hour or so but found the majority of people play right through the allotted testing time.
Seems to me that they’re underestimating how long people will actually burn up in play time, but will feel unwilling to pay more for it.
04/05/2010 at 11:47 Baboonanza says:
I don’t see anything wrong with this personally. The comparison to Counterstirke isn’t fair because of a) infrastructure costs and b) running an MMO world is much more expensive in development time/maintenance than running 100 dedicated servers.
And I think the pricing model is actually really refreshing. Maybe they are trying to address the problem that to get the best value for money from a monthly subscription you have to have lots of free gaming time. Paying based on actual hours used mean you could pay only $7 for your months play if you don’t have that much time.
And 50 hours of game time is a LOT for people (like me) with jobs, lives and families. This is surely better for consumers than just a single monthly tariff.
04/05/2010 at 11:49 Kelron says:
From the number of comments on other sites expressing incredulity at being expected to pay to play beyond the initial purchase fee, I wonder if RTW have made a big error with their marketing. Being a GTA-online style action game, it must appeal to a lot of people who’ve never had anything to do with MMOs before.
I don’t mind the sub myself if the game’s fun, if they decide to charge for expansions or churn out lots of “DLC” then I may change my mind.
04/05/2010 at 11:56 teo says:
I haven’t played the beta but I read impressions from people who broke the NDA and they said it was poo
04/05/2010 at 12:27 Kelron says:
@teo
The people who don’t like it are going to be less concerned with the NDA. If I were in the beta, I wouldn’t want to describe how much I’ve been enjoying the game and how you should try it if you get the chance, only to find that my account had been banned for an NDA breach.
04/05/2010 at 11:57 Jimbo says:
Putting the u-turn to one side, I don’t think this is too bad in principle. 50 hours is plenty enough time to decide whether the game is worth your time or not. And if it’s worth your time, then $10 a month is a non-issue.
For me, 50 hours is probably better than a 30 day trial – but they should probably make it 50 hours or 30 days (whichever comes last), just to make it >= industry MMO standard.
04/05/2010 at 12:49 meeper says:
Seconded. Excellent idea.
04/05/2010 at 13:42 tekDragon says:
The pricing model isnt terrible except for a couple things. What’s terrible is the semantic gymastics they’re playing with the “subscription free” terminology.
This game is *NOT* subscription free. In fact at 50hrs of play foir the box, dedicated fans will have to subscribe much sooner than the typical free month offered by many other MMOs.
04/05/2010 at 12:00 Tyshalle says:
Yeah, I can get behind this. I played the shit out of that 10-day free trial of Fallen Earth, and loved it so much that I immediately subscribed. Within a couple of days after subscribing I was like, level 16 or something and really just starting to feel a bit bored with the game, at which point I stopped playing completely, but with every intention of going back to it. They wound up getting the full box fee plus I paid for one extra month for what probably amounted to less than 6 hours of game time post-free trial. Not exactly worth my time, and as has been said above, with the subscription fee model, you feel pressure to play just to get your money’s worth.
50 hours of gameplay is a LOT of hours for most people above the age of 18. I love Team Fortress 2, bought the Orange Box the day it came out, feel like I’ve invested a ton of time into it, but according to Steam I’ve only played for 59 hours. Same thing with Left 4 Dead, and I’ve only played 45 hours. I played Just Cause 2 obsessively until it eventually started feeling repetitive enough that I got bored, and I only invested 29 hours into it. The longest time I’ve apparently invested into any game (on Steam, anyway) is 89 hours, belonging to Dragon Age, which is a game I am completely in love with, AND I’m pretty sure it’s counting the expansion into those hours.
My point being, even at the upper levels of that, assuming this game does kick as much ass as it has the potential to, it’ll cost me about $64 to play and I’ll get to spread those $64 across several years if I feel like it.
So yeah, I’m a fan.
04/05/2010 at 12:02 Andytizer says:
I like the look of the payment model. As a dedicated WoW-player, what stops me dipping my toes into other subscription games is the potential situation of paying more than one sub per month for various games, which would end up costing too much. I would, however, be more prepared to play more LOTRO or WaR if they had a fixed hourly charge for it. And of course, my willingness to pay for APB depends on the implementation of their online features and the value of the gametime.
04/05/2010 at 12:07 Flimgoblin says:
One point to note – it’s only 50 hours/20 hours in the action zones.
So if you’re standing around in the social hub chatting your clock isn’t ticking down. Given how many hours I’ve spent bouncing around Gothwaite Harbour (DAoC) or the Inevitable City (WAR) chatting/running my guild – this would probably save me some cash ;)
Question is – as an MMO is it worth the 8 quid sub? if so then the alternate payment types are gravy.
04/05/2010 at 12:08 Kits says:
I don’t mind the subscription plan in general, just the initial 50 hours is a bit mindboggling. We had a 14 hour beta playtest yesterday, and myself and most of the server, from people I ran into repeatedly throughout the day, played all of that in one go, only stopping because the server went down again.
A vast amount of people that buy the game are gonna tear through that in a week or two.
Not the end of the world though; Paying for a month after only two weeks instead of four isn’t exactly going to break the bank.
04/05/2010 at 12:14 James says:
Has that been a problem before?
04/05/2010 at 12:20 fearghaill says:
One very smart thing this does is allow people to create stuff for free. That way there will always be user created content available, as there will be people who want to play in the social/customization areas and rarely venture into the combat zones.
04/05/2010 at 12:27 Malcolm says:
According to Steam I’ve played about 130hours of TF2 (my closest similar game) over the last 3 years, so 50 hours of included game time would probably last 6 months to a year for people with day jobs. That and I contribute a few quid a month anyway for the continued running of my favoured server, so this all sounds fairly reasonably priced to me.
Not that imagine that will pacify the “What do you mean it isn’t free?” crowd.
04/05/2010 at 12:30 mrmud says:
Having played the beta I would really like to pipe in here but ill just say that im very dissapointed.
04/05/2010 at 12:34 Lobotomist says:
Personally i am put off by this.
There are few reasons:
1. APB is not MMO in true sense of the word ( That could be said for some new MMOs as well )
it is glorified server browser. Think Battlenet with graphic interface. Its going to be hard justifying subscription that way. Global Agenda (same principle) launched just month ago , does not have subscription (mostly) And we all know what happened to Hellgate London when they asked for subscription.
2. F2P is slowly taking over P2P. Even GW2 that will probably be 10 times better than any other MMO will be one time purchase. Its going to be though deciding to subscribe to any MMO now (especially one that isnt really MMO)
3. Rumors claim that APB is good avatar customization game, but not that good of a shooter or driver game.
04/05/2010 at 13:01 mrmud says:
10 times better you say…
And the rumors are certainly true
04/05/2010 at 13:45 HermitUK says:
Certainly agree with point one – this isn’t some massive open city you’re subscribing to, it’s two maps of about Battlefield size. Plus despite there being 100 people per server shard, you’re rarely playing directly against more than 6-8.
That said, the payment model is an interesting one. Won’t be buying in myself, but it’ll be interesting to see how it fares – and what they end up doing six months down the line if player numbers drop off after their free 50 hours are up.
04/05/2010 at 14:14 Lobotomist says:
Payment system is definitely good.
I wish other MMOs would adopt – pay for hours , business plan.
But , APB is not a game i see myself paying any kind of subscription.
04/05/2010 at 12:35 nine says:
Will be interesting to think what “the market” thinks of pay-per-hour gaming rather than pay-per-month. I imagine it adds a bit of a psychological weight to your game time… “I’m not having much fun now, and this hour cost me $1.25!”
04/05/2010 at 12:52 Sarlix says:
At least when you’re not playing the time isn’t running out like with monthly subs. If you forget or can’t log on for a couple of weeks it’s money down the pan, at least with this model you’re only ‘charged’ for the time you play.
04/05/2010 at 18:09 bob_d says:
“I’m not having much fun now, and this hour cost me $1.25!”
On the other hand, having a monthly-subscription for MMOs creates the opposite problem, which is, “I had to play for more than 20 hours to even begin to accomplish anything.” On a per-hour basis, even a not-too fun experience will still beat most MMOs…
04/05/2010 at 12:42 Thisisafalsename says:
Reading Kieron’s reminder, I will do my
Utmost to not reveal anything that would
Break the NDA and result in a
Ban to my account,
In case I
Should decide to
Have another go at it.
Uh-huh.
04/05/2010 at 13:25 Quine says:
My spider-sense is telling me this will be a 7/10 affair at best.
Shame.
04/05/2010 at 14:48 JB says:
Very nice, almost poetic. And also informative =)
04/05/2010 at 12:46 Jerricho says:
@John Peat
I am a person who will mostly play less than 1 hour-per-day, certainly of “action time” as there simply aren’t enough hours in the day for me otherwise and I’m sure I’m not the only such person reading these comments so I’m going to have to add my support here. I think the payment model is sound.
Having played subscription based services in the past such as Age of Conan I’m delighted to have the option to let a few days pass without feeling I’m wasting money. As has been said already, for people with jobs and families and travel, the hours available to dedicate to an MMO are fleeting. 50 contact hours of gameplay for £34.99 amounts to a better value purchase than most tiple-A titles and more time than I ever spent with Crysis or Neverwinter Nights 2. Add to that the time, essentially free, available to create content and socialise when we have time at our computers but aren’t quite sufficiently free to focus on immersive gameplay and we’re surely onto a winning model.
For the more dedicated players, the standard subscription model remains which seems reasonable in comparisson to other MMOs.
If Age of Conan had a similar payment model I might still be playing now, but I know I don’t have the time available to merit buying more game time which will ultimately be wasted.
That all said, if the gameplay is pish then I won’t be subscribing so it will be a non-issue, but at least I have 50 hours to make my mind up beyond that initial weekend when have some free time and the inevitable following fortnight when I just don’t have time to give to it.
Mind you, a friend of mine has gotten some of his music onto the soundtrack so I’m duty-bound to get it regardless.
04/05/2010 at 12:51 Finn says:
Having played the beta… no thanks.
I’m not even going to bother buying it as a matter of fact.
04/05/2010 at 12:54 Mike says:
Man. I only played TF2 for sixty hours, and that was over two years. I think fifty hours is a lot more than most people think.
04/05/2010 at 12:58 Ghiest says:
Unless the game offers more than the normal shooter/driving game (not the stupid character design that no one really cares about) then I don’t see why paying to play it after the time runs out is warrented, from what I have seen of the game I still can’t understand why people would pay to play it.
04/05/2010 at 12:58 Starky says:
I like this plan… one of the main reasons I stopped playing WoW, Eve and Warhammer (after only 2 months with the latter) is that I maybe only put in 5-10 hours a month – and paying a subscription for that little game time is a waste of money.
I’d still be playing all 3 of the games now if they had a pricing model like that – I’m willing to pay up to 50p an hour for game access (hanging in inns/capital cities/stations/docks like this game does should not tick away time, anywhere in wow where you’d get resting icon for example).
It’s nice to have the option to dip in for a few hours every few weeks, and know that you’ve not got to have a direct debit set up for that.
04/05/2010 at 12:59 bookwormat says:
I find the “pay as you play” model very interesting, but I think the initial price/duration is too high. 20 EUR for both the first and the second 20h subscription would be more like it. And I would make the first 5 hours free so I get some initial customer attention.
Another problem I see with this is that with the clock ticking, players will try to spent their time as “efficient” as possible. I fear many users will rush through everything and not have fun, so maybe another timeframe would be smarter. Maybe just use days instead of hours. Or make it so you can only loose n hours of your time-budget per day and then play free until the next day.
04/05/2010 at 13:03 Po0py says:
So, um. It’s a game that is subscription free but yet, it has a subscription. I’m so glad we cleared that up.
04/05/2010 at 13:04 Longrat says:
If the beta’s anything to judge (I KNOW it’s a beta, but still) this game isn’t worth a SINGLE payment, let alone recurring payments.
04/05/2010 at 13:09 brkl says:
Sounds pretty okay. Few games deserve more than 50 hours of my time anyway, and I’d much prefer paying for actual gameplay hours than for a month of access.
04/05/2010 at 13:20 Kits says:
For those of you basing your ‘it’s rubbish/awful/boring as hell’ comments on the earlier beta, last weeks patch, that took it from 0.6something to 0.9 really improved the game in a lot of ways. It does still have flaws, but its very different to what it was early on, and bears a lot more resemblance to a ready game than it did just a fortnight ago. *coughcough*borderline-nda-breaking*coughcough*
04/05/2010 at 14:15 Robin says:
Unless the final build is drastically optimised, I think they’re going to have more of a problem with the game being unplayable for anyone without an ultra-high-end PC and fibre optic broadband, than any quibbles with the pricing model.
04/05/2010 at 20:36 Easydog says:
I’m glad Kits said it and not me. It has been made aparent that the game is still very much in production and it is improving vastly. What I will say is wait and see… oh and most current PC’s would probably be comfortable with it after the improvements. **Cough **DamnNDA** Cough**
04/05/2010 at 13:23 Schmung says:
Very reasonable pricing model. Not fussed on buying it after playing the beta, but can’t argue with the pricing, which is entirely reasonable. 50 hours is bloody ages of free play time TBH
04/05/2010 at 13:33 Tei says:
1) 10€ is a fair priced to pay to play it.
2) If you somehow can pay less using the hourly model, better for you. I don’t want a stinky hourly model.
3) There are very few games where you personally hunt down other players. I don’t know… maybe “Silent Hunter – Submarine simulator the MMO”?
4) I don’t care about tatoos and awesome cars, and that stuff. I would kill you on my fatty and bluebie t-shirt. I can’t care less for customization (at this point, maybe later I will freak out).
5) Again: The last thing you will see, is my bluebie t-shirt.
6) Bluebie.
04/05/2010 at 15:42 Wisq says:
There are plenty of games where you hunt down other people — just about every multiplayer FPS, really. :)
I think you’re correct to say that it’s relatively unique in the MMO realm. I don’t think there are many MMOs where it’s your game-specified job to hunt down other players. But there are several titles in which you might want to hunt down specific players (with no particular quest or reward from the game itself), e.g. any PvP-enabled MMO where you want to get revenge on a specific player.
04/05/2010 at 13:34 GrappleNuts says:
Wot I want to say is that 50 hours is a lot….. unless the game is super awesome. If the game is just rockin good, 50 hours is nothing. I personally would only play maybe 4 hours a day if the game was amazing, probably only 1 or 2 if it’s just good, but I know people who will play a game they like for upwards of 10+ hours a day. I had a roommate once who played one of those Koei hack and slash games for 360 for 14 hours straight once. yes, you read that number right. And he continued to play that game A LOT after that.
50 hours, could be a lot, could be used up in two weeks. If they go open beta and we can all see how the game plays, then we’ll know!
04/05/2010 at 13:43 Radiant says:
For people who aren’t aware of the power of “Press button to raise personal number”; that shit is pretty devastating.
04/05/2010 at 13:45 Tei says:
Hum.. I have played Mass Effect 1 and Prototype in a go, only pausing to sleep. I also have played with friends a whole weeked of “Civ 4 – marathon mode”.. this is like the “long mode”, only much, much longer. Is actually good because you really learn the units before you create a upgrade, so you use all units.
04/05/2010 at 14:12 AndrewC says:
Poor Not-British poeple who didn’t grow up begrudgingly watching ‘Why Don’t You…?’ – this highly inadvisable behaviour is the result.
04/05/2010 at 13:38 Purple0limar says:
I think the important thing to see here is that it’s not microtransactions. And as long as that criterion is fulfilled, I’m perfectly happy with it.
04/05/2010 at 13:39 clippa says:
The beta was terrible, played like a really really really poor man’s GTA. “Subscription free” was about the only thing it had going for it, and now that’s gone. This will be a huge flop.
04/05/2010 at 13:39 Radiant says:
Interest in playing this game just went to zero.
Especially if the rumours on how bad the gameplay is are true.
04/05/2010 at 13:42 Ryan says:
I think its perfect… If I play an average of 3 hours a day per week. That’s 2 and a half weeks of free play time. By that time I’ll know if im good at creating stuff and get time that way, or pay 9.99 for a sub. Thats less than any other MMO save EVE on sub fee that I know of for this type of game which I’ve been looking for.
I find this pretty neat.
04/05/2010 at 13:55 Jockie says:
Quite a controversial price plan, for me the 50hour package seems to be exploiting the hardcore players, the guys who will go through the 50 hours in the first week or two and will be addicted enough to instantly pay for another month. It’s basically RTW trying to maximise profits during the first month of release, but after that it will normalise and £7.99 a month is perfectly reasonable.
I’ll justify the purchase for myself by ordering from play.com for 26.99 then paying for a monthly sub for 7.99 when needed, bringing the price up to £34.99, which is the RRP anyway.
I’d have plenty more to say were it not for the NDA but I’m still greatly looking forward to release, despite the negative comments you may hear coming out of the beta.
04/05/2010 at 13:59 Jad says:
According to Steam, my most played game last year was Left 4 Dead at 65 hours. After that it drops off to 50 hours for Fallout 3 and 40 hours for Far Cry 2. 35 for Saints Row 2. There are many fantastic games that I’ve played far far less.
Anyway, if I make it to 50 hours on this game, I will consider it money well spent.
04/05/2010 at 14:00 Out Reach says:
So I presume after those first 100 RTW points each, you have to buy more? Won’t work. People aren’t going to use micro payments to buy the tattoo they always wanted when they can just create it themselves in the customizer (which they are selling as easy and intuitive tool) . Which in turn means the person who made that awesome tattoo won’t get enough RTW to play for free.
Subscriptions are going to be the only option after a bit, and TBH they said the game would be subscription free. So no. Screw APB. I’ll wait for Guild Wars 2.
04/05/2010 at 14:23 mrmud says:
Thats the thing, isnt it. If the gameplay was great then a monthly fee is no problem. But with gameplay being as terrible as it is, then its a definite no go.
04/05/2010 at 14:33 Finn says:
@Kits: still rubbish, even with the latest patch; I’m not saying some people won’t find it enjoyable, I’m said, personally, I won’t even bother buying the game much less any other payments; I’ve got my hopes up for GW2 and aside the character creation in APB there’s nothing fun about it, not for me.
04/05/2010 at 14:36 Namos says:
I think this is a pretty good payment plan, actually. It really simplifies the bang for the buck equation.
It’s sort of like a cellphone payment plan – pay as you use, or go for an unlimited plan.
Would be even more interesting if this model work and exerted pressure on F2P models to sell duration-limited items based on how long you actually played and got to use them.
04/05/2010 at 14:44 Alexander Norris says:
I get to pay 33-50% more than the US and the UK do and then need to top up on top. That’s a lost sale from me.
04/05/2010 at 15:09 BigJonno says:
I have the same problem with paying for APB that I had with playing for Planetside (which I loved); there’s a significant difference between a game being good and entertaining and a game being sufficiently better/different from other titles to be worth paying a subscription for.
At the moment, it sounds like they’re asking us to pay almost as much as a standard MMO to play a third-person shooter.
04/05/2010 at 16:13 HermitUK says:
With Planetside though there was at least the sense that your actions were contributing to a larger war – Holding one base to allow another force to secure another one along the chain, for instance. And while the metagame wasn’t exactly well implemented, there was at least a sense that winning battles mattered on a larger scale. APB doesn’t have that.
04/05/2010 at 15:32 Jayt says:
If this then turns into, amazing game support and updates etc, then it could be worth it. Otherwise, meh.
04/05/2010 at 15:50 Heliosicle says:
This instantly turned me off APB, was going to get it as long as it had a good pricing plan, seems not.
04/05/2010 at 16:01 Jimbot says:
The trouble with the funny money is that it’s going to cost you a ton of real life money in order to unlock every little customization thing because at a certain level, the only way to gain ranks in that certain role requires you to manufacture things – which requires the funny money. I’m being purposely vague, my Clan mates got the exact number down.
If people find this interesting and have no problem with it, I recommend that you look into the game maybe 4-6 months after launch – when the content catches up with the price they’re asking for it. It’s two months from launch and what’s in the beta now is what retail is going to get. Just a more shiny and polished version of it.
That monthly fee is for two areas roughly the size of GTA4′s starting island, otherwise you’re restricted to the social district creating things that you can’t share among friend without paying real money to do so and if you put them up on the auction house, it costs real money to do so and they take real money from you as a fee if, by extreme chance, that your item sells.
04/05/2010 at 16:06 Wisq says:
I’m not really sure what to make of the pricing plan.
From a business standpoint, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Part of the idea behind a monthly subscription is to keep people coming back — you want to create a sense that every hour spent not playing the game is an hour wasted. It encourages dedicated players who will stick around and keep your game world alive and vibrant.
It also covers costs rather well, since the number of subscriptions is proportional to the maximum peak load you can expect (if you release some expansion or run some big event) and hence proportional to your server leasing / maintenance costs.
An hourly rate, on the other hand, is almost a running liability — you’ve got a bunch of people who could log in at any time, even months down the road, without paying anything until their time runs out. It would certainly encourage the more casual players due to their low hours usage, but actively discourage the “hardcore” players who burn through their time in a week.
Making your starter plan hourly-based rather than deadline-based is neither here nor there. On the one hand, the “x free days” thing encourages people to spend as much time as they can in the game during their “trial” period, with a greater chance of hooking them. On the other hand, “x free hours” helps casual users decide if they like the game on a more long-term basis without the pressure of an immediate decision. It also means that even if someone decides “no, I’m not interested”, chances are they still have a few hours left and can check back in after a few months to see if they want to change their mind.
Going with an hourly rate in addition to a monthly rate is a rather pro-consumer offering of choice, which is good, but confusing because these are businesses and you expect them to do what’s good for them. Arguably, appealing to a wider audience via multiple pricing plans is “what’s good for them”, but if so, you’d have expected other MMOs to have done this sooner.
Maybe it’s pessimistic and cynical of me to be suspicious of an MMO company that seems to be doing what’s best for their customers rather than what’s best for them. I guess we should probably be celebrating this? I dunno.
04/05/2010 at 16:16 Jimbot says:
Believe you me, if they wanted what’s best for their customers, they’d remove either the monthly fee or micro-transactions. The response to this pricing plan has been overwhelmingly negative by both beta testers and average gamers who post on enthusiast press sites (like 1up). The game went from hero to zero with the price announcement.
That’s why I said to wait some months after the release. This may end up becoming Hellgate: London again or RTW will smart up and overhaul the payment plans to attract more people (if people will give them a second chance, a very rare thing in this market).
04/05/2010 at 18:36 Lobotomist says:
Its quite good analysis of why monthly subscription is a good way to hook user into addiction and compelled behavior.
But I for one had it with that system. Its exactly why i stopped playing MMOs.
Because I started feeling compelled to play (i payed for that time , so i have to use it)
…
Paying for hours played is the only fair way towards user.
But I had once idea how to hide it better. Basically you would pay to level up.
You would still be able to play but to train up the level when you have enough exp. You have to pay.
Now if you break down how much time you need to get to each level you get hidden “pay for hour played” system.
…
But this is beside the point.
Point here is that people dont want to pay for something that other products offer free (and not worse)
And APB is going to be Flagshipped
04/05/2010 at 16:14 Heliocentric says:
I was going to buy 2 copies, now wont buy any. Great move there.
04/05/2010 at 16:29 toni says:
everything about this game reminds me of hellgate. *gasp* NDA *gasp*
04/05/2010 at 17:07 manveruppd says:
I’m kinda disappointed, as this seems to be more a kinda dip-in, dip-out shooty action than a fully fledged MMO that i would pay a subscription for…
The built-in economy does sound very interesting though!
04/05/2010 at 18:03 PixelCody says:
This caught me off guard when I first read about it given what they previously said about their pricing plan.
When considered on it’s own though, I think this is a fine way to go. I wondered how APB would survive without continued income and I’m really glad they’ve gone for a pay-as-you-play approach. I doubt I’ll play more than one weekend a month, so that suits me fine.
50 hours in the box is a fine amount too.
The RTW points dealy is meaningless to me as I won’t be purchasing any myself, but I hope the creative types manage to fund their gaming time this way. The customisation options look ridiculously good.
Here’s the big question… Is the shootybang any good!?
04/05/2010 at 18:29 John Peat says:
Another thing about this ‘non subscription model’ they’ve failed to come-up with is that a subscription means a game which will evolve and get free additional content and I’m wondering if they’re trying to duck that aspect of it a bit.
The fact they effectively do have a subscription (with a cheapskate/casual’s PAYG option) means I’d expect support and content updates to be pretty constant but they may be trying ‘a fast one’ here in saying that it’s not a traditional subscription-based game???
Surely they could have put more thought into this – charging people 10p everytime they speak ‘street’ or ‘gangsta’ or are just abusive would be a better funding model for this sort of game? :)
04/05/2010 at 19:19 ChampionHyena says:
Son of a bitch.
I can no longer afford APB.
04/05/2010 at 20:53 clive dunn says:
Back in the day, i pumped a lot of twenty pence pieces into the APB arcade machine.
I didn’t realise at the time i was taking part in a payment plan.
04/05/2010 at 21:05 DarkNoghri says:
Hrrm.
As someone with oh, 600+ hours in TF2 and 300+ hours in L4D/2 combined, this would get expensive if I played it at all. And I refuse to play anything requiring a subscription.
So, darn. I was kind of planning to get this, depending on reviews.
04/05/2010 at 21:20 Zogtee says:
I’m not sure what to think about this. I was expecting this to work like Guild Wars and frankly, this new pricing model puts me off a bit, which is a pity, because I was rather looking forward to it. 50 hours doesn’t sound like a lot for something I just paid full price for. Doesn’t MMOG’s traditionally come with a free month of play out of the box? Considering my backlog and the upcoming Guild Wars 2, I think I’ll give this a miss.
04/05/2010 at 22:45 Flappybat says:
I have played 40 hours and I’ll say that its pretty safe to bet that 50 hours that it comes with is enough to get you 3/4 of the unlocks in the game, although the really top end stuff (the same as the things you already own, just with more slots for upgrades) is still another 30 hours of grinding out of reach.
The MMO style pricing is a real stumble, the game would work so much better with a Guild Wars model. I think it’s going to repeat what happened to Global Agenda, which is the best comparison. The combat isn’t as compulsive as Counter Strike and you don’t get to do much more than that.
04/05/2010 at 23:02 Vinraith says:
I’m inherently suspicious of the game design decisions that always seem to accompany subscription models. When financial success = keep the players playing as long as possible my notion of “fun” is usually sacrificed in the bargain. As others have said, I think they just lost a sale here.
05/05/2010 at 12:04 Malibu Stacey says:
And yet you’re also vehemently against games like Team Fortress 2 where you could’ve spent £2.50/$2.50 last year & played it as much as you like without being charged a single penny more.
05/05/2010 at 05:47 Zogtee says:
I’m trying to imagine what it would be like if Civ or Supreme Commander or any other game I like came with a note saying “You can only play this for 50 hours. After that, you have to pay us to continue playing. By the hour.” If the client was a reasonably priced download, then sure, I’d be fine with it, but for something I’m paying full price for? Rubbish.
Can the reason they avoided the standard free month be that players would run out of content and things to do long before then, lose interest, and move on?
06/05/2010 at 14:29 KindredPhantom says:
I am in the beta and have been since October. When i first read the details my initial impressions were not good, like others i thought that APB would be using the Guild Wars payment model, pay once and then pay for optional extras like more character slots, weapons etc. But after thinking about it and reading some comments from the beta forums and RPS it doesn’t seem too bad, £34.99 for 50 hours is not a bad deal, i paid about that for Battlefield Bad Company 2 and i haven’t even spent 10 hours on that game. The fact that your RTW points only decrease whilst you are the action districts and not when you are in the social district or not playing is good.
My first beta character clocked in just over a hundred hours in-game, i would say 25% of those hours were spent in the social district. My current character i think has spent a little below 50 hours in-game.
15/05/2010 at 18:06 speedfreekz says:
you have to remember that you are paying for the first 50 hours by buying the game for 50$ and the game is crap and yes it will be all DLC for a fee after the game comes out that is what they are talking about.. every map all the cars all DLC that you will pay for in overcharged micro transactions
23/05/2010 at 03:27 WS-Player says:
$50 for the game. 50 Hours of shooting. $50/50H = $1 per hour. That’s a rip off.
01/07/2010 at 06:50 Roamn says:
Awesome game SO FAR… so far I’ve spent about 30 hours in the social district creating things (wow, who’d have thought I had a fashion-design skill set?!) and only about 4 hours in the action districts. I have already had 2 people ask me if I’m selling my first designs (I made 3 logos, color schemes and am aiming at creating a brand) and wow I had heaps of fun!
I just wanted to say that you guys (those that haven’t played APB yet) don’t realise how much time 50hours really is for the action district.
I’m the kind of gamer who has had more 24 hours grind sessions than I care to remember, my average login time for my favorite MMO over the last 2 years, is around 7 hours a day, EVERY DAY!
I imagine that if I were to play APB everyday, that 50 hours would last me around 3 weeks.
Not only that, but are you guys forgetting what you pay for other MMO’s?
As far as I’m aware – please correct me if I’m wrong, but – this is one of the cheapest monthly “unlimited” subscriptions there is.
$10/month? That’s absolutely NOTHING. That’s like 33cents a day!
C’mon son! Don’t be so quick to hate, there is no other game currently out that offers what APB offers… this game is great fun!
Anyways, it’s so much more challenging carrying out missions against other players, as opposed to NPC’s… get with the times hehe ;D
08/07/2010 at 12:03 freeevdo says:
I wasted money on this game.
It was fun for a few days. But now it’s just full of kids running hacks.
And crap load of spam now.
I can’t see the game company supporting their servers and preventing hacks.
And if EA has any say in this game. The servers will be shut down in 1 year.
Just like Motor City online & Earth & Beyond.
24/07/2010 at 16:09 bob says:
so dose the 50 hours mean actual gameplay time or if you dont play the game dose it still take up your hours