All Posts by Xasapis

Actually the biggest downside is not the latency, it's the unfriendly siege scheduling timing.

To Ngeldu5t:

So according to this logic, LOTRO is a flop because it didn't allow unrestricted access in OB? I would expect grindfests without a story to allow unrestricted access. But lately it seems that the games with a strong backstory seem to want to prevent players from spoiling all the surprises.

This is not the first game that has level restrictions, nor will it be the last. The game might be unpolished after the starting areas, but the level restriction is not a direct indication of such a thing. It just raises concerns.

To jayanti:

You're disregarding two points though.

First one is that a portion of the people that will enter the beta are already Fileplanet members. Thus, Fileplanet gains nothing additional from them. On the other hand, some people have probably singned up for Fileplanet membership with the hope that they might get in the OB, but didn't make it. Those two groups are unknown to us, but can make a difference in the perceived Fileplanet profit.

The second is that you assume that Fileplanet will distribute the retail version (maybe I'm reading what you say incorrectly). This is not going to happen as EIDOS has exclusive publishing rights. What might happen is that Fileplanet may get to distribute future standalone patches, in the same manner LOTRO is doing.

The third is ... well, related to the way they distribute keys. How will Fileplanet distinguish players that joined the service for the beta from players that joined the service for the general merits of it? Fileplanet paying Funcom for the added income from additional subscriptions implies that the distinction is very clear and verifiable by Funcom.

I'm still not convinced that Funcom is getting anything out of this deal in terms of funds.

... which in the end makes the whole deal just a trial. I agree with you though.

To Gishgeron:

Your assumption that people are paying to beta test is flawed in two accounts.

95% of the people (I'm generous) that usually participate in any beta, would never get a professional beta tester job, being totally under-qualified and most often, totally unprofessional. Therefore, the random Joe that claims that he should be paid to beta test, is at least hilarious. On the other hand, I don't agree with a customer forced to pay to beta test. But that is not the case here, noone is forced. This is not the buggy released version that you have to pay in order to play. You can steer away from the whole deal and problem is solved.

But I don't believe that the Fileplanet deal is a real (active) beta.

Funcom is offering a marketing spin. Yes, yes, they call it "open beta" and all. I call it free early preview and I'm closer to the truth. If it was a real beta (as in people expected to report problems as opposed to just monitor activity via debug code), I'm sure they would have probably handled it on their own. As they have already done so far, quite successfully I might add. So, those in a hurry, those that are unsure and curious, those with a Fileplanet membership and those that have $5 to burn, get to try and get a key and preview the game. And that's about it.

It's a good business deal overall. Funcom gets to pay nothing for bandwith and infrastructure distribution, while Fileplanet service gets some advertisement and some temporary subscriptions.

Lets start worrying about what actually matters, and that's the gameplay. Anything before the final release is of little consequence. We get to pay and play the released version, so that's the one that needs to be good, fun and not buggy.

Why exactly would Fileplanet pay Funcom money and not the other way round? Funcom went to Fileplanet requesting a service, service being the distribution of massive load of data for the open beta test. If Funcom went to anybody else, they would be expected to give money to the data distributor, not the other way round. If Fileplanet feels that they are mitigating some costs by the advertisement and possible temporary increase to subscription numbers, then they would probably cut down on whatever they requested Funcom to pay them.

If anything, a good deal from Funcom's side would mean paying nothing for the distribution and handling of the massive amount of data. In any other case, they would have to pay somebody (either outsiders or their own employs & equipment) to achieve the same result.

People actually believing that Fileplanet is paying Funcom sounds a bit far fetched.