Here is proof of hostile/predatory pricing using readily available information and some basic math…
Original DLC cultural packs-
Cost: $10.00
Content: 1 full building set, 3 armor sets, 1 of each weapon type, and a few placables. Rough estimate approximately 100 items total
Value: $10.00 divided by 100 = $0.10 per item
Battlepass-
Cost: 1200 crom coins or $10.00
Content: 1 item per level 60 lvls total, includes 1200CC
Value: $10.00 divided by 55 items = $0.19 (if you dont buy anything from the bazaar its self replenishing)
Bazaar pack-
Cost: 3000CC or $20 to $25
Content: 3 items
Value: $6.66 to $8.33 per item
So yeah DLC and battlepass is good… Bazaar is an atrocious rip off!
Where to start How about, sounds like an opinion.
Or, is it truly predatory if you pay it voluntarily. I mean just because the lions mouth is open no one is forcing you to stick your head in.
How about how can pricing be hostile?
And if some one pays the hostile, predatory prices does that make them masochists?
Such is the joy of having a parent company run your financial decisions. Clearly the old business model didn’t work or they wouldn’t have been acquired by Tencent. And now like many other parent companies the mandate is squeeze the player base as much as they feel they can get away with.
I see question 31 doesn’t allow one to express a negative view of the Bazaar item rotation. Nor are there any questions regarding pricing. Why am I not surprised…
Honestly, I do not see in whom the aids have amelliore the games of knowledge: what drink we love, what serie tv we look at and what music we listen to !!
Marketing/Demographic categorization.
It’s a popular thing to find ways to group target audiences. While this one doubts there are any collaborations coming, there is an absurd body of statistical analysis that focuses on using correlation of respondent interest fields to “interpret” their answers better.
I must confess I had some trepidation/reservations about completing the survey. But if there is a chance it may enact positive change then I am in. I am happy to share a small handful of answers publicly below.
Is there an activity you would like to do less or automate?
Yes, yes there is. An automated way to distribute foodstuffs to our followers would be very nice. The good news is that there is already a way to do so in the game now! They just need to fix them. Jokes to the side this is genuinely the only thing I feel the need to automate at this time.
What would you like to see added to Conan Exiles in future updates?
I selected new map/map expansions, dungeons and bug fixes. A new biome(s) would be phenomenal. In addition, I just really want the game to be polished and run well, and to rwin in some of the bugs that have cropped up.
What would you like to see more of in the Bazaar?
I selected more religious items. I would love to see some more religious placeables and decorations. That and affordable pricing. Because right now the Bazaar seems to be aimed at the wealthiest 20% of the playerbase, everyone else is priced out.
Excellent idea peoples, you have my support on this one! I should clarify first that I do not think that any of these areas are bad, and every biome in this game is beautifully designed. Rather the aforementioned ones just do not have anything unique to set them apart from their counterparts, and there are few extrinsic motivators to go to those areas aside from a a nice leisurely wander. Some different resources or enemy types would set them apart and incentivise us to go to them more frequently.
[u]Swamp/Jungle (swungle) biome[u/]
Let us expand upon @DeaconElie post here. Now here is the thing, I really like the northern jungle (swamp), but it just looks too similar. Back some 4 years ago now I suggested some possible biome additions myself, one being a Darkmarsh (Bog) concept biome.
Now of course I am not insinuating that Funcom should change it to look like my own design, but it is just one example of how the swamp could look, and how the swamp and jungle area could look like 2 very different and distinct biomes, as opposed to one very large one.
First off mathematics neither lies nor has an opinion. However to put your opinion into another perspective lets look at it this way…
Currently only a small percentage of players are buying bazaar items and the player base is slowly shrinking. To keep it simple we will say the total worldwide player base is 100 and only 10 are making bazaar purchases because this rest either can’t afford to allot that much budget on a game or simply dont see the value. And lets say the average purchase amount is $20 per month.
10 x $20 = $200 per month
Ok now lets say Funcom hears out the players and decide to half the prices. Now the average monthly purchase is $10, however due to the pricing being more affordable and seemingly of better value now 60 players are making purchases.
60 x $10 = $600
Result is that Funcom makes more profit, players are happy and start returning or starts retaining new players. The problem with big time conglomerates like Tencent, is they assume all gamers are stupid kids with no life. While I would say that equates to about 30 percent of gamers, the vast majority are middle class adults with hourly paid jobs and kids to feed. So is my opinion that the pricing is predatory? When the cost per item is more than the cost of a gallon of milk for my kids breakfast, you dang right thats my opinion. I’m a disabled veteran living off a fixed income with a wife and two kids. I would love to buy bazaar items and enhance my experience on the RP server I play on. I simply can’t justify spending $20 for 3 items that are just reskinned assets from base game.
Except your “let’s say” are highly subjective and prejudicial. The data you are missing is, FC knows how much cost went into the dlc at their much lower price point, and they know how the sales of dlc vs bazaar compare for quarterly revenue. The bazaar prices are not set in total ignorance of a more affordable alternative.
It boggles the mind, and I kind of doubt it’s validity, but common assumtion among gaming companies seems to be that they earn more by selling fewer, but more expensive items.
I have serious doubts that this holds true for all games. In gambling and/or pvp games, I can see the logic: Maybe most players aren’t inclined (i. e. stupid) enough to spend a lot of money on that, or at least lots of it. But some people do, and their ability/willingness/weakness is great to compensate for fewer number. Similar to selling high-priced fashion items - you sell fewer, but make huge profits by demanding outrageous prices.
At least for Conan Exiles, this logic doesn’t convince me. The shop just doesn’t offer enough items for whales to spend 10.000 $/month on this game. No repeable combat bonus, no hundreds of fashion items, … even if one wanted, one couldn’t spend that money.
That is a good thing from a consumer (protection) perspective.
But I fear that Tencent tried to apply their business model on a very different game with a very different customer base and forced Funcom to implement a shop system that doesn’t work to keep the cash flow going.
Cheers for Funcom - but that’ll bring problems for the players now, Or maybe they’ll turn things around in a good way.
And there in lies the problem, they are accounting for the value from a sales point of view rather than a “What the customer is willing to pay” perspective. Hence why the gaming industry as a whole is starting to faulter. As long as they keep sticking to maximizing profits they are going to keep loosing customers and in turn loose money. If they would simply aim for a mid range profit margin halfway between covering overhead and max profit they would retain more customers and slowly gain more.
I’m not an expert, but I’ve heard that the sales are often a very good indicator of what the customer is willing to pay. At least, they’re a better indicator than merely asking prospective customers the question.
Ask someone how much they would hypothetically be willing to pay for something and they’ll give you a number depending on how they feel about it at that moment. The answer to the same question might be drastically different tomorrow, but it’s all hypothetical.
If you instead offer them to buy that thing for a certain price, they’ll prove whether they’re willing to pay that price. If they buy it, it’s proof that they’re willing to pay the price.
The average player seems to be impervious to the knowledge that a business has business professionals to analyze business data.
They think a bunch of people look at a bowl of water and from some blurred image there they take the business decisions, and someone with only “player their game” experience has better view of their business than they have.
Surveys are not meant to tell them what people are doing. It is more of a very weak lead on what they MIGHT do.
Business people there sure know what model responds which way and in what interval. Thanks to behavioral economics, they might even know more about peoples’ drives then themselves.
It is not because of what people “knowingly” do or think that your average “Costco” organize their shelves.
I guess people havent put it into perspective what is the agenda that makes your YouTubers and publications talk about some “Gaming Industry Crisis” and so on.
Lets see what all the “critics” are saying compared to what numbers tell:
The gaming industry is extremely lucrative. In 2023, subscription services brought in about $11.7bn (£9.2bn) and direct game sales brought in $40bn (£31.50bn). (For perspective, the entire music industry is valued at roughly $28bn [£22bn], while global box-office revenues totalled less than $34bn [£27bn] in 2023.) - (BBC)
According to the PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook from 2020 to the projected 2026, Gaming has increased its overall revenue by at least 10% every year. Led by social and casual game, but with increased participation of MMO subscription and Value-Added services
Lockdowns might have turned millions of us into gamers - Harvard Business Review
But no, the “Gameranx” random assertions about gaming industry decline is what is actually true.
How about, sounds like an opinion.