Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

[jadert]

Would you still have an issue with excessive VC based modes if 2K was free?

The Fornite phenomenon has introduced a whole new error of videogame payment models. NBA 2K has benefitted from getting dual income sources for years now. As newer gamers download more free games instead of purchasing them, how would we feel about VC if 2K was free?

There are a few arguments for this model. First, it would provide access for millions more to play 2K. 2K comes out in a quarter that competes with other blockbuster titles. There is a finite amount of money people will spend on video games. Video games sales recently has been a little flat. Being free would allow many more millions of fans to download the title and play.

Secondly, 2K can then provide episodic content on a fairly regular basis rather than having a game come out yearly with a dozen patches.

Not sure what I think about this, but this is the direction that the videogame industry is going. Should 2K/Take Two get on board? What are your thoughts?

[ksuttonjr76]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

Why would they? Too many basketball junkies for them to even entertain this idea, and that concept mainly work with new IPs where they're trying to grow a fanbase.

EDIT: Hypothetical speaking...if they actually did this in some strange Twilight Zone episode, I believe that the grind would actually be "worse", because now they have make-up for lost sales. Being mainly a PNO player, I don't believe that I would be impacted by such a change, HOWEVER I could see them tweaking the PNO model to "lock" teams behind paywalls.

[WaddupCouzin]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

Fortnight isn't paying for a license, so I'm not sure how that works.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Pokes404]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

Free to play games either A) have very little development costs, or B) don't have to pay pricey licensing fees. 2K has licensing fees to the NBA and a fairly substantially-sized development team. I don't see a free to play model working for them. If they did go that route, I'm guessing they would have to design the game to HEAVILY incentivize you to spend real money. And I'm not just talking about making the VC grind a little harder ... I mean stuff like:

You can play 5 games a day. After 5 games, you have to wait 24-hours to let your "Stamina Bar" recharge before you can play again ... UNLESS, you want to spend some "Workout Coins" (only available for purchase in the store with real money, of course) to refill that meter and play more games now.


With a game that requires the kind of development and programing that 2K does, not to mention the licensing fees, I just don't see how a free to play model could work for them.

[Junior Moe]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

Why go free when you're selling 10million copies, PLUS the extra from microtransactions. It doesn't make any sense.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Operation Sports mobile app

[ksuttonjr76]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

Free to play games either A) have very little development costs, or B) don't have to pay pricey licensing fees. 2K has licensing fees to the NBA and a fairly substantially-sized development team. I don't see a free to play model working for them. If they did go that route, I'm guessing they would have to design the game to HEAVILY incentivize you to spend real money. And I'm not just talking about making the VC grind a little harder ... I mean stuff like:

You can play 5 games a day. After 5 games, you have to wait 24-hours to let your "Stamina Bar" recharge before you can play again ... UNLESS, you want to spend some "Workout Coins" (only available for purchase in the store with real money, of course) to refill that meter and play more games now.


With a game that requires the kind of development and programing that 2K does, not to mention the licensing fees, I just don't see how a free to play model could work for them.

I would be heated if I was only allowed to play a certain number of games online.

[ChiefKeef300]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

Madden probably but not 2k

[jadert]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

It would be interesting to examine the difference between selling 10 million copies vs. having 40-50 million users in terms of revenue.

Of course now the idea seems crazy, but as more developers move towards this model, I think it will be trending in the coming years in the video game industry.

[ksuttonjr76]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

It would be interesting to examine the difference between selling 10 million copies vs. having 40-50 million users in terms of revenue.

Of course now the idea seems crazy, but as more developers move towards this model, I think it will be trending in the coming years in the video game industry.

After giving it more thought and reading the above comments, I guess it could work - in theory. The $1B question is which company is willing to pull the trigger on one of their existing IPs to see if this could be profitable? COD? Halo? Madden? NBA 2K? MLB the Show? Battlefield? I'm not going to front. If I was a CEO of one of these companies, it would be an uphill battle to convince me that we could turn a serious profit on the Free-To-Play model.

The only company that I can see maybe making an honest attempt at this model would be EA with NBA Live as a final "F it! Why not????".

[jadert]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

After giving it more thought and reading the above comments, I guess it could work - in theory. The $1B question is which company is willing to pull the trigger on one of their existing IPs to see if this could be profitable? COD? Halo? Madden? NBA 2K? MLB the Show? Battlefield? I'm not going to front. If I was a CEO of one of these companies, it would be an uphill battle to convince me that we could turn a serious profit on the Free-To-Play model.

The only company that I can see maybe making an honest attempt at this model would be EA with NBA Live as a final "F it! Why not????".

That Live idea is actually a thought! I don't know the sales numbers of free to play games, but if I could get my game in the hands of 50 million plus gamers worldwide and use VC (as much as it was used last year), I'm wondering if that would create more revenue than the $60 pricetag for 10 million buyers?

How would others feel about VC then? As we are in the next major shift of video gaming: PS5 and new Xbox coming out; Cloud based gaming, Free to play models etc. This will be an interesting situation sooner than later

[dukebeatsuncagainn]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

I honestly think this is going to happen with A LOT of game franchises. It's only a matter of time until loot boxes are banned in USA.

Investors look at how much money base game sales made and for how long, and then the look at how much money post launch microtransactions made and for how long...makes more sense to make game free and cash in on the millions more that will have access to the game now.

After a terrible 2018, investors have pulled waaaayy back on gaming industry for 2019, resulting in a rumored $100M LESS funding for EA specifically.

2019 is going to be a year of devs and publishers coming up with grand scheme to make waaaayy too much money off consumers at low cost to try and impress and entice investors back into gaming market. Because hey, at the end of the day high figure investors do not care about games, only money. They will invest in coffee and sugar if thats predicted to be trending upwards. That scheme, is the free to play model with massive paywalls and mtx.

I play more Gen2 and Gen3 games, especially sports games, than I do these lackluster full priced titles with less features, modes, realism at expense of pushing the 'pro eSports' manipulation. I don't want to be pro. I don't want gaming to be my job. I just want to play for fun.

Remember fun?

Sent from my cp3636a using Operation Sports mobile app

[Junior Moe]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

After giving it more thought and reading the above comments, I guess it could work - in theory. The $1B question is which company is willing to pull the trigger on one of their existing IPs to see if this could be profitable? COD? Halo? Madden? NBA 2K? MLB the Show? Battlefield? I'm not going to front. If I was a CEO of one of these companies, it would be an uphill battle to convince me that we could turn a serious profit on the Free-To-Play model.

The only company that I can see maybe making an honest attempt at this model would be EA with NBA Live as a final "F it! Why not????".

Exactly. I don't see it happening with the 2K series or any of the other games you mentioned because those are the top selling games year in and year out. I'd imagine they have huge dev teams as well as licensing and stuff that have to be taken into consideration. Doesn't 2K's new deal double both the NBA and NBAPA licenses, respectively? 2K selling 10 million copies is 600 million off top. That's a lot of scratch to leave on the table to potentially be offset by new users. As I understand it, the vast majority of gamers (console and mobile) do not buy microtransactions. I imagine that number is rising but its still the minority.



I also look at Live. There is a huge appetite for basketball games and the online stuff as we see from 2K. EA has been essentially giving the game away for the last few years and it just hasn't taken hold. Maybe making it free at release and capitalizing on the start of the NBA season helps, IDK. EA dropped Apex Legend a few weeks ago and it has been on fire. IMO, Live is not a good basketball game at its core. I dont know if its the quality of the game or the fact that 2K just owns the market and there are only crumbs left at this point.



Now, I think the free to play model could work for new sports games or niche sports (like College Hoops). I just think its too risky for established titles that have baked in the goods costs and already and stockholders to take into consideration. I would love to see 2K or EA try that route with a niche sport and see how it does.

[tru11]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

Wont happen.

People will buy this game regardless of what they do as there is no alternative.

When you have monopoly you aint going to shoot yourself in the foot by making it.

What you will do is give people the option to buy additional stuff which is why they introduced VC.

They could make it free but VC prices will skyrocket and what used to cost 100 VC to increase a stat will likely become 10000 whch makes going from a 60 overall to a 65 overall kinda affordable but going for that 99 overall might require a few months salary or several years of grinding lol

[DatIsraeliGuy]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

I mean, right now it's a free to play game with a $60 paywall

[olajuwon34]

Re: Should the 2K Series move to the FREE TO PLAY model?

I couldnt even imagine how outrageous the microtranscations would be, these games already have just as bad microtransactions as free to play games.


It will never happen though because they keep selling basketball games because, no other competition.