I'm sorry, but this idea is absurdly bad for any subscription based MMO.
To me, it betrays a complete misunderstanding of how subscription-based monetization works at a fundamental level.
This idea that once someone's sub lapses, they ought to be completely purged from the game is immensely counter-productive. From a business perspective, it makes zero sense.
This is because every subscription-based product faces high month-to-month churn, and with DU that's especially so. Every churned user then becomes a potential customer, because reengaging lapsed subscribers is a huge facet of any viable subscription service.
Consider what percent of active Netflix subscribers has at one point paused or cancelled their sub. I'd wager it's a vast majority. This is just a core concept with how subscriptions work, and any sub-based product that decides to ignore this is not going to last very long.
Deciding to make it so there's no reason for lapsed users to return is an objectively stupid idea for any subscription...especially one that suffers from as much churn as DU.
The push and pull between DU keeping tiles and reclaiming them has been discussed for a long, long time -- the flaw is inherent in the design of this game and the solution that NQ already has makes a lot more sense than this suggestion.
Hell, I'd argue timers should be even higher, because 3 months is not nearly enough time to re-engage a lapsed sub, and that's the whole point.
TLDR: a game with so few subs can't be so arrogant in deleting old stuff to "make room" for new players, because there are no new players and regardless, all new players eventually become churned players (especially with DU's high churn rates), so this "strategy" is horribly counter-productive in every conceivable way.
It's really sad for me. I am a type of gamer that always moves on to another after maybe a week of playing. Since launch, I have over 8 days of playtime. WAY more than any other game I own, and I own a few. I always wondered what my dream game would be. Something I could spend hours and get lost in. THIS WAS IT! Sadly, I have reached a point that I just don't want to play anymore. I can't put my finger on why! I think the economy has a lot to do with it. I, for one, refuse to have alts. If I can't play and sustain in a game with just one character, then I don't need to be playing it. Now, I log in and see what my industry has made, then TRY to sell it so I can pay my taxes. Most of the time the prices have dropped so much in the last day my items do not sell. when they finally sell after I drop the prices to stay relevant, I have just enough to pay my flower taxes and re-fill on schems. That is not a game I enjoy playing. I don't know how it all can be fixed, but I'm just sad that my "Dream Game" is dying!
We’re going to launch Dual Universe! If you missed our launch announcement live stream, you can watch the replay here, and you can also read on for all the details below.
Dual Universe has spent eight years in development, with the past two of those in beta. Our team has delivered industry-leading voxel technology, enabling players to build amazing worlds in a single-shard MMO like no other. We’ve advanced by leaps and bounds, adding systems like asteroid and territory mining, missions, new PvP mechanics, and more reasons to fight, as well as creation systems like the Vertex Precision Tool, new Lua API, and the Exchange for our creators to exhibit their works.
In short, we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished and are excited for what is yet to come.
Thank you for walking this road with us so far, and it is with great pleasure that we can finally release the details of the launch with you here today:
Dual Universe is launching on September 27, 2022. To enable the launch, we will close all servers on September 22, 2022, and keep them closed until the launch. All active subscriptions (excluding beta keys and full beta access) will receive 6 days of subscription at launch to compensate for this downtime.
Here’s a message from Novaquark’s CEO, Nouredine Abboud, on the launch:
STEAM
We’re launching Dual Universe on Steam! It’s an exciting time for us at NQ as we bring our game to as many players who may enjoy it as possible and give those who prefer it the option to purchase the game on Steam.
Our Steam page is already live! You can support us by wishlisting Dual Universe on steam and recommending it to your friends, even if you already have the game!
The game will also continue to be available to buy on our website, as well as from our official reseller. And of course, you can still play it on almost any computer via the NVIDIA cloud-based platform, Geforce NOW.
FREE TRIAL
We will implement a free trial of Dual Universe with the game’s launch, which will be available exclusively on Steam. We’ll have more details on this in future communications, but for those who want to try the game's mechanics without committing to a subscription, we’ve got you covered!
We will be opening a separate server for the free trial to allow anyone the chance to try the game for free without impacting the persistent server. This separate server will be regularly reset.
The game has come a long way during these two years of beta. We want to give every player, including those of you who stopped playing before the game’s new systems and gameplay loops were introduced, a chance to try them.
If you were subscribed to the game at any point during the beta, and your subscription has lapsed, we’re adding two weeks of game time on your account from the 27th of September. These two weeks will give you full access to the main universe. Come see what the game has to offer at launch; it’s on us!
A NEW HELIOS
The launch will come with some welcome additions to the game. A major one is that we’re upgrading planets. The launch is a great chance for us to bring the game's worlds to life more and to breathe more identity into them. As NQ-Sirg has described before in Ask Aphelia, we had built the Helios system for the launch of Beta and didn’t have as much time as we would have liked to make fleshed-out, living worlds.
If you want a sneak peek at some of these changes, you can see them in the replay of our launch announcement live stream.
This upgrade means you will see new biomes that feel more vibrant and alive. Players will initially have access to:
Alioth + Sanctuary + Haven (+ Moon 1 + Moon 4)
Jago
Teoma
Madis (+ Moons 1, 2, and 3)
Thades (+ Moons 1 and 2)
We’ll add more improved worlds back into the game in several phases. Please note that the release order below is still subject to change.
We are also adding more planetary body types into the game! The asteroid belts of Thades will be replaced with new, bigger asteroids which can now be claimed by players. We hope to introduce more claimable rocks around Helios after the launch.
BLUEPRINTS
Whether you’ve got a small holding or a sprawling, multi-core space station, rebuilding after the reset will be easier with better blueprint deployment tools. As a reminder, you will keep your core blueprints after the reset, so we wanted to make your life easier when deploying them at launch. We have already added pre-visualization to blueprints with the ability to finely move their placement using keyboard controls. We’re also adding three new features at launch and in the first patch after the launch:
SNAPPING - When deploying a blueprint, you can snap to the grid of another, already placed core, like when placing a Space Core Unit. Along with pre-visualization and keyboard controls, this will allow you to perfectly align cores with one another while deploying blueprints.
HONEYCOMB SWAPS - You can now change any honeycomb type inside of a blueprint with any other of your choosing.
ELEMENT OMISSION - You can now opt to deploy blueprints with elements missing should you lack them or to simply choose different elements to omit from deployment by choice.
COSMETICS
Another addition to the launch is better cosmetics. We’re adding the much-requested purple plastic and colored luminescent honeycomb. Our newly announced Pioneer Packs will reward beta players and backers with collectible items only available to them as a thank you for helping to bring the game to life. We’re also building on the NOVEAN OVERVIEW to help players better manage their customizations and skins, with much more cosmetic and quality of life improvements to come!
KICKSTARTER REWARDS
In-game Kickstarter rewards will start being rolled out at launch, and we will share details about them in a dedicated communication. It will include topics such as how to update your physical-reward delivery address and how to claim your in-game rewards.
However, there is one piece of news that we want to share with you here. It’s an exciting time for any game developer when the project you have devoted years of your life to comes to fruition. We can already confirm that our Crowdfunding backers will be able to finally see their names in the credits at launch.
Launching Dual Universe is the start of a new chapter in the game’s story, a story that we as developers and you, our community, are writing together. We still have much to do, and we’re more excited now than ever to deliver a game that can live up to Dual Universe’s incredible potential.
If you have questions about the launch, please send them to us here so that we can answer them in a dedicated episode of Ask Aphelia.
You can also share your thoughts and feedback with us in this dedicated forum thread.
Thanks again to our players for an incredible journey so far. We can't wait to continue it with you.
Please change this schematics mechanic! I absolutely love this game and it has captured more of my attention than any other game. But, I cannot bear to play it now. I was literally sitting there wondering what to do as I am a solo player. Can't mine to make money, just need to wait for the miners so nothing for me to do. Can''t try to build ships because I have no money....need to wait for the miners. Cannot start industry with little ore I DO have because I have to wait days for the schems! I am literally paying a monthly subscription to watch my game play itself....... I have to take a step away for a while and hope NQ sees our response to this and makes some changes. This really breaks my heart!!!
Please change this schematics mechanic! I absolutely love this game and it has captured more of my attention than any other game. But, I cannot bear to play it now. I was literally sitting there wondering what to do as I am a solo player. Can't mine to make money, just need to wait for the miners so nothing for me to do. Can''t try to build ships because I have no money....need to wait for the miners. Cannot start industry with little ore I DO have because I have to wait days for the schems! I am literally paying a monthly subscription to watch my game play itself....... I have to take a step away for a while and hope NQ sees our response to this and makes some changes. This really breaks my heart!!!
KritterBizkit got a reaction from The_Kurgan in NEW SCHEMATICS - Discussion Thread