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NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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Come on guys, this is never gonna happen. MTX will only get more powerful. :P :D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

13-Aug-2017 22:19:22

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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I don't think RS3 would make enough money to be profitable without TH. OSRS can survive without MTX but that's because their dev team is much smaller. :D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

14-Aug-2017 00:00:49

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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Runelower said:
And most of the money goes to managment bonuses now as in it was different when Gower brothers ran the show.


That's true too. Also Zhongji Holding took £31 million from JaGeX's bank account last year as a dividend. Which was actually larger their net profit. So their cash on hand actually went down despite making record profits. O_o
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

14-Aug-2017 00:48:31

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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Dong U Dead said:
I think it's TH that keeps the game alive, it pays the wages, it will not go...

I am one of those people that like TH and don't see a problem with it.


MTX is not about keeping Jagex operating really. The game makes crazy amounts of profit. Like I said paid a £31 million dividend last year, more then Jagex made from all forms of MTX including Bonds and Solomon. That's £31 million of player's money that will never go back to developer salary, improving the game or creating new games. ^_^
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

14-Aug-2017 23:47:12 - Last edited on 15-Aug-2017 00:09:37 by NeuralNet

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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D E L A Y said:
RuneScape will never downgrade to a free to play game. Realistically, Treasure Hunter isn't game impacting unless you're spending hundreds or thousands of dollars in keys for xp, even then we don't have the statistics on how many players are actually buying keys at those rates and even then; why should it matter how they spend their money?


DarkScape was F2P for access to all member-typical content so it shows they are willing to play with that model at least.

Original message details are unavailable.

I don't see the correlation between new players and the assumption they'd invest in MTX. Considering how most games are nowadays, a majority of new generation players probably won't care. Look at WoW for example, you can literally buy your way to level 100, buy tokens for in-game gold, all while its $15 a month to play, on top of having to purchase WoW itself and its expansions. I don't see an outcry in their community.


WoW has no real equivalent to Treasure Hunter at all. There is WoW Coins which are like Bonds, and some cosmetic items maybe 1/10 as many as Solomon Store. The level booster is actually free, it's to encourage new players and give them access to high level content quickly.
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

17-Aug-2017 05:20:40

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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D E L A Y said:


I do believe there's some relevance to the comparison, WoW didn't always offer level 100 boosters so you could rush through all the content in the same sense Treasure Hunter does with xp from keys. I had to purchase the Legion expansion in order to receive my level 100 booster and you can purchase more for $60 each. I'll agree with you that their cosmetics are no where near the Solomon store but they do have quite a bit ranging from $10-$30 and players aren't turned off by it.


It's totally different game really. WoW is a less grindy game so the whole level booster thing is not very controversial. In WoW you are l33t based on your accomplishments and gear, and your ability in PvM and PvP especially. It's very quick to hit max level anyway.

RS puts the MTX in your face possibly more then any other mainstream video game I've played. Even games like Team Fortress 2, League of Legends, Lord of the Rings Online. All F2P any supported 100% by MTX. You don't have the same level of in your face MTX and the MTX is often just cosmetic. I think RuneScape started like this with Solomon Store, then SoF was added but had pretty weak items, and progressively they got more powerful.
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

18-Aug-2017 04:52:23

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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Yeah look Jagex makes a ton from MTX, but less then subs. This is a common misconception but it's right there in their annual report. And in their annual report, they don't bundle out bonds, solomon, etc. So we don't know how much TH by itself actually makes.

To be a successful game developer the most important metric in the past, in the present and in the future is number of players. If MTX is harming that figure it's not financially smart.

Jagex has no way to know how many players actually quit for MTX because they don't have that as an option in the dropdown when you cancel your sub.
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

29-Oct-2017 16:16:29

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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Interesting post about the psychological and real life damage Treasure Hunter appears to cause to some people

https://www.reddit.com/r/runescape/comments/5d2sle/warning_from_a_whale/
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

29-Oct-2017 16:38:40

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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I think people overestimate how much the Gowers actually cared about the future of RuneScape. I was acquainted with Andrew back in 2001 was clear back then. Andrew didn't actually care long term about this game. It was an interesting tech project but he didn't want to get stuck maintaining it his whole life. He wanted to do other things. So when the chance came up to cash out (and cash out he did, he is incredibly wealthy today), he took the opportunity. :D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

31-Oct-2017 00:12:55

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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Ghosttalon said:

Thanks for the perspective Neural, and that I can understand. Interesting projects don't necessarily mean you will have the interest in the successful business side. I can't fault them cashing out on their brainchild, at all. I think there's a distinction to be made between "not caring about the future of RuneScape", and not having the business acumen or interest to continue to maintain it as it would need. I also stand by my assertion however that they at least seemed to tow the ethical high-road, when they were involved. But having some direct knowledge of the people involved, maybe you'd be better able to shed some light on that as well.



Yeah of course MTX came out well after the Gowers left. I don't think it's anything about running the business or him being bad it. For all we know RS could even be more successful today if he still ran it. MTX has consequences, it's not necessarily a slam duck business decision.

He just didn't want to do the whole RS thing anymore. He wanted to cash out. It was entirely his doing. He didn't have to by any means. He had no BOD commanding him to do anything. Anyway, it's not unusual. Most tech startups are set up to liquidate. That's how founders get rich. Their net worth is all tied up in the equity of the company. They want to sell off that equity when it gets valuable enough and often start a new company and repeat the process, or just retire on a island.

Andrew made a lot of money selling Jagex. He made many multiples of what we call "fuck you" money (enough money that you can say "fuck you" to any opportunity and still live like a king for your whole life). Net worth $600 million. That's not from profit that's from selling his equity. And really that's mostly how rich people get rich. Only the poors care about dividends. Dividends are a statement that you don't know how to leverage your profits to grow your valuation.
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

01-Nov-2017 00:24:30 - Last edited on 01-Nov-2017 00:34:22 by NeuralNet

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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Also to mention # of users (players) is always the most important metric. If you can get 10x more players by charging 10x less, you should do that. You'll find some way to make more money eventually. And most costs for video games and software are fixed costs.

I just want to mention this because people get focused on servers and bandwidth but that stuff is really so cheap. You can rent a ""server"" from Amazon (not even the cheapest provider), $14.60/mo, 3 yr contract. That server can handle thousands of concurrent web requests easily. RS's protocol especially is trivial as hell.

So if MTX actually reduces player counts significantly, that's a bad thing financially. Even financial gap if the gap isn't strictly more. But we don't know for sure. MTX might have no effect on player count in reality for all we know. I don't think so though, but we don't know.
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

01-Nov-2017 00:45:07

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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The guberment is coming, the guberment is coming :O

http://www.pcgamer.com/belgium-says-loot-boxes-are-gambling-wants-them-banned-in-europe
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

22-Nov-2017 00:52:11

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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"The mixing of money and addiction is gambling," the Gaming Commission declared. Belgium's Minister of Justice Koen Geens also weighed in, saying, "Mixing gambling and gaming, especially at a young age, is dangerous for the mental health of the child."

He said the process will take time, "because we have to go to Europe. We will certainly try to ban it."
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

22-Nov-2017 00:53:56

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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-> UK is still in the EU and besides if you take money from players in the EU you are bound to follow EU trade regulations.

-> Law is probably going to be general enough as to not allow gaming companies to find loopholes around it.
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

22-Nov-2017 00:54:54 - Last edited on 22-Nov-2017 01:18:15 by NeuralNet

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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Dilbert2001 said:
NeuralNet said:
The guberment is coming, the guberment is coming :O

http://www.pcgamer.com/belgium-says-loot-boxes-are-gambling-wants-them-banned-in-europe


You got trolled. Belgium government has never said it is gambling and they never said they are going to do anything all. You can go to the same website and find another article correcting that April Fools mistake. I guess the Belgium government has probably given their editor in chief a wake up call. ;)

You may also wonder what happened to the UK Parliament Petition thread? What doesn't anybody bump it up anymore? The simple answer is UK has already responded a couple of weeks ago... and you know the result already. Sorry...
NOTHING


Still doesn't bode well when high level politicians are calling for gambling MTX to be banned. They didn't redact the quotes because they are real! And other gov'ts are joining in now. The fact that politicians want to get involved in such a specific thing is crazy.
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

28-Nov-2017 01:18:24 - Last edited on 28-Nov-2017 01:18:41 by NeuralNet

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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Sharp-shin said:
Acra said:
Support, I've been a major participant of TH over the years and I'd love to see it gone. However, I don't see it leaving as it generates a lot more revenue than monthly membership cost.

Edit: If they did remove it they'd have to substitute something else and that could be worse.

That's false, actually; Jagex's financial statements prove that membership revenue is much greater (almost 20 million £) than microtransaction revenue, as you can see here:



You can find the statements on the Companies House website, and even though we don't yet have the statement for 2017, you have to remember that the MTX situation was already outright terrible in 2016 and even in 2015, so you can't really argue either that "well maybe they've had a tougher time in 2017", because they already pushed out MTX very aggressively in those previous years. And don't forget that MTX revenue includes TH, Solomon's store and bonds, meaning that out of the MTX revenue you see listed there, only a part of it comes from TH.

So really, they wouldn't have to substitute TH for anything else; they could just go back to Solomon's store additions, which are fine since they're mostly cosmetic AND guaranteed, so they don't prey on gambling addictions.


Thanks for posting. The only creditable explanation for the jump in MTX revenue in 2016 is OSRS bonds. Nothing else changed in RS3 to justify such a jump.
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

14-Jan-2018 18:25:27

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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SushiCombo said:
I'm always looking forward to my daily keys, so no. Keep it. These MTX are not intrusive imo.


Faderboyz said:
Daily keys are something I look forward to every day when I get home. Please don't take that away.

Sorry, no support.


This is absolutely an example of the psychological trickery of lootboxes. Virtually all lootbox games do this. They give away daily lootboxes and random lootboxes for free to get the players "comfortable" with the idea.
:D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

14-Jan-2018 18:37:23

NeuralNet

NeuralNet

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TH promos will stay and RunePass also. They will also start selling game context like quests and new areas. You heard it here first. :D
NeuralNet
| RuneScape's biggest fan and supporter. | 16 years in a row! :D
"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." --Golda M

06-Jul-2018 02:22:12

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