Warrior General Games

Let's look at the revenue side of the game (I apologize in advance as there is much I am guessing at here).

In GLB1 - you clearly had the 'refunded flex rate' way too high (as way of an example - I'll get through season 3...with a lot of players - and still won't have used up all the GLB1 flex).

In GLB2 - you made some major adjustments to flex costs -- flex dumps (equipment) and flex refunds (much lower)

So - on to my question - have you considered offering different subscription plans?

If no - I'd love to see you consider it. I also believe (admittedly coming from a place of complete ignorance) that it might be better for GLB in the long run as well.

Now - many MMO type games offer subscription services and are very successful with it. How would it work in GLB?

Well - let's first look at a few situations:
PART 1: PLAYER FLEX
A: Me - I own a team and every player on it (at the moment). That is obviously expensive (but I get a lot for it). 1 team + 43 players - that probably means I'll have to buy the 10K package every season ($70 every 40-ish days) (which might or might not really get me the flex I need to run scrimms / test plays / etc) . It would make more sense to buy a bigger package to get the bigger discount - except that is a harder sell for me with my wife. "Honey I'd like to drop $500.00 into GLB for my team" doesn't go over well at home for me - your mileage may vary.

B: Someone who has 5 players might need 1000-1200 flex per season (including player creation)so they'd be looking at $10 per season or something.

C: Folks who just use their free player (MOST of the time - it is my guess these players don't last long in the game)


PART 2: Coaching
I'm sure this part won't be popular. But here goes. In GLB1 I said many times that where GLB1 went wrong in seasons 6+ is that the game changed from a PLAYER FOCUSED game to a COORDINATOR FOCUSED game. It made no sense! It was free to be a coordinator...it cost a lot of money (over time) to run players -- and the focus of the game was on the free aspects....big mistake.

I think you've done a good job keeping this game (so far) player focused - but there is always a danger. Why do you continue to allow coordinators and coaches to have their jobs for free?? Yes, they do most of the work - but they also get most of the fun out of the game. Beyond that - it doesn't make "real world" sense that there are coordinators who coordinate / coach 10 or more teams - that is just silly.

It costs flex to own a team. It costs flex to build a player. It costs flex to boost a player. It costs flex to schedule a scrim. It should cost flex to get a "Coordinator Job" as well. It should be an option for a team owner to pay that flex - and it should be an option for the potential coach to pay that flex. How much? I don't know - probably something at least in line with the cost of a player. (again - probably unpopular - but 500 flex is really way too little cost for owning a team - it should really cost more, in my opinion)


Proposal
Without seeing the actual numbers - it really is impossible for me to guess at what you could do here to increase your revenue. Most subscriptions would not be cancelled immediately upon "quitting" - most people will 'pare back' their playing and want to keep their subscription live. Also - just like gym memberships - people tend to think "nah, don't want to cancel my sub - I'll get back to that soon" (and many will).

So I would propose subscription plans that offer more of the higher end discounts...(surely you don't have many people buying the $2.50 for 250 flex...right - so dump those low end ones.

There should be ~8 seasons in a calendar year (I think). So - a higher end subscription might be:

Owner's Suite: $40.00 per month gets you the following on the first day of every offseason:
- Team ownership renewed
- 10,000 flex
- 4 free quick scrimms per day
- 2 Tokens good for a coaching position on a team other than yours for a length of 1 season

40$ a month is an easy sell with my wife. 500 in lump sums every year or so is not.

Packages would drop all way down to $5 a month or something.
You could even still leave the current flex buying option available for those who like it / want it - both could be active at the same time.

Maybe the 5$/ month package:
Weekend Warrior:
- 500 flex on the final day of every season
- 1 Special Teams Coach token per season


This sort of thing helps you further as well as it gives you an idea about what sort of budget you will have to work with over the next quarter, month, etc (rather than having to offer flex sales to get a quick lump sum all at once).


SUMMARY

- Come up with monthly (or every final day of season) subscription plans at different levels that give flex / team ownership / coaching tokens / paid for scrimms / etc

- Come up with a plan for making Coaching positions (including GM / Coordinator / etc) cost flex

I'd be happy to put some more thought into this - and even come up with the math behind why these could be win/win situations for both GLB and the individual. I'd also be happy to come up with several different tiers of package options - or do just about anything I could to help you.

I'll stop there though as I'm already going to get voted down into lockage by:



Check the box that applies to your response:
____ TLDR
____ If coordinator positions cost flex I'm going to rage quit
____ Too much programming time
____ Fix the sim first!
____ This is stupid
____ Control your wife!
____ too much else to focus on rather than stabilizing GLB2 revenue
____ burn in hell you single agent team owner!!

Now you know the answer to this question

If coordinator positions cost flex I'm going to rage quit. And control your wife!

But I do kinda like this idea.

Originally posted by TxSteve
____ TLDR
X If coordinator positions cost flex I'm going to rage quit
____ Too much programming time
X Fix the sim first!
____ This is stupid
____ Control your wife!
____ too much else to focus on rather than stabilizing GLB2 revenue
____ burn in hell you single agent team owner!!




I don't see why you want to pay to coordinate. The rest seems ok (though more and more games are moving away from subscriptions and towards micro transactions).

Originally posted by pottsman
I don't see why you want to pay to coordinate. The rest seems ok (though more and more games are moving away from subscriptions and towards micro transactions).

True or False: Coordinating is really where most of the gameplay is in GLB2 (and 1)

Originally posted by TxSteve
True or False: Coordinating is really where most of the gameplay is in GLB2 (and 1)

It should be. I know when I'm the active coordinator I spend 30-40x more time and effort on that than I do on figuring out my player's builds. I suspect most of that is cause I'm rabid about inspect element prior to building a guy, so as the season goes on, I already know what I need.

With coordinating, if you're doing it right, you're watching the league and ladder replays of your next opponent, watching replays of your own games, posting messages to your guys on what they need to work on, etc.

It's way, way more work than just clicking '+' a handful of times after games.

has bort figured out a way to make more money?

yes... he doesn't need your help bro

Every agent can make players. That's just a basic right in the game, and agents make the choice on when to make players, how many, what position, etc...

Coordinating? Not so much. Coordinating is a right given by team owners that don't want to do it all themselves. An agent can't just sign up to be a coordinator.....it's each team owners' choice. So, why exactly, would it be even a slightly good idea to make people pay to be coordinators when the team owner is offering them the job? All I can see happening from that is 95% of teams being run by the owner across the board while only a few select coordinators pay to work for a few select teams......and that would change the focus of the game from the players to owners battling to be the best at totally running a team, would it not?

Originally posted by Jampy2.0
has bort figured out a way to make more money?

yes... he doesn't need your help bro


Actually - yes - I do believe he needs help to maximize his revenue (which is what keeps the game that I really, really like going).


the revenue set up in GLB1 was really, really bad (too much flex refunded) - I'm not certain it is better now.

Originally posted by redneckjake
Every agent can make players. That's just a basic right in the game, and agents make the choice on when to make players, how many, what position, etc...

Coordinating? Not so much. Coordinating is a right given by team owners that don't want to do it all themselves. An agent can't just sign up to be a coordinator.....it's each team owners' choice. So, why exactly, would it be even a slightly good idea to make people pay to be coordinators when the team owner is offering them the job? All I can see happening from that is 95% of teams being run by the owner across the board while only a few select coordinators pay to work for a few select teams......and that would change the focus of the game from the players to owners battling to be the best at totally running a team, would it not?


My opinion - most of the long term players in this game coordinate or own. I seriously doubt too many 'player only' people make it 5-10+ seasons. If coordinating is where all of the actual game play is (and I believe it pretty much is) - then it makes no sense to keep the 'game play' aspects of the game free -- and rely on the pure player builders for revenue....that's why coordinating should cost flex somehow.

(and as I said above - something is out of whack - either teams need to cost MORE or players need to cost less -- and I expect the former is the right choice)

Originally posted by TxSteve
the revenue set up in GLB1 was really, really bad (too much flex refunded) - I'm not certain it is better now.



TxSteve the finance master here dig into everyones pockets.

well idc, i don't build players anyway.

Originally posted by Jampy2.0


TxSteve the finance master here dig into everyones pockets.

well idc, i don't build players anyway.

Not really. Yes - I believe coordinating should cost some flex (since that is where the actual game play is)

But - for the rest - I think a subscription plan would actually cost less over the short term - but make more over the long term (for Bort).

You seem to really enjoy your role as coordinator. Are you saying that 'fun' isn't worth a few dollars a season??

To me, it's not. I've been playing since season 1 of glb1 and have pumped a LOT of flex into teams and players over the years. Why would I want to spend flex to coordinate when I could buy a team and do the same? I'd not be inclined to pay anything just to be able to gameplan a defense for someone else's team. And after buying flex every few months for the first couple of years, I'm not inclined to spend any more on this game....I have bills to pay, addictions to stay addicted to, and such.

Correct me if I'm wrong - but you don't appear to coordinate for anyone now....so this wouldn't affect you. You ALREADY bought a team so that you can run it.

Originally posted by TxSteve
Not really. Yes - I believe coordinating should cost some flex (since that is where the actual game play is)


I'm 99.9999% sure the vast majority of coordinators would quit. In fact, many of them are only coordinators because it lets them run a team that someone else is paying the majority of the cost for.

You don't try to monetize things that drive away customers, nor is it necessary to make people pay for what you believe is the majority of the gameplay.

In fact, practically every successful free-to-play game is the exact opposite of that. You give away the fun and let people spend money on the side stuff. There are very few games anymore that can compete for entertainment dollars by charging money up front, and most new games that have tried that model have failed and/or been forced to convert to the more common microtransactions model.

Heck, I suspect right now the measly 50 flex per scrimmage that GLB2 charges is one of the most productive elements of the game. I know the owners of the teams I'm coaching spend way more than 500 flex per season on scrimmages (and I wouldn't coordinate for them if they didn't).