StarCraft MMO blasts into orbit!

Iria

Source: CVG
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The long-rumoured new instalment of Blizzard's massive StarCraft series is set to be unveiled later this month - and it's another massively-multiplayer online game in the style of World of Warcraft, CVG can reveal.

mike2h

well, i guess im done with blizzard. seems they r strictly online anymore & im not paying anybody a monthly fee to play a game.
i dont get how peeps think its cool to give a company free money to play a game. especially with all the problems some of these guys have with stability & hacks. i mean come on, a $160+ a year to play a friggin pc game?
these developers should take a look at gw.

calidan

This sucks. I was looking forward to a StarCraft sequel.

topbob

Interesting, lets hope they make the MMO evolutionary and don't turn it to crap this time.

Lowfat

I'll wait for an offical annoucement from Blizzard.

Sandok

Useless... I'm fed up of this MMO crap! Give me a decent SC damnit!

CDsDontBurn

paying for a game should be once. that time would be when one initially purchases the game.

BlueMak

As long as there are willing people to pay that stupid amount of money, there will be companies that make these kind of games. The only way to stop it is to not pay anything for it and persuade people that you know that the whole thing is stupid.

quazi

It's not completely unreasonable that companies charge on a monthy basis given that those games are normally played far longer than regular purchases. I too would have much preferred an RTS and probably won't purchase this MMO, but it's still an interesting idea. The concept of spaced based MMO's always seemed fun to me, but no one's really executed it well in the past. Given Blizzard's track record, this might end up going quite well.

mike2h

blizzads 'track record' aint that great. better than most, but considering the amount of $$ involved there should be very, very few issues.

quazi

Just outta curiosity, what are you referring to here? Diablo, Warcraft 2, Starcraft, Diablo 2, Warcraft 3, and World of Warcraft were all quite successful. Are we talking about the same company?

topbob

http://mmorpg.qj.net/All-Blizzard-Fr...g/49/aid/55958

And with out this becoming a flame fest, I personally believe there is no problem in having month subsriptions for MMOGs, if you were to buy a game once like this you would have to pay like $200. GW is bad so it doesn't count.

mike2h

[quote=topbob;1051797]http://mmorpg.qj.net/All-Blizzard-Fr...g/49/aid/55958

And with out this becoming a flame fest, I personally believe there is no problem in having month subsriptions for MMOGs, if you were to buy a game once like this you would have to pay like $200. GW is bad so it doesn't count.[

no game is worth $200. but just to go along your line of 'reasoning' - approx $40 per game, lowball $10 per month, , thats $160 for the 1st year alone. $30 for exp, another $120, & you are well over $300 for 2nd year. & if u stop paying your original investment is absolutely useless.
your opinion on gw is your opinion & has no basis in reality. it is highly succesful & contrary to what u say does count. * it is free after u buy the game... what a concept.

mike2h

we r reffering too mmo games. i played the hell out of diablo, diablo2(&lod) starcraft, warcraft, war2.
war 3 skd as far as i was concerned becuase it was a hybrid & was not wat i wanted out of the warcrat series. jmo.
wow i havent played but from what i have heard of its issues from buddies & online, they should not be charging what they do - i would play it if it didnt cost so much.
& fyi before wow, blizzard game were a fn nightmare online. the amount of prob/cheqating/haks was staggering.
just so its clear, i was no putting down the games themselves but the whole pay-to-play concept. dont like it, never will.
& some of u need to wake up & smell the coffee, the developers want us to give them free $$ every month. u dont think that once they can force us all into playinng pay-for-play that they wont increase the rates?
but if u go by topbob reasonong saying that certain current pc games are actually worth $200, i gues paying $400 -$500 wont be an issue. wich some peeps have done with everquest & wont be to long for that mark to be reached for wow. & of course after 1yr of playing you will be paying much more than his $200 'value'

quazi

Just to throw some figures out there, Blizzard has about 1,200 customer service representatives (GMs) on their realms [http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/03/19/8402360/index.htm].

Considering that the average person gets paid probably 35,000-40,000$ in the US, that amounts to about 2333-2667 subscriptions to pay for each customer service rep's income. Now this isn't exactly a rigorous calculation, but it's easy to see how a vast monthly income is necessary to provide the level of service that MMO companies try to do, especially when other factors such as hardware are factored in.

Moreover, Blizzard is not a non-profit organiztion. Their obligation to their shareholders is to make money.

GutterPunk

A lot of people get shifted and volunteered GMs for games like this. For what, a free subscription. If we figure 35000+ for a wow GM, then hah they are wasting there money on idiots who use the wrong macros to answer questions. Makes me even more sad reading your post.

mike2h

i have no problem with them making money at all- as long as they provide a product worthy of the price. i just have a prob with pay-for-play in general & not just blizzard. & your figures are only partially correct. were do u think the majority of those 'reps'(actually game masters) are & how much do u think they r really getting paid?
& given the ratio of the number of players(they claim 8million) vs the number of game masters...
ill give blizzard - & other companies that have succesful mmo games,due credit, they have found a cash cow. really makes you wonder how the gw developers survive.