by Reuben Waters on Nov 12, 2009
Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news, coverage, and
commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.
With Funcoms recently announced incentive to revitalize interest in
Age of Conan, the developer joins the swelling ranks of studios
attempting to sweeten the deal on multiple month subscriptions. But are
bundled beta access offers for upcoming titles all theyre cracked up
to be, or simply a new take on the concept of paid betas? The latest
industry trend plus a look at the changes being made in the StarCraft
universe, our latest hands on impressions of Runes of Magic and much
more await in todays Loading
Bundled Betas.
You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse (
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).
Here's today's top 5 Pulse results:
target="_blank">World of Warcraft EverQuest 2Biggest movers over the past week:
DragonProviding customers with additional benefits for a larger upfront
investment isnt a new concept in MMO gaming. Collectors editions of
new releases, once a rare practice, have become an industry staple over
the past few years as one such example. Even multiple month
subscription offers that reduce
the cost of a single months fee have become more commonplace. Lately
though, theres been an interesting trend on the upswing as an
increasing number of developers attempt to woo players into these
long-term subscriptions by bundling them with other unique promotional
offers.
Hot on the heels of Turbines
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/75059">announcement that
multiple month
subscribers to Lord of
the Rings
Online would be able to play the
upcoming Siege of Mirkwood expansion for free, Funcom has taken
a
similar approach with their
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/76591">latest promotion
geared towards swelling
the ranks of the Age of
Conan servers. While a free copy of the Rise of
the Godslayer expansion is certainly a worthy incentive for players
to
dive headlong into a 12 month subscription to AoC, its the inclusion
of a guaranteed spot in
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/265">The Secret Worlds
open beta with the 3 month
plan that will no doubt pique the interest of a much larger number of
MMO gamers.
While it doesnt come as a total shock that Funcom has opted to
bundle
beta access for their upcoming title with an effort to revitalize
interest in one of their current live games, it will be interesting to
see what type of beta access the $35.98 subscription to AoC will buy
you. Only time will tell whether this will be the newfangled marketing
hype style open beta that serves as a soft launch a couple weeks out
from the official release date, or if players will be given a larger
chunk of access for their cash. Either way it will be interesting to
see if Funcom can successfully renew interest in AoC via the inclusion
of TSW open beta access in their latest promotion.
A few months ago Cryptic made a
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/72275">similar offer to
lifetime
subscribers
of Champions Online.
Minus a few minor hiccups in the last few days
prior to launch, that promotion could certainly be viewed as a major
success for the industry vets at Cryptic. Of interest here though is
that the inclusion of guaranteed beta access for upcoming
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/117">Star Trek
Online no doubt played a sizable role in the lifetime
subscriptions
selling out in a relatively short span of time. That particular offer,
however, was also somewhat vague in terms of what type of beta access
it ultimately entails. 2 ½ months into my lifetime of super powered
mayhem and Ive yet to receive an STO beta invite. That gives Cryptic a
month and a half to honor the before the end of the year beta access
component of the promotion. While still well within the bounds of the
original offer, it does lead me to wonder if that access will come even
a day sooner than December 31st. Meanwhile the closed beta for STO is
already well underway.
But enough about my admittedly biased opinion of bundling beta
offers
with long term subscription plans. Instead, Id like to hear what all
of you think about this latest MMOG marketing trend. Is the reduced
rate on multi-month subs a strong enough incentive on its own, or are
developers pushing things in a positive direction by bundling in betas
and expansions to sweeten the deal? Share your thoughts right here in
the Loading
forums!
5 new Ten Ton Hammer MMOG
features today! 43 in November! 3,015
in
2009!
Today's Exclusives at Ten Ton Hammer
New Features & Guides Today at Ten Ton
Hammer
Today's Hottest Content
Thanks as always for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer
network!
- Reuben "Sardu" Waters and the Ten Ton Hammer team