Custom Consoles, Topics and MMOs - Issue/concerns & Ideas

Dear Greenheart,

edit: I have updated the post to help get my proposal of a fix for the MMOs across more clearly, with a logical and balanced solution.

Firstly can I say well done on making a really fun game.

I just have a few issues/concerns and some ideas for you.

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Custom Consoles
Somehow I can develop a console and sell about 8 million units; and then I can release a game for it (and that game is exclusively released ONLY on that console), but that game can somehow sell 20 million copies or more? …Did the console owners decide to buy multiple copies???

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Topics
At the start of the game you have a small range of topics to choose from. So if you want to make new games with different topics, you have to research them… Yeah I get that. It makes perfect sense.

But when deciding which topic to research next, realistically, shouldn’t we have a much larger range of topics to choose from?

Perhaps this is designed to make the game more challenging or to force us to experiment with other topics we wouldn’t normally pick; but come on… Everyone knows about the existence of common topics like Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Sports, Military and Racing; and even in the 80s, it wouldn’t have been difficult to research such topics. Books, Comics, TV, Movies, Newspapers… these topics were EVERYWHERE!

Realistically, we should be able to research these common topics at any time throughout the game. It shouldn’t take researching 20+ other topics before you can finally research the one you want.

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MMOs
A bit of perspective…Eve Online is a real-life game that has less than 300,000 subscribers and has been running for over 10 years, whilst being able to pay it’s own maintenance fees, along with being able to pay all of CCP’s staff wages and even support major projects on the side. …and it is by no means a 9/10, highly ranked title… Now I doubt the company has all of its staff walking around the office in $10,000 suits, each with their own Lamborghini parked in the company garage; but their finances are obviously doing Okay.

Now from what I’ve read… It seems that in the past, MMOs in GDT were ridiculously over-powered, where players were making ridiculous amounts of money. You good folks at Greenheart then decided to nerf the MMO to the point where they barely stay afloat (even with constant expansions and conventions) along with a very short life span.

I kinda feel that the nerfing of MMOs went too far.

Now don’t get me wrong… I’m not asking Greenheart to change it back to the way it was; but I think perhaps you could meet us halfway…?

I feel that MMOs that received excellent scores and maintain decent rankings should actually be profitable. They should maintain a positive income for longer without the need of a new expansion so soon after the latest release. The maintenance costs should rise much more slowly (and possibly be capped) so that you can actually have time to do some research and a couple of things, and then actually finish the next expansion, before the MMO starts causing you to lose money.

I think it’s ridiculous that you can make an expansion that’s a 9.5 rating (or higher) and the game’s maintenance surpasses the profits while the game is ranked in the top 20! I mean seriously? It doesn’t make any sense.

Now before all the replies come flooding in telling me how to be successful in the game and make it work etc… I’m aware of the fact that each new title, sequel and expansion needs to be improved upon; I use conventions and have read suggestions about making your first MMO with lower features and graphics etc. etc. …I’ve played through the game multiple times where I’ve consistently made (non-MMO) titles with a score of 8.5 or higher and accumulated billions of money

And yes, I’m aware that in real-life, many MMOs have been unsuccessful with very short life-spans etc. etc., But!! if you’re the most popular developer at G3 with loads of fans and you make an uber successful title like World of Warcraft, shouldn’t the game allow the company to grow and expand quite comfortably for some time, before it requires the next expansion?

Please make the rise of maintenance slower, then cap it so that the game runs steady for a year or two (as realistically the company should be able to manage it’s maintenance costs to match its steadily lowering sales along with supposed fluctuating subscriptions & micro-transactions) - at least for the uber successful, highly ranked titles. You could even just cap the maintenance costs?? With this idea, if the player fails to bring out a new expansion every 2-3 years, the MMO will still eventually die; and the faster the rank drops, the faster it dies as the revenue would fall below the maintenance cap.

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Thank you for reading and considering my concerns and ideas! :grinning:

If you agree with anything I’ve said here, please post below so we can get the developers’ attention! :slight_smile:

-Mattio