MC Withdraw 3 month subscription

[Garek Maxwell 1]

Originally posted by: mrdazza_460By the look of your logo there USA_Pride "Po'd over PO just sayk NO"

I don't see why you care so much, your obviously not going to buy the PO. You say it is poor Customer relations infact it is the other way round. They have listed to all your complaints and they are working toward fixing it. quote>

Actually, I did the logo and I don't even own Cities XL. It was more for fun and that I could easily make a fun little phrase to go with it. I think I made it not too long after writing the phrase somewhere on this site about being PO'd over the PO.

Doesn't mean I like what Monte Cristo is doing, just means I'm not really effected by it. Perhaps a bit of consumer emphathy? Or maybe I'm just stretching my design skills and testing things. Take it how you will, and feel free to copy it if you like. I like it when people use it because it makes me think I did a rather good job...maybe.

Anyway, this is considerably off topic. Just thought I'd pop in to say that. Carry on!

[CSanchez 0]

Well personally a lot of the above is speculation and cynicism brought about entirely by the lack of communication.

However, I am positive, I BELIEVE that when they have changed their PO policy they want to move on it in one go, so by allowing only 1 month subs at present enables them to do this timely and to the greatest numbers. I probably think 3 months AFTER the change to 1 month subs we will see the new Planet Offer unfold.

However I paid

[mentarman 14]

Originally posted by: AlemanXL

If they are planning on just raising the price, they would have just done so by now, but removing the longer term subs suggests the are looking at something else.

They'll know how many units they sold, and after the first 2 months they'll have an idea of the percentage of people who are/have subscribed. With the backlash the game has received, I suspect the number of subscribers is not what they'd hoped for.

They perhaps underestimated the number of people who would still want to play solo, but would appear willing to pay regularly for the extra content.

So I still think that they are re-working the model, free2play with optional dlc, and if sensible continuiung subs, with free content, this would most likely increase the after sales income closer to the level they were hoping for.

This is also perhaps why they haven't said anything (although it's no excuse), they are still working it out, they don't know exactly what they're going to do, so can't tell us what they are going to do.

Don't they have a habit of going silent while they work things out fully, and then make announcements?quote>

Yes, this is along the lines of what I am thinking. They may be poised to change things to the way many critics have asked for, but many of those critics are so busy blindly attacking MC at any opportunity, they haven't noticed it yet.

Though as I've said, due to their communication habits, this is all speculation on both sides. Though I can kind of understand it from their point of view, and especially if they know they've got a big change coming but don't know what it is. Still they should level with the players/fans and have a big announcement on their site "Changes coming soon, don't know exactly what they will be, but letting you know etc etc."

[MINIggy03 227]

you guys have waaay to much faith in a company that continues to have a terrible track record of communication, uses a Simcity fan site as their source OF communication, jacked up their prices almost 50% without telling anyone until afterwards, and spent the first year telling Simcity fans that they were "Making a game for the fans, by the fans" only to delete well over a years worth of those fans involvement and dedication to their project.  

but by all means, pay them $10 a month and continue to make excuses for why they do what they do.  Afterall those of us who are critical of them are just blinded.  

[mentarman 14]

Originally posted by: MINIggy03

you guys have waaay to much faith in a company that continues to have a terrible track record of communication, uses a Simcity fan site as their source OF communication, jacked up their prices almost 50% without telling anyone until afterwards, and spent the first year telling Simcity fans that they were "Making a game for the fans, by the fans" only to delete well over a years worth of those fans involvement and dedication to their project.  

but by all means, pay them $10 a month and continue to make excuses for why they do what they do.  Afterall those of us who are critical of them are just blinded.  

quote>

Who are you replying to because that doesn't seem to fit anybody in this thread? Or is it that if I don't constantly post that I hate MC and they kicked my dog and stole my girlfriend then I am by default defending them?

[DazzaDazza 29]

HaHA maybe mentarman,

This is how we act hear, isn’t it?  

also Garek Maxwell, I don’t have a problem with your Logo in general, I just think it’s a bit ironic that some can be so upset over MC taking 3 month subscriptions away, when they clearly are not going to buy it in the first place, there not really proving any point,
there just........ummmm, should I ...........No.  probably it’s better left unsaid.     

[Cereah 0]

My theory is they have (or would had) more revenue from in-game adverstising than subscription fees.

I don't know what kind of partnership they have with Ford, Kodak, Novotel, etc. but, for sure, they would get more money if they have more players online. So the clever move is remove the PO fees and get all PO-haters in.

It's a game where in-game advertisments fit perfectly in. And I'm very surprised they have so many partners in only two months. Even the advertisments are on actual JCDecaux's.

That's my guess.

[deanco 0]

Train. Wreck.

[moaku 74]

It's true that a change "in the right direction" is the more logical thing to expect..

If you add number of cities from all planets, you'll see that there is 51843 cities online...

Players can have 1 to 5 cities, so it mean that they now have from ~ 10000 to 50000 players ... To these 10k to 50k, you also need to substract players who played online but not renewed their subscribtion, since it's still too early to see cities "expiring" and getting deleted for desertion of it's mayor...

So, even if we can't get a really precise idea of their subscribers count and revenues yet, one thing is for sure anyway... We're really far from the "we hope reaching the 100k subscribers very quickly" that MC's CEO stated in an interview when asked how much players they expect online... so since doing something bad at this point would probably mean definitive commercial death of the game, even more after the 2-3 months subscr removal, it's wise to conclude that whatever they plan to change, it will have to be in the right direction this time... and if it's not... well, we'll know that we should not expect anything from them...

So, good or not, this is a decisive move for them... can't wait to see what that will be

[Bazkur 34]

Hey people! I just got a response from MC on the subscription model. They say they are working on a new pricing model in direct response to user complaints. There is no timeline yet but they say there is something in the works. Fingers crossed guys.

[moaku 74]

We already knew that, but thanks anyway

[Sainty 0]

Originally posted by: moaku

It's true that a change "in the right direction" is the more logical thing to expect..

If you add number of cities from all planets, you'll see that there is 51843 cities online...

Players can have 1 to 5 cities, so it mean that they now have from ~ 10000 to 50000 players ... To these 10k to 50k, you also need to substract players who played online but not renewed their subscribtion, since it's still too early to see cities "expiring" and getting deleted for desertion of it's mayor...

So, even if we can't get a really precise idea of their subscribers count and revenues yet, one thing is for sure anyway... We're really far from the "we hope reaching the 100k subscribers very quickly" that MC's CEO stated in an interview when asked how much players they expect online... so since doing something bad at this point would probably mean definitive commercial death of the game, even more after the 2-3 months subscr removal, it's wise to conclude that whatever they plan to change, it will have to be in the right direction this time... and if it's not... well, we'll know that we should not expect anything from them...

So, good or not, this is a decisive move for them... can't wait to see what that will be quote>

False quotation!

[moaku 74]

Well, it's not an exact quotation, I've seen the interview in french... doesn't matter anyway...

EDIT: hear it yourself if you understand french... http://www.teknologik.fr/news/video-cities-xl-prepare-sa-sortie-le-8-octobre-5073

the question is asked @ 08:00 in the video.

[easypeacy42 0]

This is a really strange move of MC, indeed. My thought are going into the direction of AlemanXL.

Just for a re-pricing, it would be horribly stupid to withdraw those subscription offers and thus basically rejecting people who would be willing to pay for the PO ... and making them angry, even. So, I guess that this is not the reason (well ... actually ... MC has taken a lot of awful decisions during the past many months, unfortunately ... but let's be optimistic).

So, reasonably, you'd only withdraw those subscriptions when you're really forced to. Which leads to the next question: What could force MC to do so? I currently can only think of the following alternatives:

• They re-structure the PO offer in a dramatic way, e.g. you will pay per city and/or online-time, per resources, per whatever ...
• They will give away the PO for free due to the (I guess) low subscription rate (and maybe they could finance the PO by ads, etc.?) ... this would also resolve the issues with the SP players (at least some of them, depending if they release new features for SP then or still enforce peolpe to connect to a planet ... or they even drop the SP mode completely, then ... which is not what I hope, personally)
• They will stop the PO because they might have realized that it will never work out financially

I guess we will learn about this in January 2010.

[Xidillon 0]

Prolly just another way to make more money for the moment in order to stay afloat. I was hoping for the 6 month possibility but wouldve gotten the 3 month. Sheesh, scratch that.

[Sainty 0]

Originally posted by: moaku

Well, it's not an exact quotation, I've seen the interview in french... doesn't matter anyway...

EDIT: hear it yourself if you understand french... http://www.teknologik.fr/news/video-cities-xl-prepare-sa-sortie-le-8-octobre-5073

the question is asked @ 08:00 in the video.

quote>

Somebody will have to translate. I only understood "70'000" and something about the future.

Thx for the link!

[DazzaDazza 29]

 

I doubt that Xidillon, it to early to say. if they are having money troubles now you would have seen the sings, wait a year, then we will see if that statement it true.

Cereah, I also don't think that is a variable option, your asking other company to invest heavily in advertisings in a game that not many people play. Shore they get some income from what they have now, but it would Probably never be anywhere near enough to keep CXL running.  

 

[moaku 74]

Somebody will have to translate. I only understood "70'000" and something about the future.

quote>

He's asked what he would consider as a success..... He replies by first giving some subscribers count for other mmos, and then that he would consider 100k subscriber to be a success, or more precisely he wants to reach that count "as quickly as possible", so you have your partial exact quote lol

[dick209 0]

Support>>

Dear dick810,>>  >> Thank you for your message.>>  >> Since the release of Cities XL, we have received a lot of feedback about the game, its extra content and features, the available subscription options, etc... And for this we want to say "thanks" to all our players. We carefully noted and considered all the suggestions and remarks that have been made and we inform you that we are currently working on a revision of our Planet Offer model. As result of this ongoing process the 2 months and 3 months subscription, as the recurrent payment system, have been suspended for the moment. We are aware of the inconveniences that this transaction might generate and we apologise for this, but you can be sure that our main purpose, which is to provide the best service possible, still remains unchanged. Kind regards, the Cities XL team this is the response I got from MC I know I will be boycotting them.  if enough people were to do this maybe they would come to there senses  >>

[Asheroo 53]

Actually, maybe we should come to our senses first.

MC are improving the system, why punish them for improving it? That's just complete nonsense. You don't just boycott them because they have suspended a few ways of paying "For The Moment". It's just like boycotting Simtropolis because the site is down due to maintenance for improving the site. That reply shows that they really have listened to you, and that they are improving the payment methods and fees of the Planet Offer and so forth, but to do so, they need to keep things a little minimum in the system so they can work better on it. Just be patient, like you do when the ST site is down due to maintenance. Simply, some payment methods for the PO are down due to maintenance on the PO model.

[DazzaDazza 29]

Asheroo make a good point, let wait until we find out what they are doing before jumping to conclusions

[mentarman 14]

MC: We're listening to you and improving the game.

Response: Boycott!

Originally posted by: Xidillon

Prolly just another way to make more money for the moment in order to stay afloat. I was hoping for the 6 month possibility but wouldve gotten the 3 month. Sheesh, scratch that.quote>

It's a money grab for a month or two? And then what? With the number of subscribers down, none of them in longer-term or recurring subscriptions, and no change to anything, they aren't any better off. So I don't think that makes any sense. The company isn't going to rest on a business plan of "make a small bit more money maybe for a month, then implode." Just sticking with no change at all is a better business plan.

So again, the only thing that makes sense to me is BIG changes comingto the PO that make longer-term subscriptions a liability in some way instead of an asset as they would normally be. I don't see how it could be anything else, though I am not the all-knowing, all-seeing OZ and could easily be wrong. But that's what it seems to me. So I'm hoping these big changes are of the sort that will please some of those who have been legitimately critical of the game on some counts (though every time I write this I seem to get accused of "defending MC.")

[Sainty 0]

Originally posted by: Asheroo

Actually, maybe we should come to our senses first.

MC are improving the system, why punish them for improving it? That's just complete nonsense. You don't just boycott them because they have suspended a few ways of paying "For The Moment". It's just like boycotting Simtropolis because the site is down due to maintenance for improving the site. That reply shows that they really have listened to you, and that they are improving the payment methods and fees of the Planet Offer and so forth, but to do so, they need to keep things a little minimum in the system so they can work better on it. Just be patient, like you do when the ST site is down due to maintenance. Simply, some payment methods for the PO are down due to maintenance on the PO model.quote>

Ash! Now I see it; you are suffering from the Stockholm syndrome! 

Btw, if im not totaly wrong, the payment system is hosted externaly by another company, http://www.metaboli.co.uk/.

[Tuesday 0]

Originally posted by: deanco

Train. Wreck.quote>

Unlikely.  They've not been released yet.

[metarvo 710]

I'm not anti-MC or anything, and I'm seriously considering buying any city building games that they might release in the future, since what I've seen of CXL certainly does look good.  However, this subscription withdrawal has pretty much decided for me that I won't be buying CXL.  Since I've never played it in any form, and I don't own it, I don't feel that it is my place to criticize the game itself or the company that made it.  However, I already didn't like the idea of paying for a subscription, and if I paid for a subscription and it was withdrawn, I know I would be mad.  The chance that this may happen in the future if the prices increase again doesn't help things, either.  This is just my § 0.02.

[Sainty 0]

Originally posted by: moaku

Somebody will have to translate. I only understood "70'000" and something about the future.

quote>

He's asked what he would consider as a success..... He replies by first giving some subscribers count for other mmos, and then that he would consider 100k subscriber to be a success, or more precisely he wants to reach that count "as quickly as possible", so you have your partial exact quote lol

quote>

Your first and 2nd quote, even if you are saying that they are one and the same, are two different things. The first time you quoted the CEO, you made it sound like its a short term goal, which it isnt. As you said, 100k is the long term goal and they want to make it to it as fast as possible, but long terms goals set by a company can be everything from 1 year to 10 years. "As quickly as possible", could actually be on 1 or 2 years. And having something like 25k subscribers after 3 months doesnt mean that its a bad number at all compared to the long term goal...

You understand what im saying?

[John-SJ 13]

Here's a nice shiny new gun MC.  Now, go take care of that foot of yours once and for all!  In fact, why not take care of BOTH of them?

[DazzaDazza 29]

You make a good point Sainty

Why do people think that, M C will not sell any more copies of the game than what they have now?, Why do people think that MC will not sell anymore PO subscription then what they have now?

They seem to be using the number of subscription on what they have now and thinking the is the max they will every get. That might be true. But unless you can see the future you are only speculating, if you can see the future. Can you tell me the Oz lotto numbers for next week; I really won't a new Ferrari.

[Soviet779 1]

Originally posted by: mrdazza_460

You make a good point Sainty

Why do people think that, M C will not sell any more copies of the game than what they have now?, Why do people think that MC will not sell anymore PO subscription then what they have now?

They seem to be using the number of subscription on what they have now and thinking the is the max they will every get. That might be true. But unless you can see the future you are only speculating, if you can see the future. Can you tell me the Oz lotto numbers for next week; I really won't a new Ferrari.

quote>

Most sales of a game are made in the first month, the trickle of sales afterwards dosent amount to much. Plus three other crippling factors: This is a PC game, Its a niche genre, Its not even a good game. All that just spells doom for cities XL.

[morriswalters 16]

On a purely technical note, we have no data on,

MC's business plan,

Cash position,

Sales

Cash flow

Base operating costs

So any opinion about viability falls in the category of "W.A.G"

On a purely emotional note,

I recognize that that I must be develomentally challanged to not see this game for the fail you say it is.  But since you are smarter than me you must be right.  But my limited intellecual capabilities allow me to find amusement in things that others find boring and unusable.  My limited intellectual capabilities also allow me to find happiness with that fact.  Have a pleasent day.