Downloadable version?

[____________esjaytdr]

If you don't care about the media, will there be a way to purchase the booster pack without having to order the cds. (i.e. downloadable version). I think an option should be available to just buy a key for it.

[____________esjaytdr]

.

[Ratty]

There's another thread on the forum about this, post there too, let's make some noise.
I can't buy NW unless it's downloadable, i'm in a very remote location and it's impossible to have anything shipped, and there's no software shops near. However, high speed satellite is no problem.

[____________Intrepid]

Yes downloadable version please. I am will to wait the time to download it like i did the game to save myself the insane shipping costs.

[Elbo]

Given how I just love to goto the store... (not!)

I think a downloadable version would be best. The last time I went to a videogame store was just over a year ago and I picked up AO. Perhaps I'll see another game instead.

We can only wonder.

[_______________Tiran]

Gaute has already said there will NOT be a downloadable version when it's first released.

This is because having shelf space in stores is important to the game. If it's available download, stores won't carry it.

This is a bad thing (TM)

He also said that some significant time after release, it may be made available for download.

[Centurion3]

Dont think it will be sold seperatly either, now you have to buy Anarchy Online again to get the booster too

Can you say; Cheap trick to get more money?

[____________esjaytdr]

any word on this?>

[____________Dominata]

Originally posted by Tiran
Gaute has already said there will NOT be a downloadable version when it's first released.

This is because having shelf space in stores is important to the game. If it's available download, stores won't carry it.

This is a bad thing (TM)

He also said that some significant time after release, it may be made available for download.

This does not really hold water since it has been available for pre-order from FC themselves for months, this should also stop stores from stocking the game since it's similar to a download. No, the real reason is that FC needs to boost the sales of the original client, even if it is by artificial means. Since they do not divulge how many people actually are playing AO they will probably use the sales of the client/booster to show how "healthy" AO is. Sad, but probably true.

[HexTar]

No!NO!NO!NO

Having preordered it myself I can say it's nothing like downloading it.

My orderstatus says "backordered"

And with the response time Digitalriver has on customer service e-mail. I'll be lucky to get it this side of X-mas.
I for one can certainly say I will never preorder through Digitalriver ever again!!!!!!

Downloading it would take me max 2 hours depending on the size, but up to 650MB wouldn't have bothered me at all.

Preordering and being the last to get a copy is beyond my comprehension????????

[Kuro]

Originally posted by Dominata



This does not really hold water since it has been available for pre-order from FC themselves for months, this should also stop stores from stocking the game since it's similar to a download. No, the real reason is that FC needs to boost the sales of the original client, even if it is by artificial means. Since they do not divulge how many people actually are playing AO they will probably use the sales of the client/booster to show how "healthy" AO is. Sad, but probably true.

*Yawn*. Client sales don't matter in a subscription based business. Renewed subscriptions matter in a subscription based business. Any software developer will tell you they are lucky to recoup development costs via actual client sales.

Is it some underhanded trick to offer the booster only in stores at first in order to increase market visibility? No, that's actually covered in Marketing 101 at your local community college. It's called "Good Marketing".

[____________Dominata]

Originally posted by Kuroshio


*Yawn*. Client sales don't matter in a subscription based business. Renewed subscriptions matter in a subscription based business. Any software developer will tell you they are lucky to recoup development costs via actual client sales.

Is it some underhanded trick to offer the booster only in stores at first in order to increase market visibility? No, that's actually covered in Marketing 101 at your local community college. It's called "Good Marketing".

Don't make yourself out to be stupid because I know you're not. Your arrogance brings you very close to the edge of being stupid sometimes and it has definitely made you miss my point entirely this time. I have never implied that an MMORPG lives and dies by it's client sales, quite the contrary in fact. Read my post properly, please.
FC has a policy of not divulging how many subscribers they have, neither to they divulge how many players you can actually expect to see online at any given time. This is because AO has a pretty low subscriber base compared to other MMORPGS of this scale.
One way of getting actual new subscribers into the game is to show healthy sales of the client, apart from ads, banners and such. If you look at their preorder page it says 'The box will contain both the entire Anarchy Online game client and the additional features of the booster pack.'
So, they sell the client + the booster = a lot of sales for the client, no matter that current subscribers are forced to buy the client all over again and they would loose those client sales if NW was offered as a download. Client sales are for now the only way for FC to show that their player base is growing at all. If you can not see this you know nothing of marketing beyond 'Marketing 101', you would be surprised at the possibilities to prove all sorts of things with polls and numbers. Mind you, I'm not saying that this is the real reason as to why they have chosen this solution, but it is a well known way to boost sales artificially.
If they were really concerned about market visibility they shouldn't even offer it from their own online shop. It's always good to have a box in the stores but this is at the expense of a lot of players whose only way of getting it is by online ordering and paying a lot to have it shipped and that is bad.

[Kuro]

Originally posted by Dominata


Don't make yourself out to be stupid because I know you're not. Your arrogance brings you very close to the edge of being stupid sometimes and it has definitely made you miss my point entirely this time. I have never implied that an MMORPG lives and dies by it's client sales, quite the contrary in fact. Read my post properly, please.
FC has a policy of not divulging how many subscribers they have, neither to they divulge how many players you can actually expect to see online at any given time. This is because AO has a pretty low subscriber base compared to other MMORPGS of this scale.
One way of getting actual new subscribers into the game is to show healthy sales of the client, apart from ads, banners and such. If you look at their preorder page it says 'The box will contain both the entire Anarchy Online game client and the additional features of the booster pack.'
So, they sell the client + the booster = a lot of sales for the client, no matter that current subscribers are forced to buy the client all over again and they would loose those client sales if NW was offered as a download. Client sales are for now the only way for FC to show that their player base is growing at all. If you can not see this you know nothing of marketing beyond 'Marketing 101', you would be surprised at the possibilities to prove all sorts of things with polls and numbers. Mind you, I'm not saying that this is the real reason as to why they have chosen this solution, but it is a well known way to boost sales artificially.
If they were really concerned about market visibility they shouldn't even offer it from their own online shop. It's always good to have a box in the stores but this is at the expense of a lot of players whose only way of getting it is by online ordering and paying a lot to have it shipped and that is bad.

And your bitterness has taken you beyond biased. The client that you're making so much noise about has no real discernable value and you know that. Yet you wave it like they're attempting to charge people for the client. The only reason I can guess for doing so is to attempt to poison people against a company that's trying to do the same thing every company does: make a profit.

Fundamentally, people are getting charged for:

1. Added media not availible in the regular client, like the voices that nobody would want to DL at 56k.
2. Access to the full functionality of added features, such as the ability to place towers which also is not part of the client.

I buy a car. It comes with an ash tray even though I don't smoke (any more). I can tell Ford to take out that ash tray but guess what? It's not going to affect the price of the car not even by 1 Dollar. I'm not buying the ash tray. I'm buying the car. The ashtray is just a bonus tossed in.

PS
Why is SOE/Verant charging shipping/handling of their beta cds in order for the people volunteering to help THEM access their product and test it? Why not make it a download? In order to maximize their profits by

1. Not having added bandwidth bills
2. Not covering the shipping/handling themselves

Are they cheating their testers or utilizing good business sense? I hate SOE/Verant with an unbelievable passion. But I can't fault their business acumen 1 iota.

[AiymaNeut]

Actually, assuming Funcom operates as an economically rational firm, charging an up-front price for the client and then charging a monthly fee to play can be explained by differing cost concepts.

The purchase price for the client is charged in order to cover Funcom's sunk costs in developing AO and Notum Wars. These are fixed costs associated with developing the initial game, establishing the IT infrastructure (purchasing servers, etc.) and do not materially vary as a result of operations. Once you've invested in developing the software, you can't exactly turn around, change your mind and recoup your investment. Likewise, adding 100 more subscribers does not affect the original cost of developing the game.

The ongoing monthly subscription fee is levied to cover Funcom's variable cost from continuing the operation of AO as a going concern. This cost classification is primarily comprised of labour costs associated with ongoing patching, community relations, re-development, etc.

Since the quantity of labour varies as a function of production (i.e., look how many hours Cz has had to put in lately because of everything that's going on), for AO to continue to be available Funcom can either charge an exhorbitant fee for the client or a small monthly fee spread over a large subscriber base. The latter is obviously preferrable as it will not deter initial sales and because a monthly fee forms a smaller instantaneous percentage of income than a high purchase price.

Also, if Funcom were to make NW downloadable at release, they would either have to raise the price on every unit in order to recover costs that have already been sunk in developing Notum Wars, or they would have to eat that cost and bear the financial consequences.

You are not paying for the AO client when you buy the NW package (aside from the cost of the CD and printing) - that cost has already been recovered through sales of the client since release. What you are paying for is the cost of developing and implementing NW.

As far as marketing strategy is concerned, AO does have one of the smaller subscriber bases among the MMORPG community. And Dominata is right - AO has already been advertised, and although it is 100 times better than at release, it is still "Anarchy Online". NW gives them a new angle, and by packaging NW in a different style than the original AO, it makes it appear as if it is a new game unto itself, at least aesthetically. Thus, people who may have ignored AO to date because of its launch problems or for whatever other reason may pass by their games retailer, see this box, and actually take the time to re-evaluate their original choice not to play.

[____________Dominata]

Originally posted by Kuroshio


And your bitterness has taken you beyond biased. The client that you're making so much noise about has no real discernable value and you know that. Yet you wave it like they're attempting to charge people for the client. The only reason I can guess for doing so is to attempt to poison people against a company that's trying to do the same thing every company does: make a profit.

Fundamentally, people are getting charged for:

1. Added media not availible in the regular client, like the voices that nobody would want to DL at 56k.
2. Access to the full functionality of added features, such as the ability to place towers which also is not part of the client.

I buy a car. It comes with an ash tray even though I don't smoke (any more). I can tell Ford to take out that ash tray but guess what? It's not going to affect the price of the car not even by 1 Dollar. I'm not buying the ash tray. I'm buying the car. The ashtray is just a bonus tossed in.

PS
Why is SOE/Verant charging shipping/handling of their beta cds in order for the people volunteering to help THEM access their product and test it? Why not make it a download? In order to maximize their profits by

1. Not having added bandwidth bills
2. Not covering the shipping/handling themselves

Are they cheating their testers or utilizing good business sense? I hate SOE/Verant with an unbelievable passion. But I can't fault their business acumen 1 iota.

I give up. You are too stuck up to even see my point but I will try one last time...

This is not about cost at all.
They original poster wanted to know why he couldn't download the booster and I gave one of several possible reasons for it and I do not see that the price was mentioned once. Shipping cost for people that will never see NW in a store and will have to pay $40 or more for shipping is an issue but has nothing to do with the price of NW in itself. I'm sure that most people who want to download the booster is willing to pay the full $19.95 as long as they don't have to pay $40+ in shipping. I consider your above post redundant, sorry.

I tried to give a possible reason for FC to refusing NW as a download and bundling it with the client. I may be wrong but fact remains, this is a widely used marketing strategy that we see used time after time again by a lot of companies.

I'm not bitter either, but I know that it's one of your favorite words so I will just let that slide.
I can buy the booster in one store here in Sweden that I know of and this at about the same price as if I pre-ordered it, without shipping costs even, so I have no price issues with NW if I wanted to buy it. I do, however, feel for players who do not have this option and may end up with a total cost of $60 or more if they really want NW.

[______________DLS242]

*BUMP* for downlodebel NW, at least for thos who have an valid Anarcyh Online acount at the point of release.

BUMP, BUMP, BUMP

[G774]

U will be able to download it

[____________Dominata]

Originally posted by cyclonic engie
U will be able to download it

Would you care to elaborate and maybe explain in more detail what the e-mail said?
If FC is making it possible for people who is not able to get the booster without paying outrageous shipping it is great news indeed.

[Kuro]

Originally posted by Dominata


I give up. You are too stuck up to even see my point but I will try one last time...

This is not about cost at all.
They original poster wanted to know why he couldn't download the booster and I gave one of several possible reasons for it and I do not see that the price was mentioned once. Shipping cost for people that will never see NW in a store and will have to pay $40 or more for shipping is an issue but has nothing to do with the price of NW in itself. I'm sure that most people who want to download the booster is willing to pay the full $19.95 as long as they don't have to pay $40+ in shipping. I consider your above post redundant, sorry.

I tried to give a possible reason for FC to refusing NW as a download and bundling it with the client. I may be wrong but fact remains, this is a widely used marketing strategy that we see used time after time again by a lot of companies.

I'm not bitter either, but I know that it's one of your favorite words so I will just let that slide.
I can buy the booster in one store here in Sweden that I know of and this at about the same price as if I pre-ordered it, without shipping costs even, so I have no price issues with NW if I wanted to buy it. I do, however, feel for players who do not have this option and may end up with a total cost of $60 or more if they really want NW.

This is what you said.

Originally posted by Dominata
...

FC has a policy of not divulging how many subscribers they have, neither to they divulge how many players you can actually expect to see online at any given time. This is because AO has a pretty low subscriber base compared to other MMORPGS of this scale.
One way of getting actual new subscribers into the game is to show healthy sales of the client, apart from ads, banners and such. If you look at their preorder page it says 'The box will contain both the entire Anarchy Online game client and the additional features of the booster pack.'


So, they sell the client + the booster = a lot of sales for the client, no matter that current subscribers are forced to buy the client all over again and they would loose those client sales if NW was offered as a download. Client sales are for now the only way for FC to show that their player base is growing at all. If you can not see this you know nothing of marketing beyond 'Marketing 101', you would be surprised at the possibilities to prove all sorts of things with polls and numbers. Mind you, I'm not saying that this is the real reason as to why they have chosen this solution, but it is a well known way to boost sales artificially. [/B]

You seem to be the person focusing on the belief that people are paying for the client, not me. And the manner in which you present it is to allude to people that Funcom is cheating them and lying to the market. Hence the word "bitter"

Personally, I don't care if Funcom included an original 11.0 CD in the booster package itself and the updated files in a separate executable. The price of the Notum Wars has nothing to do with the client to me. That's just a bonus that contains a more recent version (which means less patching) for me.

[____________Dominata]

Originally posted by Kuroshio


You seem to be the person focusing on the belief that people are paying for the client, not me. And the manner in which you present it is to allude to people that Funcom is cheating them and lying to the market. Hence the word "bitter"

I'm sure that the price would have stayed the same even if they did not include the client, so that is not an issue. It is true, however, that I imply that FC is lying to the market, exactly like many other companies to all over the world.

An example...
A daily newspaper here recently had a campaign where they wanted to thank their 1.5 million readers for choosing their paper. They totally neglected the simple fact that they sell less than 500k, but through various polls and research tools available they arrived at the conclusion that they had 1.5 million readers, which sounds much more impressive.

The exact thing can be applied in reverse to AO, they can present an actual figure of clients sold and thus give the impression that a lot more are playing AO than is actually the case, since they refuse to tell us how many subscribers they have. If they had sold NW separately they wouldn't be able to show any boosts in sales at all.

I'm sorry if I gave the impression that I was bitter, because I'm not. It was merely a reason I saw beyond market visibility, the truth probably lies somewhere in between. If not outright lying, at least deceiving is one of the foundations of marketing and advertising, I work in this business myself and I see no reason for being hypocritical about it.