Just pass it on. That might be the best for Spiral Knights. Sell the game/give it to another company. And that company can have better resources to turn it into what it should have been. The content will return, the appropriate ballance changes will be made, new players will come from that company's faithful players along with whatever the company does to raise publicity for the game. Of course there will be issues, like for example what they will do with old players and all their gears and stuff. Some forms of data transfers could work, or if the new company does a good enough job on the new game, the old players might not even be bothered that they lost all their stuff.
Quite easy
Tue, 03/22/2016 - 07:15
Tue, 03/22/2016 - 13:18
#2
It's been done before.
It's been done before. People don't care if it is a dying game, it's getting revived by the new company. If the game is cool, companies will want to take it nontheless. I can give you an example off the top of my head: lost saga! Yeah, obscure game, died several times, dwindling player base, but guess what? It was revived several times, with quite a lot of success. The monetization model is pretty good actually, for this game. Only minor adjustments are needed. As for the "drastic changes" like new content and stuff, nowhere in my previous post did i say it needed to happen all at once as soon as they take over. That is something they will do over time. Do i really need to specify EVERYTHING for the off chance someone might misinterpret and nitpick at every little detail?
Tue, 03/22/2016 - 14:22
#3
business is easy?
I don't think that Traevelliath is nitpicking. He's pointing out that the problem is much harder than what you've described.
The original post is a bit like saying "Basketball is easy; you just throw the ball through the hoop!" Or "Making a fortune is easy; you just identify a product that nobody has and everybody needs!"
Good luck as you continue to develop your plan.
Tue, 03/22/2016 - 19:18
#4
I'm just saying, you're going to have to be REALLY convincing to get anyone to buy up a dying MMO. From a cold-heart pure business standpoint, I don't think SK is as appealing as you think.
I bring up the monetization model because, if we're going to talk business, this is probably the most important part. Simply put, SK has a bad monetization model. I could mention the prize box Skinner's boxes and the over-reliance on whales... However let's put it this way: Saying "I've played this game for years and haven't spent a cent" is a mark of pride. When your most devoted players are bragging that they aren't spending money on the game, then your monetization model has failed. You want players to be excited to spend money on the game. You don't want players shaming the highest paying customers as "pay to win." Admittedly this sort of attitude has slowly changed over time, but there is still a lot of whale shaming on the forums.
So no, it wont be "quite easy."
Thu, 03/24/2016 - 12:53
#5
Hmm.
Couldn't SEGA just lease it for a cut of the profits? No risk to them if it fails to regain a playerbase.
"Hello boss, I got a great idea! How about we buy up this obscure dying game over here with a dwindling playerbase, and poor monetization model! It'll be easy to just throw money at it, make some drastic changes, and redesign it's monetization model from the ground up, until it comes back to life. There will be no risk whatsoever, nor will it cost us a lot of capital!"