Upcoming Changes to Monetization - And Why We Are Making Them

[GigaBowserX]

I'm surprised this game has not gone free to play yet, considering it's heavily monetized like one (and it's what all the negative reviews are pointing out). I feel like a majority of the money made from the game (well, most modern games) is from the microtransactions anyway and not with the initial game purchase, so why keep that barrier up?

I was surprised by this same thing when I first started playing. I saw the microtransaction store and my first thought was, "Wow, this looks just like an F2P." However, I am extremely glad that it hasn't gone free to play, because with that barrier down, you get all kinds of trolls and other toxic/trash players that just want to give everyone a bad time. There are still a few rude players here and there, but from my experience of 500+ hours, the majority of the current playerbase is courteous to others and genuinely wants to play the game, rather than raging, trolling, etc.

 

[Copycat]

I'm surprised this game has not gone free to play yet, considering it's heavily monetized like one (and it's what all the negative reviews are pointing out). I feel like a majority of the money made from the game (well, most modern games) is from the microtransactions anyway and not with the initial game purchase, so why keep that barrier up?

I concur with this sentiment. If Tripwire is going to monetize Killing Floor 2 like a free-to-play game (which it currently is not), Tripwire should make the game free-to-play to justify its actions.

 

[Clone with a mark 7 suit]

I concur with this sentiment. If Tripwire is going to monetize Killing Floor 2 like a free-to-play game (which it currently is not), Tripwire should make the game free-to-play to justify its actions.

No, never. New people would get waaaay to much content from the start for basically zero dollars, which means that a new player could play the game for 1000 hours before he or she buys something. On top of that it would be easy for cheaters to just play for free every time they get banned for cheating. If killing floor 2 ever becomes a f2p i will stop playing with random players on-line. And tripwire does not have to justify anything at all, if they make more money now and in the future with this move, they did the right thing, after all they are not using child labor or causing cancer to maximise profits, or stuff like that. I would pay a new gun less that 2 packs of cigarettes and i would get a lot more good times out of it. I can take it, considering that KF2 is basically the only game i play.

I hope that TWI will put out lots and lots of new content now that we will have to pay for new weapons. It could keep me playing the game for ever. I'll post suggestions for new guns in ideas and suggestions every week, just to make sure they don't run out of ideas.

They will lower down the prices of new weapons only if the new weapons don't sell enough, as it should be.

 

[Copycat]

No, never. New people would get waaaay to much content from the start for basically zero dollars, which means that a new player could play the game for 1000 hours before he or she buys something.

And how does that negatively affect Tripwire or us? It does not. In fact, it positively affects us by enlarging the playerbase.

On top of that it would be easy for cheaters to just play for free every time they get banned for cheating. If killing floor 2 ever becomes a f2p i will stop playing with random players on-line.

That is what kick polls are for, and I don't see what the big deal with cheating is on a cooperative game like this, you are not losing because of someone else's cheating.

And tripwire does not have to justify anything at all, if they make more money now and in the future with this move, they did the right thing, after all they are not using child labor or causing cancer to maximise profits, or stuff like that.

Oh, so it is alright with you that they are increasingly monetizing every little aspect in the game even though we paid to be able to play this game? You go ahead and pay cash for ammo, I bet you would also try to excuse that if they dared to monetize that.

I would pay a new gun less that 2 packs of cigarettes and i would get a lot more good times out of it. I can take it, considering that KF2 is basically the only game i play.

Because you have no other form of leisure and are addicted like a casino addict, I understand, however, most of us are not addicts and wish to be respected as consumers rather than bow to commercial abuse.

I hope that TWI will put out lots and lots of new content now that we will have to pay for new weapons. It could keep me playing the game for ever. I'll post suggestions for new guns in ideas and suggestions every week, just to make sure they don't run out of ideas.

And exactly what makes you think that people are going to buy a game that is going to charge them for things like cosmetics when they are not even created by Tripwire and are not used to fund free updates? Fewer people will buy the game and fewer people will play the game because of such a ridiculous business model. All that Tripwire is doing is driving potential players and old players alike away from the game. If they at least had the decency to balance the business model to something that makes sense to consumers, then there would be nothing for me to complain about.

If Tripwire is going to give me free updates, I do not mind buying cosmetics, but if it is going to charge me for the updates, I see no reason to buy cosmetics because the payments are donations, considering the cosmetics are not created by Tripwire, they are created by the 3D artist community. It is shameless and unfair for Tripwire to sell something it is not creating while not giving anything in return.

 

[Clone with a mark 7 suit]

Copycat They would basically work for free for most people. Once tha game goes f2p servers will be flooded with new players, which means a lot more servers will be needed. Most of those new players will not be interested in buying new stuff for a very long time, due to the massive amounts of content already accessible to everyone and to the fact that most of them will play the game casually, which means that TWI will capitalize on the same players that were in the game before, the ones that are bored with the content that is already there. The flood of cheaters that will come to ruin games soner that you can say "kick", just for the fun of it, trolls that make the game too easy or find creative cheats to make a mess basically, will drive away the old player base. So the cost of new infrastructure to make the multiplayer work and the cost of loosing the players that could spend the most money in the game, make the idea of making kf2 f2p a bad thing.

There is a video on youtube titled "KF2 Devs banning players for associating with Cheaters" made by Boring which shows how this guy basically uses cheats to troll everyone. Cheating like this gives trolls superpowers basically, but it appears to me that for you that is no big deal.

It's "morally", sort of speak, not alright to monetize tha game that much. But game companies have nothing to do with morals. I don't like to pay 10 dollars per gun. You don't like to pay 10 dollars per gun. Now, will that change anything? No. The only thing that could make this 10 dollar per gun thing bad for the company is if they lose money by doing that. That is the only way this company could see its move as wrong. Telling them that it is morally wrong to do this will just make them laugh while you cry. Instead of complaining you should stop playing kf2 and/or not buy anything anymore there.

If TWI interactive would start to monetize the ammo boxes i would uninstall, not because it is too morally wrong, but because it would be too expensive and not worth it.

I do have more that one form of leisure. I just happen to smoke more when it can't play kf2. If you wish to be respected as a consumer you would not be asking TWI to make kf2 f2p because it is morally wrong to capitalize on the game as much as possible in this forum, you would just make them laugh. And your firends should not buy and/or spend money on kf2. Enough people doing that would be more than enough to make TWI change its course.

People will buy this game because it comes with tons and tons of content already. Gamers are accustomed to being... let's say... capitalized on by game companies.

All that TWI is doing is testing out the waters. See how much they can... capitalize on us. I do think that 10 dollars it too much for most players ad i bet a dollar that the price will drop by a lot.

If you stop giving them money, in a way or another, if you feel that capitalization a little to much for your liking, that is more than enough. No need to tell them in their forum that they are morally bankrupt and that they owe the players something for that. Remember, it's a company, a G A M E C O M P A N Y, it is intrinsicallly morally bankrupt. Crying here makes you just look funny to them.

I'm jokingly exaggerating, but you get the point.

 

[Copycat]

They would basically work for free for most people. Once tha game goes f2p servers will be flooded with new players, which means a lot more servers will be needed. Most of those new players will not be interested in buying new stuff for a very long time, due to the massive amounts of content already accessible to everyone and to the fact that most of them will play the game casually, which means that TWI will capitalize on the same players that were in the game before, the ones that are bored with the content that is already there. The flood of cheaters that will come to ruin games soner that you can say "kick", just for the fun of it, trolls that make the game too easy or find creative cheats to make a mess basically, will drive away the old player base. So the cost of new infrastructure to make the multiplayer work and the cost of loosing the players that could spend the most money in the game, make the idea of making kf2 f2p a bad thing.

There are more than enough servers, there is no shortage of servers, and "the massive amounts of content already accessible to everyone" and "casual play" has absolutely nothing to do with desire to purchase, your assumption that they are all going to play the game casually is unfounded, and people spend money on free-to-play games all the time, whether it is cosmetics or expansions. Your belief that the game will be flooded by cheaters is unfounded too, there is no evidence that cheaters have a strong desire to come to KF2 to ruin the game for everyone else, you are merely fear-mongering.

There is a video on youtube titled "KF2 Devs banning players for associating with Cheaters" made by Boring which shows how this guy basically uses cheats to troll everyone. Cheating like this gives trolls superpowers basically, but it appears to me that for you that is no big deal.

That is what anti-cheat software is for, and only because one guy is cheating to troll everyone does not mean that everyone else is going to do it. As I said, you are fear-mongering. There are always risks to everything, but you are inflating the risk beyond reason.

It's "morally", sort of speak, not alright to monetize tha game that much. But game companies have nothing to do with morals. I don't like to pay 10 dollars per gun. You don't like to pay 10 dollars per gun. Now, will that change anything? No. The only thing that could make this 10 dollar per gun thing bad for the company is if they lose money by doing that. That is the only way this company could see its move as wrong. Telling them that it is morally wrong to do this will just make them laugh while you cry. Instead of complaining you should stop playing kf2 and/or not buy anything anymore there.

I do have more that one form of leisure. I just happen to smoke more when it can't play kf2. If you wish to be respected as a consumer you would not be asking TWI to make kf2 f2p because it is morally wrong to capitalize on the game as much as possible in this forum, you would just make them laugh. And your firends should not buy and/or spend money on kf2. Enough people doing that would be more than enough to make TWI change its course.

I don't think you understand how negative reviews, boycotts and ceasing of patronage works. Companies do care about how their customers feel about them simply because a customers who does not like a company will be reluctant to continue to trade with it. It is no laughing matter, and yes, I will not buy anything from them anymore, and I am explicitly telling them why I am doing so because I want them to know that their behaviour is betraying us customers who have been giving them patronage through in-game purchases. If you don't like it that I voice my concerns as a consumer, then that is unfortunate for you, but it has no relevance to me whatsoever because I am doing what I should do to advance my consumer interests.

People will buy this game because it comes with tons and tons of content already. Gamers are accustomed to being... let's say... capitalized on by game companies.

It actually does not have tons of content, why do you think players complain about the lack of variety whenever a new update is announced? People are bored with the game.

All that TWI is doing is testing out the waters. See how much they can... capitalize on us. I do think that 10 dollars it too much for most players ad i bet a dollar that the price will drop by a lot.

They don't have to test anything because they already had a business model like this for KF1, the difference is that KF2 has a Zedconomy which is what makes the replicated model redundant and abusive.

If you stop giving them money, in a way or another, if you feel that capitalization a little to much for your liking, that is more than enough. No need to tell them in their forum that they are morally bankrupt and that they owe the players something for that. Remember, it's a company, a G A M E C O M P A N Y, it is intrinsicallly morally bankrupt. Crying here makes you just look funny to them.

As I said earlier, I don't think you understand how business ethics work and what their function is in the role of making profit. Businesses have a responsibility to treat the customers fairly so that the customers will continue their patronage to the business through commerce. Delivering a profit to the shareholders is the ultimate goal, and to achieve that efficiently, you have to play by other rules such as the one I mentioned.

 

[Barot8]

F2p generally nickel and dime every single thing, and turn into a grindfest to unlock minor stuff. I say no. At least this way we'll get some new content supported by the user base who buy the guns.

 

[Clone with a mark 7 suit]

F2p generally nickel and dime every single thing, and turn into a grindfest to unlock minor stuff. I say no. At least this way we'll get some new content supported by the user base who buy the guns.

Good point

 

[Clone with a mark 7 suit]

There are more than enough servers, there is no shortage of servers, and "the massive amounts of content already accessible to everyone" and "casual play" has absolutely nothing to do with desire to purchase, your assumption that they are all going to play the game casually is unfounded, and people spend money on free-to-play games all the time, whether it is cosmetics or expansions. Your belief that the game will be flooded by cheaters is unfounded too, there is no evidence that cheaters have a strong desire to come to KF2 to ruin the game for everyone else, you are merely fear-mongering.

That is what anti-cheat software is for, and only because one guy is cheating to troll everyone does not mean that everyone else is going to do it. As I said, you are fear-mongering. There are always risks to everything, but you are inflating the risk beyond reason.

I don't think you understand how negative reviews, boycotts and ceasing of patronage works. Companies do care about how their customers feel about them simply because a customers who does not like a company will be reluctant to continue to trade with it. It is no laughing matter, and yes, I will not buy anything from them anymore, and I am explicitly telling them why I am doing so because I want them to know that their behaviour is betraying us customers who have been giving them patronage through in-game purchases. If you don't like it that I voice my concerns as a consumer, then that is unfortunate for you, but it has no relevance to me whatsoever because I am doing what I should do to advance my consumer interests.

It actually does not have tons of content, why do you think players complain about the lack of variety whenever a new update is announced? People are bored with the game.

You are stating that facts are false and stuff that could very probably happen won't happen for sure. I have no interest in replying to you anymore after this.

 

[missing_trigger]

F2p generally nickel and dime every single thing, and turn into a grindfest to unlock minor stuff. I say no. At least this way we'll get some new content supported by the user base who buy the guns.

But game is already in that state lmao. As person who bought this game, I don't mind it to become F2P but give some reward to people who bought it.

 

[Clone with a mark 7 suit]

But game is already in that state lmao. As person who bought this game, I don't mind it to become F2P but give some reward to people who bought it.

If it becomes f2p it will get worse than it is now

 

[Copycat]

You are stating that facts are false and stuff that could very probably happen won't happen for sure. I have no interest in replying to you anymore after this.

Do you expect me to take everything you say as a fact without providing any sort of evidence? Especially your "stuff that could very probably happen" as if you had conducted some sort of mathematical research to prove that your probability claims are justified. You are pulling high odds out of thin air. If you are going to make an argument, you ought to substantiate it.

 

[CARDUSH]

when the zedconomy came at the first i told i was going to be crap
i bought every single DLC on kf1, buy there is no money from me on kf2 cause of the shitty pay 2,5 to get a raandom bull****
TW should have done it right from the beginning

 

[God_JoKeR]

If players are charged ten dollars for a single weapon, buying two weapons would cost players even more than buying the game itself! Considering how these are stuff we are promised that we will get for free in the first place, I would say that the pricing is rather ridiculous. I understand why a game studio like Tripwire would need more money, but at least price the weapons a bit more reasonably as this isn't like character bundles or cosmetics, these are new weapons! I feel like the latter should be made more easily available to everyone as missing out on weapons is a much bigger deal compared to not having weapons skins or cosmetics.

I suggest making a "weapon-only" bundle, meaning players can choose to only buy the weapons, rather than forcing all players to buy the skins if all they wanted is to purchase the weapon DLC only, because if the skins+weapons bundle is the only way to get the weapon DLC, it would defeat the purpose of having a skin for the weapon, don't you think? The skins + weapons bundle can stay as a more premium alternative to the weapons-only bundle so that there is an option for players that are willing to pay for the skins.

 

[God_JoKeR]

If players are charged ten dollars for a single weapon, buying two weapons would cost players even more than buying the game itself! Considering how these are stuff we are promised that we will get for free in the first place, I would say that the pricing is rather ridiculous. I understand why a game studio like Tripwire would need more money, but at least price the weapons a bit more reasonably as this isn't like character bundles or cosmetics, these are new weapons! I feel like the latter should be made more easily available to everyone as missing out on weapons is a much bigger deal compared to not having weapons skins or cosmetics.

I suggest making a "weapon-only" bundle, meaning players can choose to only buy the weapons, rather than forcing all players to buy the skins if all they wanted is to purchase the weapon DLC only, because if the skins+weapons bundle is the only way to get the weapon DLC, it would defeat the purpose of having a skin for the weapon, don't you think? The skins + weapons bundle can stay as a more premium alternative to the weapons-only bundle so that there is an option for players that are willing to pay for the skins.

I feel that this is the choice where both party wins. All I ever see users do on the forums and r/killingfloor is bash the developers while demanding the developers to take back the decision of implementing paid weapons DLC. While I am totally against implementing paid weapons DLCs in the first place, I feel that it would be better if both parties compromised a little bit. I really hope the devs of KF2 consider listening to my post.

 

[Aleflippy]

Silly two cents, but whatever :

I don't think "going F2P" is as viable as it once was... The Golden Era of such games was between 5 and 10 years ago IMO. TF2 and Warframe were pretty much the last to perfect that niche, and to this day : are still among the kings.

Did we ever get meaningful and popular games since? A handful, surely. Path of Exile is awesome. Dofus,Wakfu and Krosmaga are great games too (even if mostly known by French players). Besides that, I honestly can't name many F2Ps that survived very long...Even more so when they were paid-games at first.

It's becoming harder and harder to compete when FREE GAMES are being thrown all over the place. You could pretty much get yourself a nice collection without ever spending a dime, simply with Steam, the Epic Games Store, GoG and Humble Bundle.

And don't forget that Killing Floor 2 is probably past its prime... It's not dead, far from it. But I doubt it would attract many new players, even by going F2P. Maybe for a few months, but surely not for multiple years. I won't go the EA route by saying that people are "uninterested in solo/coop games", but one can't argue that the FPS that live the longest are the competitive ones.

As sad as it may sound, I don't think going F2P is the right solution. We'll see if the new DLCs will be the right thing... Honestly, I won't be able to resist the new guns. But congratulations if you manage to stand your ground and stick to your ethics. And I'm not being sarcastic about it either.

 

[missing_trigger]

If it becomes f2p it will get worse than it is now

Can't get any worse than THAT tbh

 

[Clone with a mark 7 suit]

Can't get any worse than THAT tbh

It can. Trust me. I've seen pvp games in which if you pay you have access to more ammo crates and spots to get more ammo. If you think that kf2 is the worst you have seen nothing. I've seen worst. This is not worst. It could get like a pay to win android game filled with cheating trolls.

 

[GigaBowserX]

when the zedconomy came at the first i told i was going to be crap
i bought every single DLC on kf1, buy there is no money from me on kf2 cause of the ****ty pay 2,5 to get a raandom bull****
TW should have done it right from the beginning

I know it's frustrating to pay $2.50 and then get something you didn't want, but that's the point of it being random. Also, if you are playing on PC, you should buy what you want from the Steam marketplace, instead of trying the lootboxes. That way, you're guaranteed to get what you want, and a lot of times, it can cost less than $2.50 (unless you're going for the precious or other rare variants; then you will have to pay a higher price, which is fair because they take many lootbox openings to obtain).

It's kind of silly in my opinion that people complain about not getting a super-ultra-rare precious item from every lootbox they open - as if the $2.50 entitles them to get any item they want. It's especially silly when you can just buy some really cool skins for pennies on the dollar in the marketplace - the neon skins, in particular, look really cool and are usually quite affordable.

Now, if you're playing on console...I do feel sorry that there isn't a marketplace where you can buy stuff, and you have to rely solely on the lootbox drops.

 

[®omano]

I hoped they fixed the bug and issues, before running out of money for the game. Now if you want more updates and still no fixes pay 10$ a weapon.