EA Voted Worst Company 2nd Year in a Row

[bcadoo]

I found this quote rather interesting, especially as it relates to AH.  In fact, an MMO basically needs to be either free-to-play or a one-time purchase with a cash shop. There’s simply not room for a subscription model these days

Full Article here:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/04/05/ea-responds-to-worst-company-in-america-contest-we-can-do-better/

[kilo2]

EA doesn't deserve worst company in the world. I am not a fan of them but really there has to be worse out there.

[Latrobe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-LE0ycgkBQ 

[zack1234]

BMW and Mercedes are the worst company in the world for selling overrated and overpriced cars.

And companies that make pretzels, they are made out of old wickerwork chairs and covered in brown sauce

[SilverZ06]

I found this quote rather interesting, especially as it relates to AH.  In fact, an MMO basically needs to be either free-to-play or a one-time purchase with a cash shop. There’s simply not room for a subscription model these days

Who's bank account do you think is bigger, EA or HTC?

[The Fugitive]

Who's bank account do you think is bigger, EA or HTC?

If we go by EA's flight sim entry, I'd say HTC.

[titanic3]

I found this quote rather interesting, especially as it relates to AH.  In fact, an MMO basically needs to be either free-to-play or a one-time purchase with a cash shop. There’s simply not room for a subscription model these days

Full Article here:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/04/05/ea-responds-to-worst-company-in-america-contest-we-can-do-better/

HTC doesn't advertise as much as they possibly can. I'd like to imagine how much money they would reel in along with players if they advertised even just a little bit more on websites dedicated to flight sims. Possibly then, sell the game as a one time fee for $60.

[SilverZ06]

If we go by EA's flight sim entry, I'd say HTC.

I'm going by the companies as wholes.  EA is a large company that has determined subscription based games are not making the money required to support such a large company. While it seems to work out fine for HTC, they are just a small niche company that unfortunately will not grow ($ wise) very much with just subscriptions. The easy money is in the free to play with cash boxes. People are very impatient and want things now, so much so they would spend money to acquire an upgraded item now versus working for it. It is just the way it is. HTC would rake in the money if they would make the game free to play (maybe a $25 initial download fee) and then charge for perk planes. The game play would be horrible but HTC would make a killing from the "I want it now" people. Thankfully for us, HTC has not yet gone that route and we can have our nice niche product as it currently is.

P.S. I've hated EA ever since they first ruined (by bringing in imports) and then shutting down the best MMO game ever... Motor City Online  

[Karnak]

I found this quote rather interesting, especially as it relates to AH.  In fact, an MMO basically needs to be either free-to-play or a one-time purchase with a cash shop. There’s simply not room for a subscription model these days

Full Article here:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/04/05/ea-responds-to-worst-company-in-america-contest-we-can-do-better/

Depends on the market.  As I posted in response to the same kind of claim on Blizzard's forums, if the game (AH or WoW) go free to play I will cancel my account and uninstall the game from my computer.  Obviously some companies can make the subscription model work, at least for the time being, and I much prefer to pay a fixed $14.95/month and get full access than to have a heavily limited and poorly supported game that I would need to pay a much larger sum per month simply to get back to the features I had when it was on a universal monthly subscription in order to support the free players.

That said, I would not be upset if the costs allowed HTC to give a two tiered system, one free with access only to a limited unit set (A6M2, B5N2, Bf109E-4, Bf110C-4b, Boston Mk III, C.202, C-47A, D3A1, F4F-4, G4M1, He111H, Hurricane Mk I, I-16, Ju87D-3, Ju88A-4, Ki-43-II, LVT(A)2, LVT(A)4, M3, M4A3(75), M8, M16, P-39D, P-40C, Panzer IVD/F, SdKfz 251, Spitfire Mk I and T-34/76) to provide more activity in the MAs.  That said, I suspect the bandwidth costs would not allow that idea to really be viable.

[maddafinga]

I still bear them something of a grudge because of what they did to AirWarrior. 

[guncrasher]

I agree with karnak, I would really stop playing ah if they went to free play with micro transactions like in wot.  game would really suck if they had gold airplanes like wot has gold tanks.  there would be some players whining that they cant get a kill in their gold airplanes so they would want the flight model changed to compensate for their lack of skill like it happens in wot.


semp

[Slash27]

I'm going by the companies as wholes.  EA is a large company that has determined subscription based games are not making the money required to support such a large company. While it seems to work out fine for HTC, they are just a small niche company that unfortunately will not grow ($ wise) very much with just subscriptions. The easy money is in the free to play with cash boxes. People are very impatient and want things now, so much so they would spend money to acquire an upgraded item now versus working for it. It is just the way it is. HTC would rake in the money if they would make the game free to play (maybe a $25 initial download fee) and then charge for perk planes. The game play would be horrible but HTC would make a killing from the "I want it now" people. Thankfully for us, HTC has not yet gone that route and we can have our nice niche product as it currently is.

P.S. I've hated EA ever since they first ruined (by bringing in imports) and then shutting down the best MMO game ever... Motor City Online  

HTC needs to add powerups and cloaking.

[skorpx1]

EA got worst company of the year and WG didn't?

What? Since when does this happen? EA is bad but jeez I thought WG was a lot worse.

[palef]

I still bear them something of a grudge because of what they did to AirWarrior. 

+1

[bozon]

F2P is completely ill suited to AH. It works great for grind games because it allows a casual player to play at its own pace, not log in for extended periods and then hop back in for a few weeks without losing his progress. Players play more grind games in F2P, but less time in each - this is opposed to the time of subscriptions, where players tended to pick one game and stick with it. The key statistic is the increase in the dramatic increase in the total number of players that log into the game. MMOs need players even if they are not paying to make the game experience of the paying ones, better.

In AH there is no grind. Everything is available starting the free 2 weeks period. The only thing you lose by unsubscribing and re-subscribing are some useless perk points and risk your handle name being taken. AH has a very small potential player base (for the flying game!, tanks be damned). Going F2P will not bring in thousands of casual players that do not even own a joystick. The typical age of an AH player is probably well above 20, even if we behave like 12 years olds. These players have no problems with owning a credit card and shelling 14.95$/month. Ignoring for a moment what it will do to gameplay, I seriously doubt going F2P will bring in lots of teenagers.

RoF has taken the microtransaction route. I don't know how well they are doing.

The only thing that can expand the circle of potential customers for AH is the ground war. This is a sad sad reality. As much as I dont like it, if we historical flight enthusiasts still want a flying game like AH, this GV crowd must be milked in order to pay for our game. What HTC could do, is separate GV and flight into two linked subscriptions. The ground war can better support F2P with transactions due to the much larger potential players base. CCP is now trying something like this in the EVE+Dust514 combination that is even a cross-platform dual game, where EVE is PC and Dust is console.