Wildstar Not On NCSOFT Q4 2016 Financial Report Earnings
There’s some possibly troubling news for Wildstar players. In an NCSOFT financial report recently released, Wildstar’s revenue numbers were missing from the franchise earnings list.
NCSOFT have MMOs such as Guild Wars 2, Aion and Lineage under their belt along side Wildstar. Wildstar is the only “western” themed MMO, and that could possibly shed some light on why the game is not bringing in the big bucks.
In 2014, the game was considered a WoW killer but it did not live up to the hype. The western market is saturated with established MMOs and many have found it hard to penetrate into that market.
Eastern style MMOs on the other hand, have a higher chance to do well in its niche. This is why the other games on the report such as Guild Wars 2 is still alive and well.
But part of the problem is with the game’s model as well. Having launched as a premium subscription MMO, the game couldn’t hold on to it. A year later, the game made a u-turn and launched as a free to play title on Steam.
While I agree that F2P models are great for players as it allows them the flexibility to try out the game, it’s a double-edged sword. Wildstar does not charge for large content updates the way other MMOs do. That means they don’t make money on expansion sized content updates.
This is a huge missed opportunity. When paired with the revenues of selling cosmetic vanity items in the in-game store, the potential is huge. But it’s not all doom and gloom. The game actually has a lot going for it, and new content is coming out too.
While it may not have turned out the way the developers wanted it to, the game still has a big following. If they continue to pump out quality content on schedule, I’m sure they’ll be around for quite some time.
