Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:06 pm
Posts: 663
Location: Houston, Texas
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Yeah, no new content unless the number of players grows.
I had some estimates posted on UO, should've been more clear at first that they wer *estimates* not actual numbers but they are probably not too far from the real numbers.
The bottom line is, that for about every 5500 - 7500 people who are playing MO:RE, Cyan will be able to assign one employee full-time to the game. 3d artists and programmers, especially top-notch ones like Cyan's, can easily have salaries above $60,000-70,000 per year. Add to this the cost of electricity, hardware, software, office supplies, coffee, furniture, health benefits, legal costs, real estate, water bills, etc, which amounts to tens of thousands, if not above $100,000, more per employee per year. Then add any cut that Gametap is taking, some amount of the income generated by MO:RE, a percentage which probably grows as the income level does.
Our currently active Uru fan community is probably about 9000 people. (There are also, of course, some casual fans out there who like Uru but don't register on the forums) This is why Cyan has two employees assigned to MO:RE right now. It's all they can assign and still have a good shot at breaking even financially given our niche userbase.
It's all about money. The only way Cyan will make more content for Uru is if the fanbase grows significantly from its lean condition.
Therefore we should try to attract a flow of new players through advertising and word of mouth and keep them there with a steady stream of *good* UCC and a friendly community atmosphere. As the number of MO:RE subscribers grows, Cyan will ramp up production and staff.
A handy chart to give you an estimate of what we're facing. Note that at a subscription rate of $4.16/month, $50/year, an awful lot of players are needed to fund content:
Subscribers Cyan staff Production per year
Current fanbase 2 employees None except maintenance and minor bug fixes
24,000 4 employees More bug fixes, some story development and a few Relto pages or clothing items
36,000 6 employees Bug fixes, steady story development, some goodies, one pod-sized world.
54,000 9 employees Story, more goodies, a world comparable to Eder Delin.
100.000 16 employees Story, Goodies, One age ported from Myst V or RealMyst,
One age the size of Minkata, one pod.
240,000 37 employees About as much content as MOUL Season One.
500,000 72 employees Continual story development, a big puzzle age each month or several little ones.
I've already promoted Uru to 5000 people. I'll do everything I can on my part - spend hundreds of dollars on an ad campaign to show Uru to 200,000 people, create multiple detailed worlds in 3ds max, promoting Uru on my web network which is getting over 12,000 visitors a month and rising...
If I expend everything I can spare to do this, I might, *might* be able to pull in enough new players to support one or two additional Cyan employees. But to make the game a runaway hit will require the fanbase to work together as a committed group.
Look at the Uru Advertising Commitee:
http://www.uruobsession.com/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=111&t=33636&s=175f159e48d43f039515ed2ef61f00e1
_________________ Matthew L. Hornbostel, creator of Panoramic Worlds,
a Myst fansite, and
various other stuff.
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) the bug fixing will be slow.