mirgro said:
KungKras said:
richardhutnik said:
Maximizing profits isn't something look at just a single instance. It involves a big picture. In this, Activision decided to save on development costs by putting out the exact same game across all platforms. This enabled them to do a unified QA on the content, to make sure it is what they felt optimal across all platforms. They did the same with the playermatching, dropping the dedicated servers. It comes out of the logic of business executives who will end up shorting aspects of the game community, for what they see is the bigger picture. Does it suck if they ignore some people? You bet it is, but they try to think strategically. Their job, as a publically traded company, is to maximize profits.
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They are doing it wrong.
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Indeed, the biggest earners, Valve and Blizzard, still manage to make ridiculous amounts of money because they cater to their costumers.
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The double-edge sword of the World of Warcraft model, and subscriptions is that, while you keep getting paid every month, you have to cater to customers or they stop paying. In the case of Valve, they received a TON of ire because of Left 4 Dead 2 coming out. Apparently Gabe happened to iron things out with his fans. But still, he managed to tick off the entire PS3 community. So, not exactly sure if this is considered fully catering to the customer. However, time will tell what happens next, if Activision goes subscription model for its online play across the board, and so on.
