A serious question regarding WG End-of-Life scenario....

[aether_tech]

What happens to all of our investments in this game if WG shuts down? (Either suddenly, or as a planned closure...)

 

Has anyone thought of that possibility? 

 

 

[MagentaTears]

There would be alot of people trying to figure out how to run servers on Battlestations Pacific again 

 

[Goose21891]

Have you checked to see if it's in the EULA?

[LifePilgrim]

We lose our ships, premium and non-premium and they walk away.

 

We do NOT own anything we buy. We just buy for the right/access to use premium ships and privileges such as premium time, etc.

 

This is not  a game a player owns.

[gurudennis]

This?

 

[DasBootcamp]

Same thing as with any game where you are paying to use their items, they disappear. You do not own any of the items in the game regardless of what you paid for them. Same with League, World of Warcraft, and what not.

[Czevak]

As with other games, you pay for product you get product. We shutdown - bye bye. Unfortunate truth. And do you really think a company going out of business can/would refund thousands of people? Nope.

 

Of course, this is just a scenario. Don't expect WG to shutdown any games/itself, company still going strong.

[Goose21891]

In case anyone feels like reading the EULA:

http://forum.worldofwarships.com/index.php?/forum-32/announcement-9-world-of-warships-game-rules/

[Mikebello]

We will play another game

 

[Macabe]

A game eventually shutting down is inevitable. I would hope people made purchases realizing they can't try ti get their money back.

[Battleship_Vanguard]

We lose our ships, premium and non-premium and they walk away.

 

We do NOT own anything we buy. We just buy for the right/access to use premium ships and privileges such as premium time, etc.

 

This is not  a game a player owns.

 

Pretty much this. Were you expecting something different, OP?

 

This is why I'm very cautious about "investing" in premium ships - because it isn't an investment at all. They're just pixels on a screen and, what's more, they don't even really belong to you. WG can, without cause, strip you of your account at any time, should they choose, and that says nothing of the fact that, eventually, the game will end.

 

Frankly, I read about people spending hundreds of dollars in this game and just shake my head. I'd rather have real toys, thank you very much.

[DelroyMonjo]

Worse than WG going belly up,  what if Steam/Valve bit the dust?  Those games aren't 'owned' by the people who paid for them either,  they're basically rented.

[Royeaux]

Worse than WG going belly up,  what if Steam/Valve bit the dust?  Those games aren't 'owned' by the people who paid for them either,  they're basically rented.

 

I'm sure the value of the old game disks are going to skyrocket.

[TheGirlFromIpanema]

What happens to all of our investments in this game if WG shuts down? (Either suddenly, or as a planned closure...)

 

Has anyone thought of that possibility? 

 

 

 

[DasBootcamp]

Worse than WG going belly up,  what if Steam/Valve bit the dust?  Those games aren't 'owned' by the people who paid for them either,  they're basically rented.

 

Actually on the majority of the games you get a key. So if steam were to go belly up, I am sure that the devs would have a way to take your used key and reactivate your game. Simpy go to your library, right click and select view CD key.

 

You will lose any cosmetic or in game stuff such as CS GO skins, Dota 2, H1Z1, etc.

[Khafni]

I pay my pittance to have fun. I am getting my money's worth. No harm, no foul if they shut down - but I hope it doesn't happen soon^TM...

[Aduial]

A game eventually shutting down is inevitable. I would hope people made purchases realizing they can't try ti get their money back.

 

I wonder when WG is going to shut down... maybe 10 years later?

[SteelClaw]

What happens to all of our investments in this game if WG shuts down? (Either suddenly, or as a planned closure...)

 

Has anyone thought of that possibility? 

 

 

 

Look at it this way.... as long as people keep investing the game will not shut down... 

[Battleship_Vanguard]

Worse than WG going belly up,  what if Steam/Valve bit the dust?  Those games aren't 'owned' by the people who paid for them either,  they're basically rented.

 

I think the chances of that are quite low, at least in the mid term. Steam remains the most popular client of its type by a wide margin, despite multiple other developers attempting to put together similar platforms. Moreover, the explosion of indie games has really only helped Valve to widen that gap, as their software is viewed by most of said developers as the gold standard of hosting.

 

We can play 'what if' games all we like - what if the banks collapse? What if there's some kind of mass viral outbreak? What if the Earth is hit by a giant comet? - but, at some point, you have to acknowledge that life is short, and certain risks are acceptable. I've spent significant amounts of money on Steam over the years and have yet to regret it, or to see any cause for alarm. Putting my dollars into WG seems like a far less secure venture - which is why I've spent less than $50 total over the life of the game.

 

About the only premium I could see myself buying at this point would be - unsurprisingly - Vanguard... and I have a sneaking suspicion that's what she'll end up as, probably in tier 8 (although I honestly think Vanguard would have absolutely annihilated Bismarck, and certainly would have obliterated Amagi. NC would have been a closer fight). 

[Eisennagel]

What happens to all of our investments in this game if WG shuts down? (Either suddenly, or as a planned closure...)

 

Has anyone thought of that possibility? 

 

 

 

 

It can happen.  Just as F2P disrupted subscription MMO play, this entire genre of the gaming industry is itself subject to disruption by other gaming forms.  I can see reason why people en masse can get tired of this F2P MMO-MOBA form.

 

I have seen enough of the tech industry to say not even the most powerful of titans are not invulnerable from tidal disruptive forces.

 

 

[USMC2145]

 

Look at it this way.... as long as people keep investing the game will not shut down... 

 

Bingo... we have a winner!!

[Eisennagel]

 

Look at it this way.... as long as people keep investing the game will not shut down... 

 

Look at it another way.  When the revenue curve hits lower than the game's operating and overhead costs... nasty things will happen.  This game is not cheap to operate.  Just watch the video about the datacenters they are using and figure out how much WG has to pay those datacenters.  

 

Currently I am not sure if the game is making enough money to make due its expenses or it remains 'subsidized' by revenue from WoT.  Wargaming for me, still appears to be a one trick pony when it comes to main revenue source.  

[JervisBay]

What happens to all of our investments in this game if WG shuts down? (Either suddenly, or as a planned closure...)

 

Has anyone thought of that possibility? 

 

 

 

Thought of it? No...why should we?

It's the same as if you spend you money on any software......if the company/business producing it goes belly-up, that's life. We don't have ownership of the product, only the right to use it because we've paid a fee for that right.

[USMC2145]

 

Look at it another way.  When the revenue curve hits lower than the game's operating and overhead costs... nasty things will happen.  This game is not cheap to operate.  Just watch the video about the datacenters they are using and figure out how much WG has to pay those datacenters.  

 

Currently I am not sure if the game is making enough money to make due its expenses or it remains 'subsidized' by revenue from WoT.  Wargaming for me, still appears to be a one trick pony when it comes to main revenue source.  

 

At this stage if it was not making enough to pay the bills i think we would be seeing a cut back in development like we did in WoWp. They seem to be pushing out patches a pretty good pace. Now is WoWs making the kind of money WoT did after release, no way. I still think the game is healthy. Will it stay healthy only time will tell. 

[BossmanSlim]

There are a couple of different scenarios that are getting mixed up in this conversation.

 

Pay to play video games, like World of Warcraft and World of Warships, where money is spent to either access the game or gain access to services above the entry level; when these games shutdown, the player looses their account.  As the game is owned by the hosting company, they have the rights to shut it down at anytime.  Typically, what happens is all the purchases are turned off at a certain point and players are notified that the servers are being shutdown. One thing to remember is that running servers is pretty cheap and content is what costs money.  Star Wars Galaxies ran for 6 years after the last major expansion, though patching continued all the way up until shutdown.   However, SWG is a pay to play game, so a dedicated player base was spending quite a bit a of money.  On the other side of the coin, we have completely free game like Diablo 2 which still receives the rare patch and the servers are still up.  As long as the company stays in business, if content is static, they typically leave the servers up unless it is costing a ton of money (most pay to play MMOs).

 

Steam on the other hand, isn't really a single video game, but a service that allows players to purchase games, basically a store.  If Valve was going under, Steam is a big enough revenue stream that someone else will buy it and everything will basically transfer over to the new company.  As someone mentioned, probably the last resort would be sending everyone their game codes.

 

Typically, by the time a server based game goes under, all but the most dedicated players have left, so the shutdown has little impact on most people.  Any money spent on video games should be treated as total entertainment money, which you are never going to get nor be able to recoup in any way in the future.  Spent money is lost money.