Smed Dishes On H1Z1 Monetization
Reddit regular John Smedley laid out a six-pronged approach to monetization for SOE's upcoming F2P zombie survival MMO. The list is not exhaustive and Smed said more would be coming "later this week." For now, here's what we've got:
1) Selling wearables, which will not degrade for the purchaser but can degrade if someone kills you and loots them. You'll still be able to use fresh copies on new spawns, so you'll never lose your purchase. Wearables will be usable on all characters with just one purchase. Dyes are planned, but won't be in the game initially.
2) No direct item sales, like guns, food, water, etc. (though see #6).
3) No boosts that affect #2
4) Emotes for sale.
5) Character slots.
6) Crates that can be found in the wild that can only be unlocked with a cash-shop "key." You'll get to see what's inside the crate before you shell out the Station Cash to buy the key.
That last part is sort of like selling gear, since that's what lootboxes in MMOs essentially are; you aren't really buying a key, you're buying loot. But in H1Z1, you have to find the "box" first, and anything you find is subject to loss like any other item, it's not the same as, say, buying a gun that you start the game with (permanent or not). In any case, Smed says the loot crate concept "isn't fully locked yet" so there's plenty of time to massage the idea.
What do you think about all this? Sound fair to you? And what else would you suggest for monetization in H1Z1?
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Michael Dunaway has been part of the MMOBomb team for years and has covered practically every major Free-to-Play MMO title since 2009.
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The buying keys for crates is interesting, I'd have to see how they implement it. If they put only good loot in the boxes and not out and about I can see 2 things. Either the game will be pay to win or people will look in the box and camp for someone to buy the key and then kill the person and steal their loot. Now if you can find a great gun out and about but in a crate you'll find the same type of gun but there may also be some cloths as well might be cool.
There be a shitstorm a-brewin'.