Three questions about the upcoming Map Marketplace in Battle.net. If anyone knows, please share:
(1) Will you be able to sell in-map upgrades (such as a Hero's weapon) or only whole maps? The only method to do this now would be to create a new SC2Bank file and send to player...would need in-editor support for marketplace upgrades otherwise.
(2) Will you be able to take a map that was previously free (already having a community), then ask them to pay for it?
(3) Will map purchases be subscription-based or one-time fee? I'm trying to figure out how version upgrades will work...
1) I doubt it. It wasn't stated, but I think that it is unreasonable to do that. Selling a set of upgrades (I presume you mean Premium content) would be just like a robbery. The map itself is not a huge creation, and they are alowing us to sell it, and selling premium content (upgrades done in 5 minutes) are just a joke. +, from the technical side, it's hard to create, because after transaction the battle.net should assign a flag to each account wich bough this content, and store it at the buyers computer, so that the map can read it. There is a bad consequence - if it is stored on our computers, then it can be easily hacked. After that, say hello to piracy!
2) Also not stated. But yes, why not?
3) taking into consideration the costs of the average map - 2-3$$, make it subscription based -> aprox 20 cents a month? -> transaction fees takes a portion of it, blizzard takes a % of it, and you get... 5 cents? 10 cents? Well, anyways it would be to small of an income to have. (The thought of having a subscription for a map is just silly for me).
Here's a simple equation, which, I think, Blizzard is aiming for (in simmilarity) - MapStore=AppStore.
Everyone's doing an app store now a days. Even gamestop, they're getting a droid tablet that will be "gamestop certified" or something stupid. Possibly they'll open up their own market for people to buy codes for games or something. Funny thing is people compare these store ideas to apple's app store when really there were games doing it before that, like TF2 with it's stamps for custom maps.
Can you clarify it? Played TF2 from the early 2008, and I don't know about these "stamps". You mean a compretition of custom maps, which then wen't official (included into build of the game + with an award to the author of the map)?
One can only speculate but the safest guess is one time purchase attached to bnet account, just like mobile app store, updates, add ins all free since it's one time purchase.
What you can do though is doing the Street Fighter strat if you want to reap more $$:
1. Probably not, but I seriously wish they would. Although o3210 makes a good point in saying this is probably a ripoff, there could be significant additions to super popular mods that would be profitable for blizzard to allow microtransactions in some way. For example, adding new heroes to their own DOTA map if it was possible.
2. This is probably possible, but god why would you do it. Seems just mean. On top of that you would probably just anger your players.
3. A subscription model for custom playermade maps is just so terrible it makes my head explode how terrible it is. I definately don't think they will have this.
1. Seriously, you buy a map, which is basically DLC for Starcraft 2, and then you want to sell DLC in this map? And no, I doubt it will be possible. Also, as it seems now, banks will never be 100% save, so I would not rely on them for distributing payed content.
2. If its not possible in a direct way, you can always remove the old version from bnet and upload it as another project to the marketplace, which forces people to buy it. But for the sake of the players, I would suggest leaving an un-updated version for free. Like a demo version.
3. As mentioned before, a subscription fee would be unlikely. I think it will be a one time pay for the entire project with any updates you create.
However, these are 100% educated guesses, of course. Noone knows, how Blizzard will handle this, apparently not even Blizzard itself.
I think the benefits are there for dlc mini payments in a map. To be honest I would rather make my map free for everyone and people be able to pay tiny amounts for bonuses, be they aesthetic or gameplay-enhancing, rather than make them have to buy the map outright to begin with. Having people required to pay for a map before playing it is a tough sell in my opinion. That said, a workaround could be to release a trial version of the map for free and a premium version on the marketplace, kind of like Kueken said.
What Kueken said regarding taking down previous versions made me wonder, though. Do you guys think that they will allow you to take down maps in the premium marketplace. Reason I ask is because what is to stop someone from having people buy their map, than take it down at a later date because they need to free up map slots.
I think the benefits are there for dlc mini payments in a map. To be honest I would rather make my map free for everyone and people be able to pay tiny amounts for bonuses, be they aesthetic or gameplay-enhancing, rather than make them have to buy the map outright to begin with. Having people required to pay for a map before playing it is a tough sell in my opinion. That said, a workaround could be to release a trial version of the map for free and a premium version on the marketplace, kind of like Kueken said.
Thats a good argument, making the map itself free and only let people pay for some custom content, if they wish sounds like a valid concept for most maps. Still, I doubt it will be possible easily.
Quote:
What Kueken said regarding taking down previous versions made me wonder, though. Do you guys think that they will allow you to take down maps in the premium marketplace. Reason I ask is because what is to stop someone from having people buy their map, than take it down at a later date because they need to free up map slots.
Yes, I thought about that myself. People could abuse this by putting maps on the marketplace, make people pay for it, take them down and make people pay again. Sure, most people won't go along with it, but the possibility would exist.
And Blizzard basically cannot do anything about it, without stripping us from updating the map or controlling every single map on the marketplace and every single update as well.
I'm *guessing* that there will be a separate Marketplace Publishing route that is separate from your account. When publishing, you basically have to agree that Blizzard will leave the map up for a given period....or if you try to take it down at least they will keep a copy of it on the servers so that those who have already purchased it will be able to enjoy the content that they purchased from the Marketplace. Not sure how version updates will work...it's gonna be interesting to see how this all unfolds. Thanks to all for input. I realize we don't have any definite answers at this point.
Three questions about the upcoming Map Marketplace in Battle.net. If anyone knows, please share:
(1) Will you be able to sell in-map upgrades (such as a Hero's weapon) or only whole maps? The only method to do this now would be to create a new SC2Bank file and send to player...would need in-editor support for marketplace upgrades otherwise.
(2) Will you be able to take a map that was previously free (already having a community), then ask them to pay for it?
(3) Will map purchases be subscription-based or one-time fee? I'm trying to figure out how version upgrades will work...
@jcraigk: Go
I'm pretty sure no one outside of Blizzard really knows anything about the Marketplace.
Yes indeed.
@jcraigk: Go
You should have known for yourself that those, very specific, questions can't be answered by anyone exept blizzard ...
1) I doubt it. It wasn't stated, but I think that it is unreasonable to do that. Selling a set of upgrades (I presume you mean Premium content) would be just like a robbery. The map itself is not a huge creation, and they are alowing us to sell it, and selling premium content (upgrades done in 5 minutes) are just a joke. +, from the technical side, it's hard to create, because after transaction the battle.net should assign a flag to each account wich bough this content, and store it at the buyers computer, so that the map can read it. There is a bad consequence - if it is stored on our computers, then it can be easily hacked. After that, say hello to piracy!
2) Also not stated. But yes, why not?
3) taking into consideration the costs of the average map - 2-3$$, make it subscription based -> aprox 20 cents a month? -> transaction fees takes a portion of it, blizzard takes a % of it, and you get... 5 cents? 10 cents? Well, anyways it would be to small of an income to have. (The thought of having a subscription for a map is just silly for me).
Here's a simple equation, which, I think, Blizzard is aiming for (in simmilarity) - MapStore=AppStore.
@o3210: Go
Everyone's doing an app store now a days. Even gamestop, they're getting a droid tablet that will be "gamestop certified" or something stupid. Possibly they'll open up their own market for people to buy codes for games or something. Funny thing is people compare these store ideas to apple's app store when really there were games doing it before that, like TF2 with it's stamps for custom maps.
Can you clarify it? Played TF2 from the early 2008, and I don't know about these "stamps". You mean a compretition of custom maps, which then wen't official (included into build of the game + with an award to the author of the map)?
Thanks to all except Hobrow with his F- post.
@jcraigk: Go
One can only speculate but the safest guess is one time purchase attached to bnet account, just like mobile app store, updates, add ins all free since it's one time purchase.
What you can do though is doing the Street Fighter strat if you want to reap more $$:
- Street Fighter
- Super Street Fighter
- Super Street Fighter Arcade
1. Seriously, you buy a map, which is basically DLC for Starcraft 2, and then you want to sell DLC in this map? And no, I doubt it will be possible. Also, as it seems now, banks will never be 100% save, so I would not rely on them for distributing payed content.
2. If its not possible in a direct way, you can always remove the old version from bnet and upload it as another project to the marketplace, which forces people to buy it. But for the sake of the players, I would suggest leaving an un-updated version for free. Like a demo version.
3. As mentioned before, a subscription fee would be unlikely. I think it will be a one time pay for the entire project with any updates you create.
However, these are 100% educated guesses, of course. Noone knows, how Blizzard will handle this, apparently not even Blizzard itself.
@Kueken531: Go
I think the benefits are there for dlc mini payments in a map. To be honest I would rather make my map free for everyone and people be able to pay tiny amounts for bonuses, be they aesthetic or gameplay-enhancing, rather than make them have to buy the map outright to begin with. Having people required to pay for a map before playing it is a tough sell in my opinion. That said, a workaround could be to release a trial version of the map for free and a premium version on the marketplace, kind of like Kueken said.
What Kueken said regarding taking down previous versions made me wonder, though. Do you guys think that they will allow you to take down maps in the premium marketplace. Reason I ask is because what is to stop someone from having people buy their map, than take it down at a later date because they need to free up map slots.
@jcraigk: Go
1. Nobody knows
2. Nobody knows
3. Nobody knows
My answers are all 100% correct!.
But....pretty much what Kueken and the other guy said too.
Thats a good argument, making the map itself free and only let people pay for some custom content, if they wish sounds like a valid concept for most maps. Still, I doubt it will be possible easily.
Yes, I thought about that myself. People could abuse this by putting maps on the marketplace, make people pay for it, take them down and make people pay again. Sure, most people won't go along with it, but the possibility would exist.
And Blizzard basically cannot do anything about it, without stripping us from updating the map or controlling every single map on the marketplace and every single update as well.
@Aenigma: Go
I'm *guessing* that there will be a separate Marketplace Publishing route that is separate from your account. When publishing, you basically have to agree that Blizzard will leave the map up for a given period....or if you try to take it down at least they will keep a copy of it on the servers so that those who have already purchased it will be able to enjoy the content that they purchased from the Marketplace. Not sure how version updates will work...it's gonna be interesting to see how this all unfolds. Thanks to all for input. I realize we don't have any definite answers at this point.
Also what they would do in the situation where patch breaks the map and map's author can't or don't know how to fix the map?
Blizzard would need staff to fix premium maps in case of they break and cooperate with the premium map's owner to provide the fix.