Brink could be saved and more money could be made.

(Mustkunstn1k) #1

I don’t want to sound too rough and I am not sure about things from the financial side, but Brink was pretty much a failure. There are hardly any people playing it any more.

I am also pretty sure that it is not bringing in any more money at this point.

That’s why I really hope Bethesda is looking at the current market…

[ul]
[li]APB (All Points Bulletin) was failed MMO. Now they have turned it into a free to play game and they are selling things like guns and customization options.[/li][li] Team Fortress 2 was and still is a very successful game and Valve made even more money by making it free to play.[/li][li] Tribes Ascend and Blacklight: Retribution. 2 very recent games that are totally free to play, but where you can buy additional customization options and so on.[/li][/ul]

And here’s the thing, you could easily do the same with Brink because of the customization in Brink. I am obviously talking about the PC version. Put a free to play version out, but lock half of the customization options.

People can then buy the game to unlock the full game or they can buy items 1 by 1.

Then there will be a lot more people playing and if it’s successful you can maybe start making additional items and so on that can be sold separately.

I am also pretty sure that Steam wouldn’t mind adding another free to play game to their f2p section.

(Indloon) #2

Well that sounds good idea.

But first to do it, you must make good chances for server owners, would be pretty shame, if BRINK gets F2P and has only 5 servers on server list.

The one thing what is needed is Linux dedicated servers, which seems not to happen according to SD… :frowning:

(INF3RN0) #3

*tumble weed rolls by

(Runeforce) #4

ROFL :smiley:

Why anyone would ASK for a freemium game is beyond my understanding…but, yes, here’s a chance for Bethesda to make some extra money. Include Linux binaries for server and the game, and I’m sure we will see a revival!

(light_sh4v0r) #5

They rather fix some other stuff up first. People didn’t stop playing because the customisation was free.

(Humate) #6

I know that took a bit of time to write up but… no.

(OMGITSJASON) #7

Make it F2P and problem solved huh? It takes more than that to revive a game on its last legs i’m thinking.

(Mustkunstn1k) #8

Free to play games can get away with much lower quality. Also, the developers could continue to improve it once it has been proven successful.

Care to explain why?

I think APB is a great example to look at. Converting Brink would probably be even faster because it isn’t a MMO.

(zenstar) #9

APB required a major reworking and the big part that they were trying to save was the unique customization and the cops and robbers MMO gameplay. What is there to save in Brink that wouldn’t just be cheaper and easier to remake in a new game?
Multiplayer FPS - use any 3d engine. The customization - not really new or unique. The gameplay style - been done before in a variety of ways. SMART! That’s the only thing and it’s not really enough to build an entire game around.
It would cost too much money to convert Brink to a freemium game. Besides: it’s selling for £5 on amazon. Just imagine that as a freemium payment to unlock all the customization.
The game was fun but it just lacked the holding power to keep a core audience (for a variety of reasons). Making it free to play won’t change that. You’ll get another massive spike of players that’ll drift away within a week just like when they had the previous sales and free weekend.

(Mustkunstn1k) #10

You can’t seriously think that making a totally new game is cheaper than just making Brink free to play? All they need to do is release the game on Steam for free and let people use the steam wallet to buy customization options.

It wouldn’t be done in a day, but it would definitely be cheaper and faster than making a new game.

And the thing about Brink is… .we can just look towards Enemy Territory. They both have the same concept and ET still has an audience after all these years because it’s free to play.

(Ruben0s) #11

[QUOTE=Mustkunstn1k;397872]
And the thing about Brink is… .we can just look towards Enemy Territory. They both have the same concept and ET still has an audience after all these years because it’s free to play.[/QUOTE]

But W:ET is almost in every aspect way better than Brink, except the graphics.

(zenstar) #12

[QUOTE=Mustkunstn1k;397872]You can’t seriously think that making a totally new game is cheaper than just making Brink free to play? All they need to do is release the game on Steam for free and let people use the steam wallet to buy customization options.

It wouldn’t be done in a day, but it would definitely be cheaper and faster than making a new game.
[/QUOTE]
You completely misread that: “What is there to save in Brink that wouldn’t just be cheaper and easier to remake in a new game?”

I didn’t mean that it would be cheaper to make a new game. I meant: while making a new game it would be easier / better to stick to your own designs rather than buy out the license to Brink and then cannibalise it for a single feature.

The reason why APB was bought and reworked was because the owner went into administration and the license was going cheap.

Why bother reworking Brink? It would cost money and it’s already lost it’s community and garnered a reputation that’d be expensive to expunge (you’d need to do a massive marketing campaign about the rework to lift the negative opinions). You’d be throwing money down the drain as it wouldn’t attract an audience.

You’re far better off updating an existing successful game which has a solid following. EG: ET:QW 2012. There would be a lot of fans coming out of the woodwork for that if they updated the engine and models and made it free to play (I have no idea how you’d work in premium paid content without unbalancing the game or having a bad fan lashback, but then the game was never designed to be freemium and it’s not my job to make it freemium).

And the thing about Brink is… .we can just look towards Enemy Territory. They both have the same concept and ET still has an audience after all these years because it’s free to play.

OR ET is a better game that holds an audience. For proof of this just look at ET:QW. It’s not free to play and it holds an audience after all these years.
Brink is £5 nowadays. If you can’t hold an audience with a £5 game then I seriously doubt it’s the cost that’s keeping people away.

EDIT:
Just did a search on amazon co uk for “Brink”:
Xbox 360: £6.25 from amazon, £4.39 from amazon sellers (new prices… not including the used prices)
PS3: £2.92 (both, new prices)
PC: £4.99 amazon, £4.49 from amazon sellers (new prices)

It doesn’t get much cheaper than that.

(Humate) #13

Care to explain why?

Well at the risk of beating a dead horse:

Brink is based on the idea that intent is more important than the ability to execute.
And SD designed the game so that players didnt have to think about managing risk when trying to execute.
And they did this by making everything work off 1 button, at lightning speed.
Since everyone is spamming the unibutton with such ease, these actions that are supposed to help the team actually cancel out with the opposition team. They have absolutely no impact on a match whatsoever, other than creating a stalemate. To divert the player’s attention from the result of the match, they created a character / xp system which basically banks on the player caring more about the “status” of their character than winning or losing.

In other words - Brinks failure on PC has nothing to do with customization, or its price.

(DrpPlates) #14

Brink Free to play- been there done that… it didnt work…
plain and simple… you can take a turd put in a box and even wrap it in a pretty bow - but once you open the box- its still A Turd…
and such is Brink…

game failed on every level… some if not many would disagree… but the numbers dont lie… very few, if any are playing the game on PC… and the game aint even a year old… (for curiosity sake, i log into the game once in awhile… every time, not a single person is playing) with that mind, making the game free wouldnt help at all…

the turd is out of the box- i say, put the turd back in the box, bow and all- and bury it and leave it be…

let SD work on something new, and lets hope they involve the community more this time, BETA would be a good start…

(Darksider) #15

[QUOTE=Mustkunstn1k;397872]You can’t seriously think that making a totally new game is cheaper than just making Brink free to play? All they need to do is release the game on Steam for free and let people use the steam wallet to buy customization options.

It wouldn’t be done in a day, but it would definitely be cheaper and faster than making a new game.

And the thing about Brink is… .we can just look towards Enemy Territory. They both have the same concept and ET still has an audience after all these years because it’s free to play.[/QUOTE]

SD can only do so much, again Bethesda are the ones who has the say on what can be done with the game ultimately since they were financing and destroying the game at the same time, with that Bethesda moved on and has chalked one up for Brink in it’s history book, Bethesda turning off the Stat site was the nail in the coffin.

(morguen87) #16

Brink being free wouldn’t make people play it. It’s not as good as games people have already payed for and/or are currently playing.
It’s a neat idea in theory, but people aren’t playing Brink because the price is too high (it’s gotta be basically free by now) or that it lacked publicity…people aren’t playing Brink because it’s not a very good game. Making it free doesn’t change that.

(borsdy) #17
(AmishWarMachine) #18

Brink could be saved and more money could be made

Answer: SDK

(this, coming from a console-only gamer)

(n0guns) #19

[QUOTE=Mustkunstn1k;397748]I don’t want to sound too rough and I am not sure about things from the financial side, but Brink was pretty much a failure. There are hardly any people playing it any more.

I am also pretty sure that it is not bringing in any more money at this point.

That’s why I really hope Bethesda is looking at the current market…

[ul]
[li]APB (All Points Bulletin) was failed MMO. Now they have turned it into a free to play game and they are selling things like guns and customization options.[/li][li] Team Fortress 2 was and still is a very successful game and Valve made even more money by making it free to play.[/li][li] Tribes Ascend and Blacklight: Retribution. 2 very recent games that are totally free to play, but where you can buy additional customization options and so on.[/li][/ul]

And here’s the thing, you could easily do the same with Brink because of the customization in Brink. I am obviously talking about the PC version. Put a free to play version out, but lock half of the customization options.

People can then buy the game to unlock the full game or they can buy items 1 by 1.

Then there will be a lot more people playing and if it’s successful you can maybe start making additional items and so on that can be sold separately.

I am also pretty sure that Steam wouldn’t mind adding another free to play game to their f2p section.[/QUOTE]
or they could try putting it on Onlive…

(n0guns) #20

so that must be the “secret game” on War Chest