Godus to have fresh take on microtransactions, says Molyneux

Peter Molyneux has dropped some hints of the microtransaction strategy in Project Godus, while distancing it from the usual "be patient or pay money" model.

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Project Godus will have microtransactions, but creator Peter Molyneux shies away from the term "free-to-play." In a recent interview, he promised its monetization strategy will be something "that hasn't existed before," distancing it from the traditional F2P model.

"There cannot be a term that is less true," he told PocketGamer. "What we need is a new term. And that term is more like 'invest-to- play.' What really are we doing? We are tempting people to invest some of their money into a game."

Molyneux said the "be patient or pay money" model of energy systems in games is bound to push people away. "That's not a delightful mechanic. That's not going to get people to invest their money," he said. "We can't be so crude in making the first thing we teach people in these games how to speed things up by spending gems. That's absolutely insane."

He also called for more subtlety in how the monetization is introduced. Of course, it wouldn't be Molyneux without at least one broad, almost-impossible-to-fulfill promise, so he also said the Godus microtransactions will be as "fresh and as new and as different from anything you've ever seen in any game."

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  • reply
    February 18, 2014 3:30 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Godus to have fresh take on microtransactions, says Molyneux.

    Peter Molyneux has dropped some hints of the microtransaction strategy in Project Godus, while distancing it from the usual "be patient or pay money" model.

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      February 18, 2014 3:43 PM

      It's not a delightful mechanic, but some studios are making a million bucks a day with it.

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      February 18, 2014 3:45 PM

      lol, making a micro-transaction strategy "delightful". Good luck with that.

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      February 18, 2014 4:05 PM

      "We can't be so crude in making the first thing we teach people in these games how to speed things up by spending gems. That's absolutely insane."

      He should've been an in-app economy consultant on EA's Dungeon Keeper mobile game. This advice, alone, I really like, but it dismays me that it's in the middle of a charmingly goofy Molyneux classic bait-and-switch maneuver.

      HE MADE A GAME (Curiosity) TO BE AN AD FOR HIS NEXT GAME (Godus).

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        February 18, 2014 4:46 PM

        The problem with him is for all his great ideas, he ends up with a pile of shit in the end.

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      February 18, 2014 4:50 PM

      When the game was first released, it felt like a F2P game that was having the microtransaction element was being removed.

      Now it sounds like microtransactions are being put back in.

      Oh, the "joys" of early access...

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        February 18, 2014 5:04 PM

        Early access games are not released they are still in development, it's release is still scheduled for , i think, december.

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          February 18, 2014 9:11 PM

          I'm aware that they are still in development, so we still have a chance to try to dissuade them from this approach.

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      February 18, 2014 5:23 PM

      What will happen when Molyneux realizes that the gaming world doesn't have faith in him anymore? He's not insulated from the world at Lionhead anymore, these games have more of his direct fingerprints on them and he's flailing.

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        February 18, 2014 5:34 PM

        Is he making money? I don't know if he is or not but that is what he is going to care about not whether the gaming world has faith in him.

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          February 18, 2014 5:37 PM

          He's making some, but Curiosity and Godus both didn't do nearly as well as they expected. I mean his kickstarter only just made it, while I suspect they expected it to do Double Fine numbers.

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            February 18, 2014 8:58 PM

            Then he certainly should be concerned. I never played his early games but I think Fable 1 was actually very innovative even though it might be hard to see because so many of its features have become commonplace.

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      February 19, 2014 1:13 AM

      i'll never get a game that uses a pay to play model. I either pay once or not at all.

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        February 19, 2014 5:45 AM

        Dota 2, league, mwo, path of exile, ... None of those costs anything or requires money to play them for 50+ hours and don't miss anything.

        Money is mostly for cosmetic stuff and account upgrades like character slots. F2p has already been done right.

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      February 19, 2014 1:30 AM

      [deleted]

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        February 19, 2014 10:17 AM

        It's no wonder - it seems in the UK at least everyone who doesn't have a clue about the industry heaps praise on him like some sort of computer games god.

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      February 19, 2014 4:19 AM

      How is the kid who won Curiosity doing?

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      February 19, 2014 5:17 AM

      OH SWEET APPLE PIE! A NEW FRESH TAKE ON SQUEEZING MONEY OUT OF PEOPLE! AWESOME!

      Seriously though, this isn't anything new at all. Games have been doing this for quite some time on mobile.

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      February 19, 2014 5:44 AM

      Haha, this'll be good.

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      February 19, 2014 6:32 AM

      So what happened to those that already kickstarted it or bought early access to this "game"? They get the shaft?

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        February 19, 2014 7:10 AM

        Pretty much, though the developer may heed their objections out of benevolence.

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