101 Openings-14 Relatively New Worlds. Topic

bigal888
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So I went ahead and plotted out the worlds that exist and their renewal fee by date to determine what WifS's cash flow looks like.  Ignoring all the current open worlds and assuming a $20 average renewal per owner, they are making on average $1100 a day on us.  Even assuming an average rollover time of 14 days that number would stay the same...just shifting the line a bit towards the future.

Now factor the worlds that are sitting in rollover and you will get an even higher number.  This is all with little to no input from support staff, but I still bet their overhead is probably near half of that if not more to be conservative.  With that being said, I think it is a fair bet to assume that as long as that $1100 a day keeps coming they aren't going to get too worked up over a few crappy worlds sitting around for a while.
10/9/2012 9:51 AM
bigal888
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and if anyone can tell me how to paste an image from my computer onto this forum, I could put the graph up for everyone to see.  It's pretty near linear for the next 3 months.
10/9/2012 9:52 AM
MikeT23
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I posted this yesterday in the suggestions forum(our numbers match up pretty well but our thoughts on the matter differ):

"I tend to agree with most of that(because I've stated the financial/business part of it a few times).    But here's why ignoring it is bad business:

1.  It's guaranteed money.    Just say it's $15 per team after all the credits are paid.   That's $81,000 every quarter(assuming quick rollovers).   Over 300k per year.   Not money that concerns FOX but enough to hire a couple of people to "piddle" with it.    Hell, putting someone on it for 10 hours a week, half of that just being a presence, would keep most people happy.

2.  There is advertising money beyond the actual game.   I have no idea how much "Force of Empires" pays to be the banner I see right now but it's something.  I don't know exactly how the whole thing works but I imagine some of it is centered around "hits".   HBD lends itself to a lot of "hits" due to the cycles.

So, while it may not be a cash cow, it generates constant money.   It can be staffed well enough to keep it rolling for virtually nothing.    Ignoring it is a poor business decision."
10/9/2012 9:54 AM
bigal888
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I don't disagree on the staffing part - for minimal costs they can keep the populace happy.  I just don't think there is any incentive to spend the 10 hours a week if it makes no difference on the revenue stream.

One qualified programmer making $60k a year working on HBD at 10 hours a week would be roughly $45k a year in costs.  That is made up in 2 months easy.  Then factor in server time and all that other stuff I have no idea about and they could still make a decent profit on this game.

I was surprised to see that the worlds are really evenly distributed.  I thought there would be bunches here and there, but of all the worlds that are running right now they are really well spaced apart from rollover to rollover.
10/9/2012 10:17 AM
MikeT23
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I think it does make a difference eventually.   I think this is the most restless I've seen the natives.   There's always a small group of unhappy customers no matter the circumstances.  But, to me, it feels a little different now.   Maybe it's just me.   Nonetheless, when enough people start feeling like they're being ignored, they start taking their disposable income elsewhere.   And that hits the bottom line. 

As I said in the other forum, someone responding to suggestions would go a long way even if it's a canned, but differently worded, "We're considering that for future updates" or "That isn't feasible in the near future".   Just make people think they're paying attention even if they aren't.
10/9/2012 10:28 AM
bigal888
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I agree.  Until the money stops flowing there is no reason to spend money to fix the "problem"
10/9/2012 12:09 PM
tufft
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$1000 - $1500 a day in gross income isn't worth a line on a status report to any Fox Sports executive.

Nobody who makes any sort of decisions that control budgets at Fox Sports would notice if it just went away.

Unless they decide to invest in marketing to substantially increase the number of people playing, the game is going to remain what it is until they pull the plug.

Hopefully they do something to allow teams to move into worlds that elect to allow that. That would cut down the rollover time. Keep people playing instead of ******** or asking for refunds.
10/9/2012 3:03 PM
MikeT23
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I think you underestimate the bean counters at big companies. 

10/9/2012 4:22 PM
mal247
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Posted by MikeT23 on 10/9/2012 4:22:00 PM (view original):
I think you underestimate the bean counters at big companies. 

News Corp had revenues of 13.28 billion last year, with operating income of 2.9 billion.

Hardball Dynasty has an estimated revenue of 350,000 per year.

If you think that anyone who matters at News Corp gives two sh.its or a fiddlers fu.ck about HBD, you are delusional.


10/9/2012 9:47 PM
kennedrj
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Agree mal247, but why the hell did they buy it in the first place?  I don't know if any of you post on Scout.com's message boards, but Fox has come perilously close to destroying the entire enterprise by forcing a migration to apocraphyllic new software/forums that were horribly designed to maximize data mining and didn't even work.  The outrage and mass exodus was so large they migrated back to the old scout boards until they can get the new ones fixed.  It may be too late.
10/9/2012 10:15 PM
keithjs
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They bought Myspace
10/9/2012 10:43 PM
damag
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Having worked for a smaller chain that was bought by a broadcast giant, I can speculate on two things that happen.

1. Giants sometimes buy things just to buy things. They create their own inertia. They simply acquire properties to sustain existence.

2. Whoever - singular or plural - had the idea to buy this has probably moved on to somethIng else by now, and this is in the hands of people who had nothing to do with it back then, so they have no investment in it other than cash flow.

10/9/2012 11:45 PM
dockellis70
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I'm curious how bad it has to get before it gets addressed with decisive action. 300 openings?
10/10/2012 1:10 AM
tufft
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Anybody have Justin Timberlake's number?
10/10/2012 3:46 AM
tecwrg
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Posted by damag on 10/9/2012 11:45:00 PM (view original):
Having worked for a smaller chain that was bought by a broadcast giant, I can speculate on two things that happen.

1. Giants sometimes buy things just to buy things. They create their own inertia. They simply acquire properties to sustain existence.

2. Whoever - singular or plural - had the idea to buy this has probably moved on to somethIng else by now, and this is in the hands of people who had nothing to do with it back then, so they have no investment in it other than cash flow.

"Giants sometimes buy things just to buy things. They create their own inertia. They simply acquire properties to sustain existence."

Not true at all.  Corporations exist to make money.  If mega-company A decides to mini-company B, they're doing it for a specific business reason which they've concluded will, somehow, enhance them.  It may be to pick up the customers that come along with B; it may be to expand the portfolio of products and services they provide; it may be to remove B as a direct competitor; or it may be for some other reason that they have concluded is beneficial to them in the long run.

Sometimes, these decisions don't always work out the way they planned.  But there was a very definitive plan and logic behind the decision.

If a corporation is buying things just to buy things, then they have a pretty misguided business plan and are not going to survive very long in a competitive business environment.

10/10/2012 8:13 AM
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