Will GW2 be around for long?

[Faline.8795]

Strange question, but one I am serious about.

 

I'm asking this question of both Final Fantasy XIV and Guild Wars 2, because I'm tired of WoW and what seems to me to be the arrogence of the developers there. (Plus the art style is one level above a crayon. haha)

 

I am trying to decide whether to go for either FFXIV or GW2. I don't have the ability to dedicate myself to more than one game.

 

I have tried both out. Each has positives and negatives.

 

But what I want to know is: Who will be around for the long run?

 

Guild Wars 2 has a hard row to hoe being Buy to Play. Their financials make me wonder if it will still be around, putting out new content in a few years.

 

Final Fantasy XIV has the advantage of a subscription, meaning more incentive to keep investing in it as long as the profit is there. Questions is: Is the profit there?

 

So thoughts?

[Airdive.2613]

I doubt anyone will doubt GW2 on these forums.

Personally, I think the game offers enough content right now that justifies its price tag, by the standards of single player games. You don't really need to worry about some far future.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

I don't think Guild Wars 2 is going anywhere. People, to this day, still play Guild Wars. In fact, Guild Wars got a graphics update just a couple of days ago.

/shrug

[Vayne.8563]

Lots of subscription games end up free to play because they can't afford to keep a subscription. Subs don't give you more players, they give you less players playing. Some sub games remain sub games too long and lost most of their player base that way. Having a sub game is no guarantee of longevity. SWTOR, ESO, TSW all started as sub games and all of them had to remove the sub because it wasn't sustainable. WoW is the exception to that rule and Final Fantasy might prove another exception over time. I suspect it will.

 

That said, Guild Wars 2 is going to be around for a long long time, because it does things differently than most other MMOs. It's competing in a different space, I think. It's the only themepark MMO with a focus on open world that I know of, and the specific combination of cooperative PvE and the relatively casual nature of the game makes it good for people who like to pop around to other games from time to time.

 

When you pay a sub, you're married to the game, or you're wasting your money. That doesn't happen here.

 

Given the fact that this five year old game still makes millions of dollars every month, and continues to put out quality content, I seriously doubt it's going anywhere anytime soon.

[folk.8190]

> @"Faline.8795" said:

> Strange question, but one I am serious about.

>

> I'm asking this question of both Final Fantasy XIV and Guild Wars 2, because I'm tired of WoW and what seems to me to be the arrogence of the developers there. (Plus the art style is one level above a crayon. haha)

>

> I am trying to decide whether to go for either FFXIV or GW2. I don't have the ability to dedicate myself to more than one game.

>

> I have tried both out. Each has positives and negatives.

>

> But what I want to know is: Who will be around for the long run?

>

> Guild Wars 2 has a hard row to hoe being Buy to Play. Their financials make me wonder if it will still be around, putting out new content in a few years.

>

> Final Fantasy XIV has the advantage of a subscription, meaning more incentive to keep investing in it as long as the profit is there. Questions is: Is the profit there?

>

> So thoughts?

 

game is dead. u late. ~~(joke)~~ not.

[derd.6413]

until the heat death of the universe

[Zeefa.3915]

Well... I can't exactly predict the future... but atm GW2 seems to be fairly healthy and they come out with little bits of story every 2-3 months... and I suspect they are already working on the next expansion. Sure it have had a few.... problems... but I still see a nice playerbase that enjoy the game and some devs that do what they can to keep the game going.

 

I definitely think GW2 will still be around for another 2-3 years... probably longer... but yeah I can't predict the future.

[Palador.2170]

Oh joy! I get to be the doomsayer this time!

 

There's a good chance that it's not a declining player base that will signal the end of the game, but rather the limits of the game systems themselves. The devs have already seen a looming problem when it comes to adding items to materials storage, the data system simply can't expand forever and is very hard to fix. That's not to say that we're going to run out soon, but it's worth noting that they're looking at the problem and taking it into consideration already.

 

As time goes on, the limits of how the game works will become more and more of a problem for the devs, and the odds of recouping the costs of fixing them will get lower and lower. Eventually it will just make more sense to make a new game and let the old one fade away.

 

Does that mean that FF 14 is any better? Well... no? We have no way of knowing how well that game will do. They could release some horrid expansion and kill their game by the end of the year for all we know. I'm just saying that GW2's end may not come due to lack of players, there's a second factor you have to keep in mind.

[Dawdler.8521]

The thing is, after 6 years there *still* hasnt been a game that can stand up to GW2 point for point. ESO tried but threw everything away on subscriptions, horrid EU-thats-secretely-NA server and failure to fix the teething issues and bugs ruining the cyrodil campaigns. First impression is everything and it failed. It doesnt even matter if its better now.

 

Then of course we have had the GW2 killers which are always just a year away every year. It think it started in 2014? Yeah Camelot Unchained was gonna kill GW2 for sure when it release like 2015. Or something. I am pretty sure its still gonna fail due to subscriptions.

 

But anyway, unless something miraculous release in the MMO scene this year that just blows everything away and scratch every itch that GW2 scratch, we at least got another year. And thats good enough for me.

 

[Blocki.4931]

It's going to be around for at least another 6 years if I had to guess. There will most likely be at least 1 more expansion and if we go for 1 expansion every 3 years it probably is in development already and releasing in 2 years.

 

 

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

It’s not going to die this year or, barring unforeseen circumstances, in the next few years and presumably neither will FFXIV. So I’d pick the one I enjoy playing most. After all, it might be you that no longer plays MMOs in a few years while both games continue.

[Talindra.4958]

Not many mmo out there really. Many of my gw2 friends - elite players .. have moved to other games .. doesn't mean they won't be back but likely to be a long break. My feelings is maybe few more years. Then perhaps they’d be preparing for gw3.

Ff14 has nice battle gameplay. Raid is harder I was told .. LFG feature is very good etc. I played a bit.. look into interesting but I can only manage 1 mmo and I like to play casually so I stick with gw2 for now xD

[Randulf.7614]

Both have many years of life in them ahead

[Chyanne Waters.8719]

They made Doom in the age of DoS a couple years ago a new one came out. One of the original MMO's that was started by NcSoft called lineage is still going strong in fact it still outdoes all their other games to this day. Guild wars itself is still active after about 14 years. Final Fantasy has several expansions also I think like 15-16 maybe more not sure lol. Here is an idea for you play both for a while, this way you can see if you like one or the other better.

 

You can try GW2 for free just remember because of some of the restrictions on the free account is just a trial to see if you may like the game. You can go all the way to 80 on the trial and even continue playing . Once you pay for the game (no fees to play after unless you get the expansions which has been lowered in price. Since there are no monthly fees to pay it gives anyone the ability to play a pay to play game and a buy to play game at the same time. It is also easy to catch up in GW2.

[Yamazuki.6073]

> @"Faline.8795" said:

> Guild Wars 2 has a hard row to hoe being Buy to Play. Their financials make me wonder if it will still be around, putting out new content in a few years.

 

You have to pay for FFXIV and the expansions in addition to the monthly subscription. It is 40-60$ to buy the game and the expansions, at full price FFXIV actually costs more than both of GW2's base expansions when bought together. This is before taking into account the future monthly payments too. FFXIV also has a cash shop in addition to being buy to play and requiring a subscription.

[evilsofa.7296]

Guild Wars was released in 2005, had two expansions in 2006 and a third in 2007. People continue to play it long-term, even after Guild Wars 2 was released in 2012.

 

Guild Wars 2 was released in 2012, with expansion packs released in late 2015 and late 2017; each expansion pack has Living Story chapters associated with it released in the months after. It seems reasonable to expect another expansion in late 2019.

 

Since there is no monthly fee, and Anet seems inclined to leave their games up for the long term (Guild Wars is 13 years old now) there's no reason to think they would suddenly shut down GW2, and no monetary reason for you to stop playing it. Just check GW2's [birthday achievements](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hero_(achievements) "Birthday achievements") - there's a title in the code databases for those with characters that are 10 years old, and GW2 hasn't reached its 6th birthday yet.

[Ze Dos Cavalos.6132]

Well gw2 servers are getting worse that's for sure.

Are they using cheap servers or something? I don't know...

I only know I have lag spikes every day now and my internet is double the speed it was 2 weeks ago

 

[Grampybone.3716]

Hi OP!

I had the same question myself long ago, it was during GW2-Vanilla. I liked the game the Pay-and-Play mechanic. It was a nice distraction from WoW and I loved the dynamic event system.

At that time ArenaNet had no plans to make any expansion, so I thought: I like the game, and giving it some voluntary support by purchasing non P2W stuff is fine by me. But in that case I want to invest into a game that endures, not one that doesn't move forward.

 

Then the first expansion (anncouncement) came, following by the second later. Then I knew this game is here to last a long time (+GW1 servers are still up!)

 

An expansion will give you new area's. new features, free living world chapters (as long as you unlock within 1 month of chapter release). And all of this for the price of 2, 3 months of an paid subscription MMO.

 

Every area will remain challlenging, because your level scales with the zone. This makes the game a huge playground of dynamic events. OK the rewards on low lvl area's are not as good. But there is always something to do. For me it's like a candystore.

 

And then there is the grinding. Yes there is but which MMO doesn't? Remember you'll pay for pay-and-play and get free content afterwards. I can assure you that if you like this game, purchasing an expansion is worth your money. And it's up to you to support a little more by visiting the ingame store.

 

tbh I can't say anything about FFXIV. But for me the best part of GW2 is freedom whatever you like, for merely the price of an expansion.

 

And yes I'm done with WoW as well. Been a nonstop sub from Vanilla to MoP. Should've stopped after WotLK (after that the 'magic' died imo), although I loved the gardening in MoP. WoW isn'twhat it used to be. GW2 is my new home, without a sub but with full access to the game.

[Pretty Pixie.8603]

I remember the last quarterly figures showing the highest revenue since HoT, if you go by such things.

[ArchGenie.1063]

(Comment deleted)

[TheOrlyFactor.8341]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> I don't think Guild Wars 2 is going anywhere. People, to this day, still play Guild Wars. In fact, Guild Wars got a graphics update just a couple of days ago.

> /shrug

 

This.

 

If GW1 is still around and being played AND getting updates to this day, then I could see GW2 achieving the same longevity. Mind you, I'm not a fortune teller. I'm merely speculating based on what I've seen and experienced from the franchise. :P

[Kingkiller.9645]

> @"TheOrlyFactor.8341" said:

> > @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> > I don't think Guild Wars 2 is going anywhere. People, to this day, still play Guild Wars. In fact, Guild Wars got a graphics update just a couple of days ago.

> > /shrug

>

> This.

>

> If GW1 is still around and being played AND getting updates to this day, then I could see GW2 achieving the same longevity. Mind you, I'm not a fortune teller. I'm merely speculating based on what I've seen and experienced from the franchise. :P

 

GW1 had a shortler lifespan than GW2, I think. We're not even close to coming to the end of GW2. I expect they'll probably give us 5-8 expansions in total before moving on to GW3. People talk about it like it's coming right away, but it's really not. I mean, we have a leaked map showing double our current map moving east, and that's excluding any possibility of going to Cantha.

 

When they DO make GW3, I hope the map is big. Like, really big. Core map at least twice the size of GW2's big. I also hope the maps themselves are much, much larger.

[FogLeg.9354]

> @"Faline.8795" said:

> But what I want to know is: Who will be around for the long run?

>

> Guild Wars 2 has a hard row to hoe being Buy to Play. Their financials make me wonder if it will still be around, putting out new content in a few years.

>

> Final Fantasy XIV has the advantage of a subscription, meaning more incentive to keep investing in it as long as the profit is there. Questions is: Is the profit there?

>

 

FF14 has players because it is FF. There are tons of fans who have played earlier FF games, loved those, and are willing to pay for another. Most of FF players are from Asia, and it is quite possible they will shut down US or EU service at some point. Square Enix probably wants to keep it running just because it helps to sell other FF games too. They can easily shrug off few bad years.

 

GW2 is basically unknown outside US and western part of EU. So it has much less potential buyers. It is also owned by NCSOFT, South Korean game publisher who probably has no interest to keep it running if they make no profit from it.

 

Absolutely disagree on your assumption that subscription makes a game last longer because it makes more profit. If we ignore WoW there really are no sub-based large games, and the reason is quite simple - players do not want to pay subs. Any game these days still asking for subs has hard time convincing the players EVERY month again and again to buy the game over and over. While there are so many non-sub or ad-based or completely free games around. Game developers trying subbed games do not go out of business fast not because they are lazy and stupid (which can happen too) but because we not living in 1980s anymore. There used to be times when you had to pay per minute to gain access to the internet (that was unbelievably slow too), if company tries same business model today, there would be very few customers.

 

While GW2 is buy to play, it has option to buy gems. How much of the profit comes from selling expansions and how much comes from selling gems, we do not know. But I suspect selling gems is quite large part of the income.

 

In either case, the future is in the mobile games. The cost to develop and run MMORPG for PC is high and players move away from their desktops. If the game can push out strong mobile apps, at least in the form of companion apps to start with, but full game later, it has better chance to survive. Money is moving to mobile. Profits are moving to mobile. So games have to follow or die.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

Lots of people have given pretty good theories as to why we should expect GW2 to keep going for a long while. The lack of direct competition for its style, the B2P (vs sub), the recent earnings statements (relative to past equivalent periods).

 

You can also go with the current evidence: ANet is big and they have gotten more organized about releases. They speak about their plans in terms of 6-24 month goals, i.e. they already discuss (however vaguely) storylines that can't take place until a third expansion or fifth living world season.

 

Or in other words, ANet thinks they are going to be around for a long time.

 

Of course, plans fail. Buildings crumble. The ground opens wide. In this industry, success can change to failure in an instant. For now, though, the future looks pretty good.

[SkyShroud.2865]

It will be around, a better question would be how many people it will be.