El Patron's Sword on Open over 24 hours...now what?

[Edward Edgemenace]

Originally Posted by Captain Sureshot

I have never heard that the POTC MMOG was designed or positioned as a loss-leader. Even if it were, it would still be all about ROI, so you may have misspoke there. Where did you get the information that it is supposed to be a loss-leader for the movies?

http://disney.go.com/pirates/online/...agreement.html

"...Disney reserves the right to provide the Service at no charge for promotional reasons..."

There was another section that specifically stated the purpose of the game was explicitly to promote the movie(s), but I'm having trouble finding that section at the moment.

If your point is that they like money and do want to eke out every last cent they can from the game, well, ok, I can agree with that. But it doesn't change Disney's stated reason for creating, owning, maintaining and providing the game.

----

And now, since you didn't ask :-) I'll add that the family-game business model is obviously superior to the child-only business model. Put yourself in the Mouse's shoes and ask yourself, "who is paying for this, the kids or their parents?" That's the same reason there is subtle adult humor in every movie...

So perhaps they are moving away from that concept. That's their choice, but sad to watch (also with predictable affects on their ROI.) To me, it is obviously the wrong approach in this genre.


----

addendum:

Interestingly, http://disney.go.com/legal/conditions_of_use.html now redirects to a more generic page. Both pages seem to have been revamped (or perhaps rewritten) since I last saw them.

[Captain Sureshot]

Originally Posted by Edward Edgemenace

http://disney.go.com/pirates/online/...agreement.html

"...Disney reserves the right to provide the Service at no charge for promotional reasons..."

There was another section that specifically stated the purpose of the game was explicitly to promote the movie(s), but I'm having trouble finding that section at the moment.

Not sure how in the world you get that POTCO is a loss-leader out of anything in the POTCO Member Services Agreement. And the section of the MSA you partial quote from is specifically talking about promotional uses of the game, and relieving Disney of having to extend said promotions to everybody who uses the product. It most certainly is not talking about any business model. Disney is pretty tight-lipped about how they run the company. Not much to glean from their Annual Reports, either.

And now, since you didn't ask :-) I'll add that the family-game business model is obviously superior to the child-only business model. Put yourself in the Mouse's shoes and ask yourself, "who is paying for this, the kids or their parents?" That's the same reason there is subtle adult humor in every movie...

So perhaps they are moving away from that concept. That's their choice, but sad to watch (also with predictable affects on their ROI.) To me, it is obviously the wrong approach in this genre.

There is no superiority if the business model is failing. I'll take a marginally successful child user business model over any type of failing business model any day of the week. Pretty sure Disney and its stockholders would too.

As always, excellent points and thought provoking posts EE. Thanks.