Voting with my wallet

[HakuroDK]

Actually no. It was Yoshi himself that made this connection with his original comments on not having a cash shop because subs would sustain the game.

You would claim that listening to Yoshi is best, but ignore his original perspective on why a game would have a cash shop.

OBJECTION!

I present to you the slides from Yoshi-P's panel at the Game Developer's Conference:

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020179/Behind-the-Realm


I direct your attention to Slide 38 that states "The (Payment) Models Can Co-Exist", namely the bullet points that state "Commitment to either is unnecessary" and "Implementing both is also an option", implying that he never once believed that a free to play model with a cash shop and a subscription model without a cash shop had to be the only ways a game could be successful and that a subscription model with a cash shop can work.



Any comments he made on subscriptions sustaining the game was in regards to a subscription model being a more stable and steady revenue whereas cash shop revenue is significantly more erratic. The way he is implementing the cash shop has absolutely no bearing on sustenance, and is instead operating under the point "the model chosen should meet customer and market needs".

There has been a constant vocal need from the community for buyable Fantasia, Namingway Cards, and other similar character-altering items, and the community has expressed interest, through the power of their wallets, the need for digital items like the Collector's Edition items and the item codes from physical merchandise like Audio CDs, Art Books, and of course, Fanfest tickets. It's clear to me that Yoshida is opening this cash shop to meet a perceived demand for such a service.

Will Yoshida start adding good-looking vanity pieces to the cash shop? Maybe. But will it be of a significantly higher quality than those released in-game? Other than to those who are particularly anal about details, I sincerely doubt it.