Are you blind? - open letter to the developers

**3xK** · 12-30-2011, 07:30 AM

I think,

that STS has taken the wrong path. They became blinded by the money. They don't see what makes their games so successful - it's the community. You guys have no idea how lucky you are, what a helpful and more or less mature community you have - the community keeps the people playing and keeps them refreshing this forum from time to time. So if nothing else, make new, better updates for the community and give them something in return.
But ok, I understand that developers only started to care about the money. But you don't seem to get something. Worse updates > people quitting > worse and worse community > even more people quitting > less platinum buyers > less money for you > charging more plat > even more people quit....

*So please, if you have no heart anymore and stopped working for the community, at least start working for the money. You should know that recoloring old items, releasing bad content and charging more and more platinum for those people who stayed doesn't lead to anything good. Just look at the numbers: people currently playing SL: around 600. People playing pocket L. dropped from 6000+ to 500 in a few months, now the number of people is so low that you removed the counter. You can only guess why the number is so low.

I know you're concentrating on the release of Dark legends at the moment. But do you really think it will last long? You will only split the community even more. And how long can you keep up releasing a new game every year? This is not the solution. The solution are updates of the games you left in the dust.

Please prove me wrong.

*this letter is not aimed towards moderators, you guys are just doing your job

**it's wrong to ban ppl for voicing their opinion or telling the truth

***please, reply only if you agree, or if you can prove me wrong. No replies from fanboys saying I should just play another game, please.*

****I did not make the thread to troll or start a flame war

**maiohwmai** · 12-30-2011, 08:02 AM

Is STS losing money? Number of players online does not reflect the amount of revenue earned.

With all due respect, I highly doubt you're privy to their financial records. I would challenge you to support your own claims before requiring others to prove theirs.

**Jtpup74799** · 12-30-2011, 08:07 AM

That get money from players and from Tapjoy so they get money no matter what

**maiohwmai** · 12-30-2011, 08:13 AM

Furthermore, I doubt STS would be able to pay the staff to keep cranking out new games and updates if, as you say, "less money for you" was really the case.

**3xK** · 12-30-2011, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by Jtpup74799

That get money from players and from Tapjoy so they get money no matter what

Nope. Please check your sources next time. STS pays TapJoy to get into their program.
STS "pays" for the plat that you get for free from the tapjoy.

And it's preety clear to me that they're getting less and less money. Why do you think theyre charging more and more plat?

And as I wrote above, I said only what "I think".

**Silentarrow** · 12-30-2011, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by 3xK

Nope. Please check your sources next time. STS pays TapJoy to get into their program.
STS "pays" for the plat that you get for free from the tapjoy.

And it's preety clear to me that they're getting less and less money. Why do you think theyre charging more and more plat?

And as I wrote above, I said only what "I think".

Actually, Tapjoy pays STS a "small amount" each month or so.

I agree with what your saying 3xK, Platinum has become a huge part of the game which is causing so many to quit.
An easy way to fix this would be to charge a subscription fee and a platinum fee, the platinum fee would only be for things like vanities.

**Beanmachine** · 12-30-2011, 08:52 AM

Well before if I'm not mistaken, STS was made up of around 5-10 developers? Now its about 35 so that explains the financial part.

**maiohwmai** · 12-30-2011, 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by 3xK

And it's preety clear to me that they're getting less and less money.

Again, any proof? Because if not then this thread is mostly useless opinions and conjecture.

On the other hand, I would take the position that STS is doing just fine. New content and games is still new content and games. That costs money and money comes from somewhere. The world doesn't run on unicorn farts and rainbow dust and neither do businesses.

**CrimsonTider** · 12-30-2011, 09:05 AM

Coming from someone who spent ZERO plat on the new update and publicly voiced my opinion and concerns, I shre you concerns over the focus of plat. However, your opinion about STS is unfounded and a bit harsh. If you kept up with the debate thread from the Winter Fest event youvwould find that more than one STS employee (moderators and developers) discussed how our concerns would be addressed in the future. I personally have emails confirming this as do others I know of.

Due to the fact there has been no update in the last few weeks, the best we can do is sit back and await the next content released to us. This is the only way we can tell if our concerns were addressed. But I can assure you STS cares more than a lot of other gaming companies do.

**Wretch** · 12-30-2011, 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by maiohwmai

The world doesn't run on unicorn farts and rainbow dust and neither do businesses.

Thanks for ruining my keyboard with the coffee I just shot out of my nose!!!

I won't delve into this subject any more than to say I think STS is doing a great job! I would like to see some new and exciting content in PL at some point, and I am sure they will surprise us in the near future!

That is all...

**maiohwmai** · 12-30-2011, 09:16 AM

Originally Posted by Wretch

Thanks for ruining my keyboard with the coffee I just shot out of my nose!!!

Not hot I hope?

**3xK** · 12-30-2011, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by maiohwmai

Again, any proof? Because if not then this thread is mostly useless opinions and conjecture.

On the other hand, I would take the position that STS is doing just fine. New content and games is still new content and games. That costs money and money comes from somewhere. The world doesn't run on unicorn farts and rainbow dust and neither do businesses.

And on what proof is your opinion based on? How can you say that STS is doing great, when average number of players online dropped from 6000 (in Pocket L. alone) to like 800 (in both games)?

**Rare** · 12-30-2011, 09:40 AM

As people have covered in the many other threads like this, you only sound like you are complaining. You aren't giving a suggestions here to fix the "issues".

You are using terms like "worse update" and "bad content" but not really explaining what you mean.

Originally Posted by 3xK

***please, reply only if you agree, or if you can prove me wrong. No replies from fanboys saying I should just play another game, please.*

Lol. Good luck with that. First, this will NEVER happen. Second, you are stating an opinion. To ask someone to prove you wrong will cause exactly what you said you didn't want this thread to be.

**Rare** · 12-30-2011, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by 3xK

And on what proof is your opinion based on? How can you say that STS is doing great, when average number of players online dropped from 6000 (in Pocket L. alone) to like 800 (in both games)?

How do we know they are doing great? They have increased the pace of content releases. They have hired more developers. Did you see the number of posts that come on this forum? I have no proof, but common sense says the forumers are only a small portion of the community.

Where is your proof that the number of players online dropped consistently to 800? How did you get this information?

**Rare** · 12-30-2011, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by maiohwmai

Again, any proof? Because if not then this thread is mostly useless opinions and conjecture.

On the other hand, I would take the position that STS is doing just fine. New content and games is still new content and games. That costs money and money comes from somewhere. The world doesn't run on unicorn farts and rainbow dust and neither do businesses.

Unless they work for STS, there is no way for them to have this information. I doubt that Spacetime is opening their books to anyone.

Its all opinion.

**3xK** · 12-30-2011, 09:50 AM

Nice tripple post.....

Now log into SL and look under the news box. They removed the players online counter from Pocket L.

And I'm not the guy who suggest new content. That's the developers work. And there are many many great threads and suggestions on this forum, that devs will never make.

**Rare** · 12-30-2011, 10:11 AM

Originally Posted by 3xK

Nice tripple post.....

Now log into SL and look under the news box. They removed the players online counter from Pocket L.

That counter only showed you who was online at the time. Taking a peek at it isn't a good representation of how many people play consistently. This is a world wide game. Peak hours are different everywhere.

As for the triple post, yeah, I like to keep my messages separate. I don't see any rules against that.

Originally Posted by 3xK

And I'm not the guy who suggest new content. That's the developers work. And there are many many great threads and suggestions on this forum, that devs will never make.

That makes you sound like you're just complaining, that's all I'm saying. And as a defense for STS, there are MANY MANY MANY suggestions that they have implemented into the game. To expect every suggestion to be implemented is asinine.

**Onaraasider** · 12-30-2011, 10:19 AM

Have u also thought about school?many of kids played in summer,b now they have to focus on school.

**Justg** · 12-30-2011, 10:26 AM

We are not blind... our eyes are wide open. The games are very healthy. Pocket Legends just won Smartphone Game of the Year from Massively. Star Legends is in too many Top 10 lists to count (well not really, but it did make quite a few).

Our plan has always been to have multiple games in multiple genres. Some people love Sci Fi, some people love Fantasy, some love Vampires...

We've stated before that the memory budget in PL is full to bursting, which is why you see similar levels and weapons. That being said, we are instituting Live Teams for both PL and SL who will have free reign to do what they will (as long as it obeys the laws of physics).

Since this thread has no new information in it and appears only designed to stir up drama, I'm gonna lock up now.

*click*