Sandbox Interactive joins Stillfront

    • Robinhoodrs wrote:

      Big news, congratulations!

      Mine and many others have been asking this since we got wind of the buy-out;

      Will anything change on the stance of micro-transactions? Or will Albion Online stay the same with Vanity & Gold Packs purchases with irl money?

      And I am glad the full team is staying, including the founders.


      Edit - I just listened to the Stillfront Group conference call this morning and when talking about Albion Online and the mobile launch coming in H1 of 2021, they want to "expand in-app purchases", can you expand of that?
      Hey there,

      there are no plans at all to change the underlying business model of the game - i.e. premium, gold (for premium or vanity) and vanity items. Our business model is is extremely solid, works well and is accepted by the players. It will work just as well on mobile - in particular, given that Albion is a cross-platform game. (and what's meant by expanding in-app purchases is that once we are on mobile, a certain share of the revenue will come from mobile (in-app), but it's still going to be premium, gold and vanity)

      On top of that, we are actually certain that if we did actually introduce p2w stuff into the game, it would lead to lower revenues. Albion is a community driven game and a lot if its success is ultimately based on that - having a fair and transparent business model is part of that arrangement.

    • felipe128 wrote:

      Cronder wrote:

      felipe128 wrote:

      Stillfront games are all (mostly) pay to win. Check their mobile games and make a conclusion yourself.

      I'd expect very soon they launch real money paid "vanity" items that makes you invulnerable or increases your damage/health, etc.

      If that happens indeed, imagine any content (specially zvzs) with a horde of invulnerable players.
      I imagine the introduction of paid skins that have been launched were proof of concept that led to being acquired by stillfront.
      Paid skins aren't the issue. LOL, Free fire, Overwatch, etc. has paid vanity items. That ain't the issue. As long as it's just vanity.
      Problem will be when those vanities comes with special spells/passive spells, and unbalance the game and the gameplay.
      Our definition of vanity items is that they do not have any impact on gameplay / balance. (i.e. no buffs, boosts, etc)

    • Korn wrote:

      Robinhoodrs wrote:

      Big news, congratulations!

      Mine and many others have been asking this since we got wind of the buy-out;

      Will anything change on the stance of micro-transactions? Or will Albion Online stay the same with Vanity & Gold Packs purchases with irl money?

      And I am glad the full team is staying, including the founders.


      Edit - I just listened to the Stillfront Group conference call this morning and when talking about Albion Online and the mobile launch coming in H1 of 2021, they want to "expand in-app purchases", can you expand of that?
      Hey there,
      there are no plans at all to change the underlying business model of the game - i.e. premium, gold (for premium or vanity) and vanity items. Our business model is is extremely solid, works well and is accepted by the players. It will work just as well on mobile - in particular, given that Albion is a cross-platform game. (and what's meant by expanding in-app purchases is that once we are on mobile, a certain share of the revenue will come from mobile (in-app), but it's still going to be premium, gold and vanity)

      On top of that, we are actually certain that if we did actually introduce p2w stuff into the game, it would lead to lower revenues. Albion is a community driven game and a lot if its success is ultimately based on that - having a fair and transparent business model is part of that arrangement.
      Thanks for the confirmation on this.

      Very good news for us the players and everyone at SBI (job security and all that). :thumbsup:
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    • Korn wrote:

      felipe128 wrote:

      Cronder wrote:

      felipe128 wrote:

      Stillfront games are all (mostly) pay to win. Check their mobile games and make a conclusion yourself.

      I'd expect very soon they launch real money paid "vanity" items that makes you invulnerable or increases your damage/health, etc.

      If that happens indeed, imagine any content (specially zvzs) with a horde of invulnerable players.
      I imagine the introduction of paid skins that have been launched were proof of concept that led to being acquired by stillfront.
      Paid skins aren't the issue. LOL, Free fire, Overwatch, etc. has paid vanity items. That ain't the issue. As long as it's just vanity.Problem will be when those vanities comes with special spells/passive spells, and unbalance the game and the gameplay.
      Our definition of vanity items is that they do not have any impact on gameplay / balance. (i.e. no buffs, boosts, etc)
      Yeah @Korn, that's why I initially wrote "vanities" (into brackets). Paid skins aren't the issue.

      Time will tell, and hopefully it will prove me wrong.

      We can always come back here in few years and check.

    • I mean I understand that the sandbox team have no interest in changing the game for the worse, but after selling the game you can't really stop it if they decide to change things if you look add a lot of other games Stillfront own. you see a lot of P2W games and that's honestly really scary. it sucks to see a game you love get sold to another company that you have no trust in, to not just squeeze the game dry for money... and honestly, it kind of seam like this post it trying to hide the fact that Albion is now owned by Stillfront and trying to make it sound like its a partnership... which it might be. but I find it unlikely (you don't buy a company to make a partnership). and even if you get to keep doing your own thing for now if the game's popularity slows down (probably not happening anytime sone but still...) can you then still promise that Stillfront will not force you to kill the game with money gripping designs.

      hopefully, my negative look on this is just a waste full worry.

    • EskilBagge wrote:

      I mean I understand that the sandbox team have no interest in changing the game for the worse, but after selling the game you can't really stop it if they decide to change things if you look add a lot of other games Stillfront own. you see a lot of P2W games and that's honestly really scary. it sucks to see a game you love get sold to another company that you have no trust in, to not just squeeze the game dry for money... and honestly, it kind of seam like this post it trying to hide the fact that Albion is now owned by Stillfront and trying to make it sound like its a partnership... which it might be. but I find it unlikely (you don't buy a company to make a partnership). and even if you get to keep doing your own thing for now if the game's popularity slows down (probably not happening anytime sone but still...) can you then still promise that Stillfront will not force you to kill the game with money gripping designs.

      hopefully, my negative look on this is just a waste full worry.
      Bold.

      What scares me is that it was not announced as it was... a sale. Not only selling the company, but the time we invested in the game since launch.

      Lets see how it plays out.

    • Congratulations to the founders, getting millions is the reward of all your hard work, you brought the world a really nice game. Plus you can keep working in the game, so it's nice.

      About the skins and other vanity... there are several games with that model. Personally I buy some, I like them, and I support the game with that. I'd like them more if some were limited in time though... Path of Exile model works like that and they make great revenue.

      I hope this means more and better Albion Online for the years to come.

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    • Yea I can see you little guys standing up to the people that cut that 100 million euro check being like
      "Vanity only!"
      SBI revenue was around 12 million euros for 2020
      the total purchase is 130 million euros, are they really going to keep the current profit trajectory as SBI claims?
      it would take stillfront like 15 years to make a profit off Albion, you think they are going to do that?


      I can see stillfront :

      1. remove premium for in-game currency

      add to the cash shop

      2. add fame buffs
      3. add focus potions
      4. additional tiers of premium with more benefits
      5. buff and pick up pets
      6. crafting and refining bonus items or passive benefits
      7. gear insurance


      look at shakes and fidget and Imperia Online and the other mobile trash microtransactions owned by stillgroup, we are all F'd
      stillfront.com/en/featured-games/

    • bmizzle wrote:

      Yea I can see you little guys standing up to the people that cut that 100 million euro check being like
      "Vanity only!"
      SBI revenue was around 12 million euros for 2020
      the total purchase is 130 million euros, are they really going to keep the current profit trajectory as SBI claims?
      it would take stillfront like 15 years to make a profit off Albion, you think they are going to do that?


      I can see stillfront :

      1. remove premium for in-game currency

      add to the cash shop

      2. add fame buffs
      3. add focus potions
      4. additional tiers of premium with more benefits
      5. buff and pick up pets
      6. crafting and refining bonus items or passive benefits
      7. gear insurance


      look at shakes and fidget and Imperia Online and the other mobile trash microtransactions owned by stillgroup, we are all F'd
      stillfront.com/en/featured-games/
      Tbh, it makes me sad just to see albion's name in the same list as all those games loool they all look awful. Clearly doesnt belong there.

      But well, we all would do the same if someone else offered us that amount of money (or 90% less still ahah)

    • MadSkillzDLR wrote:

      Tbh, it makes me sad just to see albion's name in the same list as all those games loool they all look awful. Clearly doesnt belong there.
      I concur. And whilst "there are no plans at all to change the underlying business model of the game" having 'no plans' isnt the same as your parent company 6 months down the line pointing at the bottom line and changing your plans. This could all go so badly wrong for the game. And Stillfront wont give a shit as long as the profits increase, by whatever means.

      Im really struggling to see where this is good for the game (yes its good for the devs from a financial pespective, which is fine), but the OP seems to be scraping the barrel for positives.

      Cant really blame the Devs though .. 100 million Euro's, cash, split between the 4 SBI co-founders, plus 7.5m euro's worth of Stillfront shares each isnt to be sniffed at. I'd take that too. Doesnt mean the game isnt fucked long term though as you can bet that Stillfront will be piling the pressure on t increase revenues and I bet they have a whole host of ideas for that ..... only a matter of time.
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      The post was edited 1 time, last by Midgard ().

    • Syndic wrote:

      Yeah I doubt the new owners are gonna wait what... 10+ years to break even before starting to generate profit?

      It was good while it lasted tho. :D
      It's obviously not going to take 10 years. We have to assume that the new company is going to be able to reach out to different types of gamers to increase the player base, thus, creating more revenue. However, I do think that if the new company doesn't execute their strategies to massively increase the player base, then they are slowly going to tap into the P2W features until they are satisfied with their revenue from the game.


      A concern that I have is that this game has a community like no other game on the market. The community is relatively toxic and I'm not saying it as a bad thing but I think that's what makes this game stand out for me. It's not meant for the easily offended gamers. Most of us lash out at players while also expecting to get it back and that's a huge reason I enjoy this game so much.

      I really think getting more players into a game/community like Albion is going to be a challenge and if Stillfront doesn't succeed, then they will have the final say on how the game is managed and that could get scary.

      I'm staying optimistic and hope that SBI knows what they are doing and that the end game goal is met so that nothing will have to be changed for the worse.

    • They might've gambled on them being able to greatly increase Albion's popularity when it releases on mobile properly.
      A good marketing push to coincide with the mobile launch (with ready-made plans to quickly scale up Albion online with its possible increased population,) might actually do wonders for the game and its players.

      While most of their other "featured games" on their website doesn't inspire much confidence from a gamer standpoint: "BitLife was among the top 5 most downloaded games on iOS in 2019",
      This could suggest they might know what they're doing when it comes to marketing. Or they got lucky.
      It will be interesting to see what they will cook up for Albion. I'll at least give them a chance.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Jikap ().

    • I'm sure that Albion will grow much more with the official mobile launch, and Stillfront will add the expertise to gather as most as possible of players. I foresee (and hope, for the sake of this model business) an influx of new player base, but i didn't see any comment on how the game will support this much of players. Not only the infrastructure will need be much improved, the game will need a sort of rework, and only expanding the royal continent won't scratch the enough.


      I hope and wish a long life to Albion. Good luck and good work.
      "We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good."

      ― Carl Sagan