Monetization in BitCraft Online

Alpha, Steam Early Access, and Beyond

Wishlist BitCraft Online on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3454650/BitCraft_Online/

Before reading this post, I recommend that you read our blog post from 4 years ago about our philosophy of game monetization in general:

https://clockwork-labs.medium.com/our-thoughts-on-game-monetization-909976b5287d

This blog post will be about how we plan to monetize BitCraft specifically, both for Steam Early Access and the eventual full release.

BitCraft Online

How will BitCraft Online be monetized in Steam EA:

In Steam Early Access we will be selling:

1. Access to the game for $30
2. “Hexite Shards” (premium currency) in the game shop and on the website

All players who purchased a Supporter Badge during the Alpha will receive a Steam key for each badge that they purchased.

Hexite Shards are designed to be used solely for cosmetics. During Early Access Hexite Shards can be used to:

1. Create custom empire emblems and banners
2. Place empire cosmetics (statues, banners, flags, etc.)
3. Purchasing Hexite Capsules required for empire territory defense and capture
   – Large empires will have access to empire emotes
   – Large empires will have access to special titles and chat features
   –Empire territory fanfare when entering the empire
4. Create empire themed custom character cosmetics like capes or ambient effects
5. In the future (but still during Steam EA), we plan to offer building/pathway cosmetics (e.g. cosmetic building variants, glowing pathways, stylized walls, etc)
6. In the future (but still during Steam EA), we plan to offer premium character scale cosmetics

If you’re not familiar with the empire system in BitCraft, you capture territory by placing watchtowers in the world and compete with other empires by destroying rival towers while protecting your own. Your empire is displayed on the map and recognized in the world.

Empires are not a land purchasing system. Empires are not claims. They don’t affect what other players can or cannot build within their boundaries. It doesn’t affect the average player beyond how the borders of Europe affect their country’s citizens. It’s kind of like Crusader Kings. The purpose of the empire system is to give players something to rally behind while encouraging political intrigue and social gameplay. We want players, from town leaders to solo players to big streamers, to feel like they are a part of something greater. That is the system’s purpose.

Note that Hexite Shards are a tradable in-game item and that we expect players may trade to other players for Hex Coins or other items. In accordance with our stance on free-trade, we do not plan to disallow this, although we are cautious in our game design to ensure that coins or other items are not easily convertible directly to experience without putting in significant effort.

How will BitCraft Online be monetized after Steam EA:

After Early Access we plan to only be selling:

1. Hexite Shards

At present, we still plan for the game to be free-to-play upon full release, but we are intentionally choosing to charge for Early Access. This is for two reasons:

1. Steam is more likely to feature us if they stand to gain from sales
2. Scaling a single world MMORPG is difficult, and this helps to limit the deluge of players in addition to providing us with revenue to continue scaling the game

The Beta/Steam EA is the first version of the game that is not purely a test for our purposes, but rather a complete game we’re delivering to you, the players.

As a reminder, the original reason we decided BitCraft should be free-to-play for the final release is that we want the game to be as accessible as possible. A single world, community driven MMORPGs lives or dies by its community, so we want to make that community as large and vibrant as possible. It’s possible that in the future we decide it’s better to monetize the game with a subscription, albeit with a smaller but more dedicated community. At this moment, however, I feel that eventually making BitCraft free-to-play with the commensurately larger community still makes sense. We shall see if we can sustain the game in this way.

Parting thoughts

I find that whenever game companies discuss monetization plans, the pessimists ping-pong between “this greedy game company is secretly planning to screw us with overmonetization, P2W, and microtransactions” and “they’ll never survive because they’re not monetizing enough”. The latter kind always tickles me because we’re the ones who have dedicated 7 years of our lives to this task, not them, but I appreciate the concern.

The thing is though, even the most pessimistic critic is correct. Games need to get their monetization right. We intend to do our level best to get this right both for you, the community, and the whole team of developers who are counting on us. I believe it can be done, and the above outlines our first attempt.

Notably, if our current plan doesn’t work we may modify or change it! We want BitCraft to be around for many years to come and that necessitates having a successful monetization strategy.

As another reminder, there are no cryptocurrencies or NFTs in BitCraft Online.

— Tyler (3Blave, Cofounder of Clockwork Labs)

Wishlist BitCraft Online on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3454650/BitCraft_Online/