A Key Economic Indicator

[SickPuppy]

I really don't want to get involved in this but I have to ask how you could possibly know how many customers another company is picking up?

 

FYI. When you get to 4+ new customers an hour you can brag..

 

Just going by the info posted HGN-Daniel

 

December 2007: http://web.archive.org/web/200711201.../stats/all.php

"1030 players out of 12748 slots on 589 servers."

 

Now: http://www.branzone.com/stats/all.php

"1421 players out of 5121 slots on 219 servers.

 

From looking at your web stats I doubt you can brag about it either

[JasonF]

From looking at your web stats I doubt you can brag about it either

 

Defcon - Rank: 660,045

 

Hostile Contact - Rank: 1,736,259

 

http://www.alexa.com

[SickPuppy]

Defcon - Rank: 660,045

 

Hostile Contact - Rank: 1,736,259

 

http://www.alexa.com

 

You are comparing stats for a website that has been online for 90 days to one that has been online for how many years???

 

You can't start at the top you have to build up to it. All things in good time my friend.

[SickPuppy]

Rather strange statement from someone who has posted numerous times that anyone charging more then a buck is overcharging and ripping off customers.

Over charging and ripping off customers = very high profit margins, so if you speak the truth before then why would you think someone doing so has a low profit margin. :?

 

Our company operates debt free. We use the profits to expand and provide better service to the customer. Charging $2.99 a slot at a 68% profit margin is unnecessary.

[Joshdch]

Seems a bit stupid how when power prices, colocation prices rise that game server hosts lower their price per slot on game servers.

 

I think their are bigger GSP's put their setting up these $0.50p slot just so they can see out the smaller GSP's to go bust.

 

Its the same in the UK, their is a new GSP i have seen @ 0.30p per slot on all games.. when normally its £1.00 per slot to £1.50 per slot.

 

I am glad to see now that one of the biggest game server providers in the UK is closing (Jolt.co.uk) set that they are getting rid of hosting game servers now. So maybe it might help all of us out with more and more GSP's going bust hopefully the ones that go bust are the ones with silly prices.

[Mike]

Our company operates debt free. We use the profits to expand and provide better service to the customer. Charging $2.99 a slot at a 68% profit margin is unnecessary.

 

Well first off, you have no basis to "assume" that their margins are similar to yours as was said previously you are in an entirely different market segment. Higher performance will also generally bring higher margins at the cost of volume. I.e. the margins on a Lamborghini will always be higher then on a Honda Civic, even though a civic will sell more. So if your volume is comparable its almost guaranteed that a higher performance provider is making more money, assuming the business is healthy. And whether or not you find a target segment "unneccessary" is entirely your opinion. There is no "need" for a Lamborghini but there are plenty of people with money who will buy one. And they certainly won't buy that civic because its more "sensible".

[JasonF]

My final comment on the subject:

 

I have only been in these forums for about 1 1/2 yrs and I have seen a million companies come and go. Most are the people that jump into the forums talking a big game only to see them just disappear 1 yr later. The big guys have been here for a long time and will most likely be around for a long time. We have Battlefield Heroes coming out soon and that will revive the ranked server providers.

 

Part of the slow down for all GSPs, besides the economy, is that there have been no real big games lately excluding CoD WaW. I don't think Left 4 Dead is considered a huge online game so I don't think it would fall in this category. Seems like Nov 07 was the last good times for GSPs when you had about 4 major titles being released in 3 month time frame.

[HIS-MOTHER]

BF Heroes will not revive anything. Of this I am sure.

[Brandon]

I love speculation.

[DanM]

BF Heroes will not revive anything. Of this I am sure.

What brings you to this conclusion?

[HIS-MOTHER]

I love speculation.

 

 

Specualtion is for the Futures markets. Although Heroes may boost some sales It won't be impactive since most FPS players dont want a 3rd person game or a cartoon. Now Heroes in 1st person might be a little better.

 

What brings you to this conclusion?

 

I'd love to answer but can not.. NDA.

[Brandon]

Specualtion is for the Futures markets. Although Heroes may boost some sales It won't be impactive since most FPS players dont want a 3rd person game or a cartoon. Now Heroes in 1st person might be a little better.

 

Sorry my comment wasn't towards your post.

[HIS-MOTHER]

Sorry my comment wasn't towards your post.

 

No worries, it was my fault making the assumption since it was posted right before DanM's

[Brandon]

My profit margin is 68% theirs is probably closer to 40%. My business is growing at an average of 4 customers a week they are dropping an average of 7 customers a week. You do the math.

 

+10 Excellent point.

 

Not sure how this makes any sense at all. Let's for a second assume that our costs are the same and the average slot count is 12.

 

300 * 12 = 3600 * $1.00 = $3600

220 * 12 = 2640 * $1.99 = $5253.6

 

So we achieve more with less. All that matters is that you're happy with your business model. We're certainly happy with ours.

 

PS. Game Servers only account for a mere fraction of our overall services. Happy speculating.

[HGN-Daniel]

Your game server count has gone done by half nonethless. (according to that counter, at least) That's not speculation

[Brandon]

Your game server count has gone done by half nonethless. (according to that counter, at least) That's not speculation

 

Sure, our turnover rate for game servers may not be what it used to be. But you have to realize that a large part of our game server base a year ago was BF2/BF2142/COD4. We chose not to drop our prices to $1.00/slot so of course consumers are going to go elsewhere. But we'd rather host 10 servers instead of 20-30. So the number of servers that we host really doesn't matter since our margins will always be higher.

[JasonF]

So the number of servers that we host really doesn't matter since our margins will always be higher.

 

Well said.

 

Brandon, how come your server list does not include CoD WaW?

[Brandon]

Well said.

 

Brandon, how come your server list does not include CoD WaW?

 

The script we use just hadn't been updated with a few games but the stats are no longer available for public viewing. No one else seems to be sharing, sorry.

[DougK94]

I would rather have 10 loyal customers that I make $10 a month profit each on, than 100 customers that I make $1.00 each on. Same income, but your expenses are less as your required resources are less. ie, you do not need as many servers or as large of a staff. Generally, customers paying a little more are more knowledgeable and require less support than those who are buying mainly on price and host hopping to the next cheapest server that they come across tomorrow. Some do not care about their churn rate and others do. I know many of my customers have been here for 5-7 years. Sure they can find somewhere else cheaper, but they do not want to sacrifice the the level of service they are accustomed to receiving.

 

It does not matter if you sell servers at $100 or $0.01 a slot as long as it fits your individual business model and you are able to provide a decent service to your customers and make a profit.

 

I get a kick out of threads like this, we need to be more concerned with our own business rather than others. So what, I am concerned about my own business, not some else's. In today's economy, many businesses and individuals are struggling. Some will prosper, some will tread water and some will not be here tomorrow. But that happens in good times too.

[JasonF]

The script we use just hadn't been updated with a few games but the stats are no longer available for public viewing. No one else seems to be sharing, sorry.

 

I don't blame you. Like Bobby said, he used to have his stats up but kiddie GSPs would just go into those servers to recruit them. Plus IMO, it is no one's business how many clients I have. I would maybe post some test server IPs but that is about it.

[JasonF]

I get a kick out of threads like this, we need to be more concerned with our own business rather than others.

 

Well said old man.

[HGN-Daniel]

I would rather have 10 loyal customers that I make $10 a month profit each on, than 100 customers that I make $1.00 each on.

You know what's better than 10 loyal customers? 20 loyal customers - the point is that Branzone's game server client base has been cut down by half. Dropping your price isn't the only way to keep or get more clients - there's marketing, SEO and a plethora of other ways to attract customers. I'm not trying to bash on Branzone, I personally think they're one of the more respectable GSPs out there - they never talk trash or get involved in inter-GSP feuds, nor do they drop their prices and quality just to compete. But their drop in business is undeniable.

[DougK94]

Maybe branzone is concentrating on other areas rather than game servers. After all he did just say game servers are only a part of their business. True it does look like their game service business has dropped, but maybe other areas have more than made up the difference. Anyways, who cares? Sure I hate to see him struggle if that is the case, but as i said earlier, we need to be concerned about our own selves, rather than someone else.

[HGN-Daniel]

I don't own a GSP, I'm just here to troll.

[Brandon]

I'm not denying the drop in game servers and I won't give away any further information other than whats already readily available. It just goes to show what the $1.00/slot is doing to the market. We saw the trend change occuring in Q2 2008, our focus has shifted but we will continue to support the more mature audience in the $2-3/slot range. We have no plans to play in the $1/slot market at this time. But let it be known, if we were to offer $1/slot servers we'd certainly surpass last years stats.