K.Rokossovski wrote:
I agree that massive whales aren't the problem. The problem is the continuous efforts from Bytro to please them and acquire new ones. Now we have a WW2 game full of magic, only because the whales shouldn't be as exposed/obvious as they were before.
I think you are wrong there.
Yes, pleasing the whales and stopping the gold shaming is a thing.
But more importantly, it is the shareholder value they are desperately trying to increase aka profit for people who are not at all involved except with an investment.
Bytro was always making money. I read somewhere it was 6 million/yr a while ago. Mind you, that is not enormous, but a good niche earning.
What Stillfront is making Bytro do, is simplifying the game, to attract dumber players who will spend their pocket money to save their ego.
But those players will hop from game to game and not stay on.
The Premium buyers should be able to sustain the company and the Whales are the cherry on the cake. The whales spent because they need to win, regardless.
The Premium players will (mostly) have better skills and pose the real challenge to the Whales and are their reason for spending.
The F2P with better skills are the challenge for the Premium players, as should be the Whales, and that is why the Premium players keep playing the game.
The F2P players simply enjoy the game and some will evolve into Premium players and some even into Whales.
This what Bytro should capitalize on.
Not on the game-hopping 1-day-flies.
If Stillfront/Bytro wants to increase their revenue and profit from this game, their strategy is wrong.
They should instead try to exploit the unique niche position they have and market the game for what it is and with what it attracted its real customers: a unique strategy game.
Further, they should reduce overhead. Reduce the number of KPI oriented knobs they call managers. And reduce their pay. This will instantly reduce costs.
Next they should look at which managers to retain and those should be not the KPI oriented knobs, but the managers who understand what the role of a manager is: create an open playing field and remove barriers, so that their subordinates can do their jobs best!
That is how you get results from your team (you do not get true added value from your employees by checking numbers, hours spend and moaning about KPI's).
But under pressure to generate more shareholder value, from higher-ups who don't have clue of the real value of their assets, this can't happen.
That is how stillfront is killing off its games (and itself) and that is why their shares are in the sewer.
Alternatively, they should change how they approach the different markets for their different games, instead of turning every game into junk for dimwits who will never become loyal customers.
There is so much more to say about this, but nobody is listening anayways.
PS: I went to the stockmarket with a company doing 10million in revenues at that time, increased it to 65 million, but... though on paper I was very rich in stocks (market cap peaked at over 250 million of which I owned a considerable share), but selling off a large part was not an option.
So, yeah, it looked great and I was considered very important in my branche of industry.
LMFAO!!!
Now that I am off of the stock market again, I have
(a) tonnes of spare time
(b) way more fun again and
(c) more REAL money in the bank
Working to increase shareholder value, while not issuing shares to profit from it, is a death trap.
And if you succeed and do issue shares, the death trap becomes only more deadly.
Unless you don't give a shit about your company, but that inherently means you have a shitty character and will never be happy anyways 
))
STOP THE DUMBIFICATION in favor of P2W & fly-by phone players!
SENIOR REFLECTION MANAGERCHIEF EDITOR of
The-Only-True-Truth(TM)ⵉⵏⵣⴰⵍⵉⵢⵏ !!ⵢⵉⵏ ⵙⵙⵉⵎⵓⵏ ⴰⵣⴳⴰⵢⴰⵏ!!"We can be wrong & we can know this and still do both" - a random Gen-Z, politician or gaming company CEO
