How much would you be willing to pay for THE perfect football game?

Peter Withe

Peter Withe

It must be. It is! Peter Withe!
10 August 2018
And when I say PERFECT, I mean fully licensed, every team, club, stadium, every tiny detail from world football. It played and looked like a real game of football. There are online and offline modes. No Ultimate Team or myClub just pure Career Mode or online Career with a friend (one of you manages the club, the other guy helps out with training and you both play together when matches kick off like Co-Op Seasons in FIFA). Stats etc would be as realistic/better than any Football Manager game. Career Mode would be deeper than any Football Manager game. All teams would get kit updates every season, new sponsors etc.

Basically, the game is the best thing ever and is released on PS5 and Xbox Two (and you own one of these consoles).

But the game is BID ONLY because it's so expensve to make. And there are only 10,000 copies available world wide. It's physical only and comes on a GOLD blu-ray with a print and cover of the club you support.

What would you be willing to pay? Serious question, no messing around.

EDIT: Whoops I've posted this in PES section, feel free to move to correct forum :)
 
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On a more serious note tho, since you asked for serious answers (even if the above kinda is :P).

If it played like real football, so if we were to talk about a true, real simulation (possibly scalable in some way. to make all happy), it would be hard to impossible, for me, to not try and grab it.

I'd pay the highest reasonable sum of money possible- I mean, of course I'm not gonna fall in debt over a videogame, but after all you'd never need a football game again in your whole life, and it means no more annual Pes or Fifa buy.. it's like an investement. So I think 8-900 euros, maybe even slightly more, would be reasonable.

But I think your bet would work better without the 10000 copies limit. I'm afraid if it were to come in such a limited fashion, it would be impossible to outbid the crazy ones. You'd have any kind of outerwordly offer just for the rarity and the peculiarity of it, maybe even by people who wouldn't even open it later.
 
Let's be more realistic (well, it's still a science fiction idea, but let's get down to earth a bit more!).

I would seriously consider an iRacing / Raceroom business model.

Simulation gameplay, with fouls and everything, tactics that actually make sense etc, as a standard base.
And then pay as you go dlc which could include a fully licenced league or competition, to a group of stadiums or both.

Total cost for owning everything could be really high (buying all iRacing content, cars & tracks could cost you more than $1000 for example), but many people could pay less and enjoy a single league/competition or something.
 
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If it had the option to select any line-ups going back for many years, say 2015/16 line-ups, 2008/09, 1999/00 etc, at least a few select seasons like that, and tons of leagues while having good enough gameplay... I could see myself spending even 1000EU or maybe even more... if it's just modern stuff, I'm good with current PES.

Actually, i'd probably be thrilled enough with just some fully licensed historic tournaments, like EURO-2000, Libertadores-2008, WC-2014, stuff like that to pay 1000+ provided it's fully made and complete, with optional yearly squad downloads instead of new game every year.
 
Tell you the truth - I wouldnt be as generous as some here. I defo wouldnt pay more than a system I play on.

To be more realistic - I think soon we couldnt be looking into monthly subscriptions. And if thats the case and if EA or Konami release packages - some for online, some for offline - I wouldnt mind paying 10quid monthly.

They could also add packages. So you have a base package, like a game now, with some leagues and stadiums, but you can also buy Bundesliga package DLC, where you can get additional stadiums and divisions. That I wouldnt mind paying as well. Extra 19.99€ per package. And then monthly 10, sorry, 9.99€.

There is money to be made on offline package and im surprised no one copped it yet..

Edit: I should have said "package" few more times in my post. Expecting some yellow cards for this.
 
To play devils advocate, the ‘perfect’ football game would never exist because there are just too many different things that we each want from it. From the way it plays, to modes, visual preferences and the many, many other variables. I personally cannot envisage a scenario where I’d be willing to pay such insane sums just because we’re all so desperate for the game we have in our minds.

Rather than striving for a ‘perfect’ title I’d just love to see Konami change their business model to a free-to-play one, and for a number of reasons which I think would be hugely beneficial to all parties - Konami, the developers, and the players:

* Fans typically have a MUCH larger say in the development of many f2p titles due to their being no initial revenue from the sale of the game. If they don’t include what fans want, they’ll have no players, and thus won’t make money from in game sales. Adhering to players wishes is vital for success.
* Konami’s revenue would be dictated by paid content, but players will only pay for this content if the game itself is good, and the value is fair. This creates a healthy cycle of both regular content updates, and hot fixes to the gameplay. Currently they have no need to fix any ML issues because we’ve already bought the game. In this scenario, they wouldn’t be able to ignore us.
* They would never technically ‘lose’ players. Once it is installed. It’s installed forever. Fans may leave temporarily because, for example, patch 1.12 is a pile of shit, but that won’t necessarily send them to Fifa forever. Instead they can always return when a later patch fixes the issues, without needing to spend a penny. This is single handedly the best way to compete with EA in terms of pure player numbers.
* MyClub could remain for those who are interested in it, but the grind to get those top players would have to be extended by an insane amount in order to keep players playing. Offering a simple pack system works in the current format, but without being able to reset the database every year with a new game, a new, longer, and fairer monetisation method would be needed. This could in tern make it much more interesting for those who are traditionally ML players.
* Things are always added, and never taken away. Have a look at just how big some f2p games are in terms of their file size. This is because they don’t have to deal with the nonsense we do where lines of commentary, player call names etc are taken away when licences change hands. Yes, they’d be removed from the game, but PC players could simply copy the files as and when they come in and keep them forever. Imagine the sheer number of kits, faces And rosters we’d have after 10 years of updates to the same game? We could go back and play a ML season with 2019 squads in 2029.

For anyone who’s interested just YouTube any documentary on Path of Exile, Dota, Warframe, or any other long standing f2p game. Noclip do a fantastic 3 part one on Warframe, which whether it’s your type of game or not doesn’t matter, as it shows just how successful this type of business model can be, and how close the fans and the developers ties are. It works off quality, integrity, and trust. All of which Konami are severely lacking.

Why would I pay a subscription for a service by a company that I don’t trust? No. Instead, I don’t want the ‘perfect’ game, I want Konami to listen to us, earn our respect, and stop mugging us off year after year. Then the perfect game would be built naturally over time.
 
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OP asked how much so I'm gonna say it... I'd pay 300 euros which currently would be a lot of money for me. When I was doing better financially, I would've paid 600 euros for a perfect game as you describe it :)
 
To answer my own question. I’d pay around £500.

And then my wife would probably leave me.
 
The same amount of money i pay now for games like PES or FIFA.
What i would consider however is to give money for a crowdfunding project of "the perfect" football game.
I wouldn't mind that.

It is a thought i have often when i read people who slaughter PES. If the current games are so bad, why not start a crowdfunding action to finance a game developer who wants to make the ultimate football game. I can elaborate about that subject.
 
For a once-in-a-lifetime investment, the absolute most I would pay with my current financial state would be about the value of my car - around 4000 euros. Not (necessarily) meaning I would sell it to get the money :))
 
Stan said:
If the current games are so bad, why not start a crowdfunding action to finance a game developer who wants to make the ultimate football game. I can elaborate about that subject.
Click to expand...


because the developer has to start the action and there are no such initiatives yet. At least to my knowing. About slaughtering pes, this year I feel like konami finally cares a little about our feedback. new camera angles after an eternity, gameplay updates etc.
 
Did you ever play simulation games? In my case one would be LOMAC/LOCKON as it was known in olden days, then Flaming Cliffs, and now DCS.

Started as a fighter jet simulator and it is a bit more these days, yet focus still remains, as from the start, on the jets. That company made a great game, sold it/still sells it for a reasonable price and makes money on top of it by letting modding community make their own addons. Example would be, if you want to buy a Saab/Mig/Mirage/F-14 or waht not model that is not in the game, you pay quite a lot of money for that to people who made it and company gets a cut. I think that is how it works.

And that is a good money making model. And it does not cost as much as some people are saying they would pay for a simulator.

Check out youtubes where real fighter pilots play it using virtual reality setup and what not. Damn good simulation that one.


Konami can make a good game but then Pes department would be out of work, since who would buy next version?

This is what fox engine can do btw:
http://www.adriancourreges.com/blog/2017/12/15/mgs-v-graphics-study/Anyone who played MGS knows graphics are great. Look at the difference between Pes versions using that engine, look at the way textures and graphical assets are made/employed. They could of done a lot better wiht PES but they did not. And they will not make perfect AI just because they do not want to make it. Got to have something new to sell I guess.

Point is, everything can be done if expertise is there, but paying anything over 100-150 for base AI+graphics is not realistic.
 
It still amazes me how bad PES 2020 looks. The colour palette is so fugly, reds are woefully bad for example. I can’t play the game without turning colour down to 15 which is madness as all of my other video games setting is around 23.

We need a new football game though, desperately. The current options are so depressingly bad now. I’m sick of both FIFA and PES and their fantasy card black ball BS game modes, their face obsessed fan bases and...sigh I’m just sick of both companies.

Come on 2K. Make us a football game. Or Anco! Are they still around? Someone must be interested in bank rolling a game?

How do we get a kickstarter going for this kind of thing?
 
Yeah.
Assuming it felt and looked a little bit to something like this:



(Yeah, same old same old! Oh no! Please not that again! It's annoying!, etc).

I'd be willing to pay $200. Without even blinking twice.
 
Chuny said:
Yeah.
Assuming it felt and looked a little bit to something like this:



(Yeah, same old same old! Oh no! Please not that again! It's annoying!, etc).

I'd be willing to pay $200. Without even blinking twice.
Click to expand...
The thing is, it’s entirely possible for a few talented, experienced devs to give us a football game that looks and plays even better than that surely?
 
OBH said:
To play devils advocate, the ‘perfect’ football game would never exist because there are just too many different things that we each want from it. From the way it plays, to modes, visual preferences and the many, many other variables. I personally cannot envisage a scenario where I’d be willing to pay such insane sums just because we’re all so desperate for the game we have in our minds.

Rather than striving for a ‘perfect’ title I’d just love to see Konami change their business model to a free-to-play one, and for a number of reasons which I think would be hugely beneficial to all parties - Konami, the developers, and the players:

* Fans typically have a MUCH larger say in the development of many f2p titles due to their being no initial revenue from the sale of the game. If they don’t include what fans want, they’ll have no players, and thus won’t make money from in game sales. Adhering to players wishes is vital for success.
* Konami’s revenue would be dictated by paid content, but players will only pay for this content if the game itself is good, and the value is fair. This creates a healthy cycle of both regular content updates, and hot fixes to the gameplay. Currently they have no need to fix any ML issues because we’ve already bought the game. In this scenario, they wouldn’t be able to ignore us.
* They would never technically ‘lose’ players. Once it is installed. It’s installed forever. Fans may leave temporarily because, for example, patch 1.12 is a pile of shit, but that won’t necessarily send them to Fifa forever. Instead they can always return when a later patch fixes the issues, without needing to spend a penny. This is single handedly the best way to compete with EA in terms of pure player numbers.
* MyClub could remain for those who are interested in it, but the grind to get those top players would have to be extended by an insane amount in order to keep players playing. Offering a simple pack system works in the current format, but without being able to reset the database every year with a new game, a new, longer, and fairer monetisation method would be needed. This could in tern make it much more interesting for those who are traditionally ML players.
* Things are always added, and never taken away. Have a look at just how big some f2p games are in terms of their file size. This is because they don’t have to deal with the nonsense we do where lines of commentary, player call names etc are taken away when licences change hands. Yes, they’d be removed from the game, but PC players could simply copy the files as and when they come in and keep them forever. Imagine the sheer number of kits, faces And rosters we’d have after 10 years of updates to the same game? We could go back and play a ML season with 2019 squads in 2029.

For anyone who’s interested just YouTube any documentary on Path of Exile, Dota, Warframe, or any other long standing f2p game. Noclip do a fantastic 3 part one on Warframe, which whether it’s your type of game or not doesn’t matter, as it shows just how successful this type of business model can be, and how close the fans and the developers ties are. It works off quality, integrity, and trust. All of which Konami are severely lacking.

Why would I pay a subscription for a service by a company that I don’t trust? No. Instead, I don’t want the ‘perfect’ game, I want Konami to listen to us, earn our respect, and stop mugging us off year after year. Then the perfect game would be built naturally over time.
Click to expand...

Good post. A couple of dumb problems they won’t fix is to be able to add a second goalkeeper strip in the team edit mode and be able to switch between play mode and coach mode during the match.
 
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Stan said:
What i would consider however is to give money for a crowdfunding project of "the perfect" football game.
Click to expand...
I'd pay towards a crowdfunding project if it were completely unlicensed and focused on aspects that are still sorely lacking from football games:

* Proper multiplayer modes - 5 a side, 6 a side & 11v11 modes (current iterations are so exploitable and severely lacking in depth)
* Custom online leagues (it's ridiculous that both Fifa and PES rely on forums to arrange online leagues as they aren't built into the game properly).

Fuck paying for another title that'll be doing nothing except also trying to outbid the existing 2 for licenses. Personally, I think a new football game that focuses on modes that are lacking in existing games wouldn't need licenses at all if the gameplay was good enough. You could offer players something they currently can't get anywhere else.

I'd never tell anyone how to spend their money, but the fact that people would be willing to spend hundreds and hundreds of pounds on a great football game shows nothing except just how desperate we are all for one, and it proves there's a gap in the market that no one appears willing to attempt to fill.
 
Chuny said:
Yeah.
Assuming it felt and looked a little bit to something like this:



(Yeah, same old same old! Oh no! Please not that again! It's annoying!, etc).

I'd be willing to pay $200. Without even blinking twice.
Click to expand...


I used to like pes 20 and then I watch these!! I know they're betting games but actually, it how I thought pes would look and move by now. The level of investment in pes and fifa is appalling.

I think the first ps5 games have to at least find the halfway point in terms of animations at least between pes 2020 and these two above.
 
the perfect game will never be released :-D why should the Publisher release a perfect game?This must mean : i have to buy one game of football and never again. this means no other football game the following years = no money again for the Publisher...
its the same with a cpu or graphics card....when they release the one perfect card that can all games and all coming Games play smooth at ultra and 4k everybody have to buy only one card at all.
when gtx 1080 was out, the card had a price about ~1000€ and then the rtx 2080 came out with only minimal more Performance and *uuuhh* Raytracing, for me only a Update of a gtx 1080 BUT for full new price of ~1200€.....why?only for a little update?
sometimes i think the game creators know that they released a shit optimized game only for the reason to make the people to buy new pc hardware
 
SmichiW said:
the perfect game will never be released :-D why should the Publisher release a perfect game?This must mean : i have to buy one game of football and never again. this means no other football game the following years = no money again for the Publisher...
its the same with a cpu or graphics card....when they release the one perfect card that can all games and all coming Games play smooth at ultra and 4k everybody have to buy only one card at all.
when gtx 1080 was out, the card had a price about ~1000€ and then the rtx 2080 came out with only minimal more Performance and *uuuhh* Raytracing, for me only a Update of a gtx 1080 BUT for full new price of ~1200€.....why?only for a little update?
sometimes i think the game creators know that they released a shit optimized game only for the reason to make the people to buy new pc hardware
Click to expand...
Exactly.
I work in telecoms and mobile phones have tech all good to go they won’t be released for ten years.

Games work exactly the same. The gain nothing from a financial perspective by making something ‘perfect’. It sucks as consumers, but it’s true.

Again, this is a reason why a constantly updating title, be it free to play or not, would encourage more growth.
 
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