Dear Niantic, if there is one thing you've learned in the last 48 hours...
It is that Agents still love and still have a lot of passion for Ingress. Any reaction, even in some cases the overreaction is better than if this news was met with meh. Players still care. Don't drop the ball.
There have been hundreds of ideas posted here and on Reddit for ways to keep Ingress financially viable. Obviously making anomalies pay to participate is not a popular one, but I think you can make it work. Springing it on the player base with weeks to go was just poor timing. Personally, I think a model you should consider is a low $5 Medal and Scoring fee that unlocks the privilege to buy the character packs at $15, $25, or $35 depending on which and how many you want.
I think selling "Voice Packs" for the scanner is another great idea I saw. These can be sold separately or tied to the character bundles as special anomaly only limited time offers.
Another idea for one time sale items which I have been advocating for now for months are two new types of "Lockers". A "Media Locker" which would hold up to 100 Media cubes separate from your inventory and a "Chaotic Matter Locker" which would let an agent save up to 100 purchased items separate from their inventory. How much more money might agents spend on Frackers or Builder Bundles or Beacons when they go on sale if they could tuck them away into a special locker that didn't count them toward their inventory until they wanted to use them? How many Toast Beacons did you sell this past April 1st? How many special or silly beacons can you sell if inventory space wasn't an issue?
Have you thought about selling physical swag in the in-app store? Hats, t-shirts, bandanas, car decals? Locking it to certain regions shouldn't be a problem.
How about subscription service that sends you a monthly email that summarizes all of your activity + other perks like expanded avatar options?
So, hey, we love your game and would love to support it.
Comments
Very well put and reasoned.
Ooh. If I had a subscription that sent me monthly activity summaries I would play more too.
Good recommendations, I approve.
I agree with this
Good recommendations
To add to the Subscription idea, besides for sending a monthly summary and exclusive avatar options, waive the Anomaly Medal and Scoring fee
Niantic working on subscripon service?
I think a sub service has been mentioned in the past, though I think I remember it more towards PoGo than Ingress.
Me, personally, as someone who has only been playing for a couple of years, the high price of the character packs is a big turn off. Would I spend 5-10 on one, sure, will I spend $30, each, nope. I haven't spent a dime on this game because of the insane costs. I can hack most of the gear I need or reach out to my local homies for anything else I'm missing. Otherwise, just too much cost...