CipSoft's turnover for 2022 has been published - the hype is over

[222222]

During Covid-19, not only CipSoft GmbH but the gaming industry as a whole saw an increase in amount of newcomers. Many people started working from home and had more time to play games. A lot of people were also laid off from work, or sick, and started playing more than they used to. During this time, CipSoft also launched the Char Bazaar which allowed players to trade their characters in a safe zone for the very first time, using Tibia Coins. The hype was real once this feature was released, but now that most players have sold off their low-level skilled characters and such, the hype seems to be over. There were thousands of offline trained characters just waiting around for a decade to be sold. But now that they have been sold, and with less new players joining the game (just like before Covid-19), what will the future of character trading and Tibia look like? The amount of concurrent characters put up for auctions has dropped heavily since the launch of the Char Bazaar. On a "good day" these days, you'll have 4000 auctions on-going, as opposed to 8,000 as in the first months.

There have been an increase in amount of botters during the last three years again. More bugs are starting to appear, and more accounts are being hacked now than ever before due to the switch from account numbers/names to e-mail addresses. With tons of data leaks each year, a lot of accounts are getting targeted.

Currently, a lot of South Americans are playing the game with one purpose only: to earn a living. But is that sustainable for the longevity of the game? What will happen when people stop buying gold on the black market? Tibia Coin prices have gone up so much in recent months, it's making it very difficult for South American "workers" to earn a living using Tibia.

CipSoft keeps nerfing spawns over and over, making the gap between the top-levels and low/mid levels even bigger for each year. So what will the future of Tibia look like? Only time will tell, I suppose. But it's not looking bright.

Source: CipSoft - Company (https://www.cipsoft.com/en/company)

Remember: turnover is not profit.

 

[oserc]

Tibia's being around since 1997, so just the fact that the game is evolving, reaching significant financial milestones and still being relevant to this day is impressive. Just look at the graphic: even before Covid, the turnover was increasing year after year. Of course, with the pandemic and also the Char Bazaar, they manage to almost double their numbers from one year to the next. Now, naturally, yields will return to its expected stantards, but that doesn't mean that they did not make the right business choice at a crucial time. I congratulate Cipsoft for this.

That being said, all the tolerance to bot usage that Cipsoft has shown over the last years and also allowing players to trade, sell and buy characters, in my opinion, is toxic to the game's longevity and experience. I personally don't play the official Tibia anymore, as almost all of the elements that drove me to play it back in the 2000's are long gone now.

All and all, Cipsoft, as a business, is doing a great job. But I fear that Tibia is moving away from its true player base, and attracting players with mostly - or only - financial interests, not that different from any NFT based game. As I see, games like that have a limited period of relevance. My prediction is: Cipsoft will make the most profit it can for the next years, and Tibia will gradually become less and less interesting for new players. The true experience will be mantained by private servers, as happened to Ultima Online, Ragnarok, MU Online, and others.

 

[zbizu]

They just nerfed soul war spawns. Pretty sure that they want the gameplay to generate low profit/slight waste on every hunting ground in order to keep the tc flow going.

 

[Evil Puncker]

It's true that the gaming industry, including CipSoft GmbH, saw a surge in newcomers during the pandemic. However, the Char Bazaar feature's hype seems to have died down, and the number of concurrent character auctions has decreased. With an increase in botters and account hacks, along with the reliance of some South Americans on the game for income, the future of Tibia looks uncertain. CipSoft's continued nerfing of spawns may also contribute to a growing gap between high and low/mid-level players. While only time will tell what the future holds for Tibia, it's clear that the game faces several challenges that must be addressed to ensure its longevity.