I have read posts like this one for months and I think there is a need to point out a few flaws in the often repeated argument: Whales pay for the game, if it weren't for Whales there would be no game.
The initial post is right that Whales pay for some of this game and that CG's business model appears to be increasingly based on Whale-style behaviour. Without detailed figures we don't know whether Whales contribute most of CG's income - dolphins and occasional spenders will also contribute and may be more valuable as a whole. However, I am happy to work on the basis that Whale spending supports the current financial model.
The mistake is to assume that Whales are necessary, i.e. that a Ftp game must have Whales to support it. This is simply not true. One of the earlier posters in this discussion has already pointed out that there are other gaming models which work and which could support a thriving mobile game like this one. Take a couple of simple examples for other areas of business. First, the food industry. McDonalds makes a lot of money - it has a greater annual income stream than some countries - but it does not achieve this by selling very expensive burgers, it does it by selling a lot of cheaper burgers. Henry Ford worked this out with the Model T and cars - selling a lot of cars for less money makes more money than selling a few cars for a lot. Computer gaming is no different. Swgoh and other games could be produced and made very profitable on a similar business model. Whales are NOT necessary for Ftp gaming or for mobile games or any other sort of gaming.
Whale behaviour also causes problems. First, if a game is built on the whale model the cost of items in game becomes extremely high. This actually restricts spending by other people, people like me who spend some money on the game but not big sums. Because the paywalls are so high I have to choose between in game spending and spending in real life on myself and my family. The sums required are simply too much to justify on a better than average family budget in the UK and so I don't spend them. If characters or other boosts were less expensive I would actually spend more. I am clearly not alone in this as these forums and others are full of posts from people saying it is not worth investing in the game any longer at these levels. Building a business model based on greater numbers of spenders who each spend less per head would change this.
Second, a game built on the whale model is in danger of losing one of its vital qualities, its player base. A thriving Arena, thriving guilds, people to chat and play with, vigorous and challenging PvP all require a vibrant and lively player base. That means numbers and Whales alone cannot and do not provide this, for this you need Ftp or small spenders in large numbers and the way CG is currently moving the game puts that in danger. Check the posts from people trying to start out in the game or those from guild officers who have lost long term and valuable guild members today because of these changes.
So, yes Whales you do support the current financial model of Swgoh but please do not claim that without you this game could not go on. There are other ways of making very large sums of money from gaming which CG could use. Whales do not keep the game alive for the rest of us. Indeed, there is a risk that Whales could kill this game by continuing to spend at levels which are simply not sensible for most people. If so, this game could become an empty desert like so many depopulated MMORPGs and once that happens Swgoh will die. More to the point, if spending was at a more sensible level we could have a game which more of us could really enjoy, with more diversity and in which your achievements were the result of your skill as a player. That would surely be better for all of us?
