Hattrick Forecast?

With the current announcement of the price increases for Hattrick Supporter there has been a lot of backlash amongst the loyal managers of the game. With doubts and skepticism already looming, what does the price increase really mean?

As one browses through the Hattrick forums there has been a couple topics arise lately and they may tie together if you ask around. The first topic that I noticed a few months back was the concern from managers about the existence of the game itself and what kind of life expectancy was left. Many have their own predictions based on the management of past as well as the changing of ownership. Well the most recent spark to this thought has been the new price increases for Hattrick Supporter...

I couldn't help but notice the ever-growing thread in the forums about the increase in the supporter prices. I have read mostly negative feelings about the price increase with little to no good responses. It appears that many managers would be "okay" with paying more if they knew where their money was exactly going and what the long-term plan for Hattrick really was. There seem to be a lot of skepticism for the future of the game as well as how the business side of things is done. I mean nobody wants to pay more if they don't have to but most are willing to understand if there is a logical reason behind an increase. Perhaps many feel left in the dark on the increases and want more information. No matter what the reasons for the increase are it is hard to ignore the growing frustration being expressed through the forums.

Many managers have threatened to opt out of renewing their supporter when the prices rise. Others have straight up given away their supporter to friends in protest of the prices while I have seen some managers even contact the shop to just get rid of their supporter even though they had months left! Many managers feel that the other reason they have supporter is to have a second team and they would rather play for free if it meant to downgrading to a lower supporter package. The frustration is at an all-time high from what I have ever seen and I have been playing since 2008.

What disappoints me the most, and I feel that other managers would agree, is that I think it is safe to say a majority of supporters used to pay to simply "support the game." I know that I paid to help out the game that I have come to love. It wasn't about second teams, statistical help, or tournaments. It was about helping to keep the game that I play religiously afloat. I truly wanted to "support" this game down to the very origin of the word. Now many may feel that it has crossed the line of just helping out a fun cause to paying more than many feel realistic. Sure, you can argue on the basis of hourly rates it is dirt cheap if you log in daily. However, there is a concern that it has gone from helping out the creators of a fun game to a for-profit business with it's mind set on $$ instead of user-fun.

I may be criticized for this article but I feel that there is a strong concern in the forums about the state of Hattick and with the price increases many may decide not to pay at all and in essence that could hurt the game. None of us want to see the game go under. We all fear in the back of our minds the day that this is no longer making a profit for someone and it shuts down. That will be a dark and sad day for many people, countries and organizations and we want to see this game make it through the dark clouds that loom over our minds. Hopefully the game has many many many years to continue. I cannot predict the future of Hattrick but I sure hope it is here to stay for decades to come!

Link directly to this article (HT-ML, for the forum): [ArticleID=18840]