Have been thinking about this and came up with this answer. The auction will end on January 3th and FPC is of course expecting to get a new record and the media exposure that comes with it. My guess is that at least 1 Planet will be launched around January 3th next year and this is a way to get some of the wind out of the sails for that planet. Because another record will probably get more attention than the launch of a new planet. On a side note, I hear that people are getting tired of all those records by the same people all the time and I get the feeling this is again a way to get out of the red numbers for the end of the year.
i think its just because its become a bit of a tradition. it does help the numbers a tiny bit, but very much if the losing bidders withdraw it all. as a non-listed company they really shouldnt be too concerned with final year numbers, no one who matters (private shareholders) really cares, they would look at yearly performance overall. (another reason i dont want to see an IPO)
Auction finishes on Jan 3...., Next Island official commercial launch is at CES which starts Jan 6. Coincidence?
Another factor would be to have those deposits required for bidding in before the end of the calendar year. Stuff like that makes an accountants little pee-pee stiff. They are a prvately held company, but they have sought out bridge loans and the like in the past.
and what time period did they do the cp sale last year? lets see maybe it's traditionally done around july right ...lol Fact is maybe it's the other way round they have the sale around this time and it just happens NI launch around this time too. So maybe throw out a conspiracy theory why they decided to launch on the time period when fpc traditionally do a sale? perhaps NI engineered it to take the wind out of the sails of fpc island sale? Both theories are ofc bs!
Probably a large part as Alpha Geek pointed out, people can withdraw, but we all know how much quicker it is to deposit than withdraw. That said, they are offering the deposit fee for anyone saying it's for bidding purposes. Likely that'll have strings attached, such as only getting the % back on the amount you deposited when you actually pull it out - fair enough way to stop people taking the piss. Where MA is concerned I'm more inclined to think dumb before evil. Far more likely the only way they know of advertising that has any success for them, is to sell something for a boat load of cash, then tell the media about it. Boorum's penis didn't attract attention, maybe we need some kiddy porn in game.... (I'm not applying for a job in advertising)
See, the one major flaw in that theory is that while some parties took the liberal road and notified gaming media that the record-breaking transaction for CND was 335k USD, FPC, in their press-release, shouted out that it was 635k. Considering the price CP went for last year, I'm having a real hard time believing the new sale will break that. CP has been popular for years. People have been there, it's always been immensly popular. Medusa is... unknown. I venture a guess that the unique mobs there will pay an ATH or two prior to the sale going live, just to ensure that the drums of the press can be banged up the right way, but I still have a very hard time believing that whatever Medusa goes for will be more than 635k. FPC should have stuck to the 335k mark, which would have ensured they actually would have had a reason to come forward again after a sale breaking that mark. As for reasoning why? There's three planets planned for 2011. All of which seem to be run by professional business people, so I'd be worried if I were FPC. Oh. And before I forget, FPC is also due to be bought by a mysterious company. That might have something to do with boosting the numbers as well. Creating new money out of thin air is a rare treat, but apparently FPC is not influenced one bit by inflation due to their presses continuing to print money.
VF, given the rather explicit instructions on the announcement page, it's my guess that they're hoping for someone outside the existing community to bring new money...errrr... blood into the mix. They didn't quite print the instructions on the bottom of the boot, but it's close. After the CP sale, the CND re-sell, now this? I think they're hoping some budding entrepenuer will come in and want a pece of the action. A new life awaits you... in the offworld colonies!
It's probably a little bit of everything: dubious promotion, improving financial figures, draining PEDs from the upcoming competition, ... If they continue this 'tradition' less and less areas will be owned by the actual/future owners of Planet Calypso and consequently their income will get smaller and smaller. One has to keep in mind that whole Calypso was sold for not more than 6 million dollars. And it's a shame that obviously even the company developing the game is thinking that there's nothing else to promote than the amount of dollars that parts of the game have been sold for.
one has to to keep in mind that as revenue is suppose to come from decay, it doesnt matter if the planet owner controls all the land or sells off every last square meter as taxable LAs. the income from activity is what matters to them.
