Premium Mode Ruined the game

[LG_Legacy]

What''s the real-time game difference premium vs non-premium?

In Premium games playing as premium, you get to choose you colour in games, get luckier draws (in luck oriented games like CuBirds, for example). It’s annoying. Very annoying. The worst difference is that you can’t rematch in Premium games (WHY?) and… match up time is too long. I am waiting for a player as I am writing this, and, seriously, BGA treats standard account players (like me) unfairly compared to premium players, who just pay £3 per month. Yes, I shake everyone’s hand who thinks that Premium mode ruins games like ink on a white t-shirt.

Standard account players: First things first, I’m gonna say all the words inside my head: I’m fired up and tired of the way that things have been. I wanna stop.

Premium players and BGA: We can’t.

[Shobu]

and you only joined 3 days ago! promising start

[SiRan90]

get luckier draws (in luck oriented games like CuBirds, for example).

Keep that quiet, us premium people don't want people to know the coding is in our favour

The worst difference is that you can’t rematch in Premium games (WHY?) and… match up time is too long.

This one is easy, non premium members cannot create tables for premium games. A rematch is the same as creating a table.

I am waiting for a player as I am writing this, and, seriously, BGA treats standard account players (like me) unfairly compared to premium players, who just pay £3 per month.

How exactly are you being treated unfairly? You still get to play boardgames for free, yes you have to wait a bit (and for some games it can be a long bit) but if everyone could create tables then why would anyone pay for premium.

[Meeplelowda]

BGA treats standard account players (like me) unfairly compared to premium players, who just pay £3 per month.

First I'll state that I never say someone should pay for premium if it doesn't work for them financially. But the unstated major premise here is that there should be no difference because "just" £3 per month is not much. In that case, pony up. Or choose not to, and thank the players who subsidize your free play.

[Jellby]

Besides, you can get premium membership for free... So what's the issue?

[adenina]

Besides, you can get premium membership for free... So what's the issue?

Whatcha mean? By getting the gift points in new games?

[oaciel]

Certainly less people are playing it now overall
Prior to premium-ization, it was hovering around 18th most played game on the site. After, it drops off entirely.
https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1412/blo ... es-in-2025

I'm new to the game, and site, and am not a premium member. But I can't help but think from this info that the game clearly did not possess the staying power the devs thought it would in terms of premium-izing it

I still like it a lot, but of course this is the only landscape I know the game in. Bummer that I can't really get a table at all times of day, but I'm not into games enough to justify a membership when I can play sometimes with someone else who has one.

[BarnardsStar]

the game clearly did not possess the staying power the devs thought it would in terms of premium-izing it

Just to be clear, it’s not the devs who did this. It’s the publisher of CuBirds. They get a cut of user fees when the game is premium.

They’re not really interested all the much in “staying power” so much as they are getting paid.

[oaciel]

Ope, yes, publisher is what I meant

Surely though the calculation of what they get from user fees must be somewhat based on how much premium users are actually playing their game though, no?

Otherwise the pool of what publishers get would just get smaller and smaller with each premium game added/converted on the site. That seems like it wouldn't make all that much sense. I guess I can't imagine the amount that is garnered to be so high as for companies to harass each other out of adding or converting games to premium, but still.

Plus, presumably, the actual overall point of having the game on the site is to incentivize actual purchases of the board game itself, which surely has better returns overall. I can't imagine a game being less popular is going to lead to more sales.

[oaciel]

I do understand that publishers don't get paid at all if their game isn't premium.

It seems though, in this case, that the attributes and design space that made cubirds popular did not translate into that popularity sustaining once the game was less available.

I would be curious how the drop in popularity has affected their actual sales, if at all.
Would it be better to debut a game as premium to set the tone?
Are their other models that would allow some kind of profit sharing to non premium games? Perhaps a smaller percent amount than what premium games get (by some wide margin). That way, if a game was really not earning more due to a drop in popularity, they could switch it back.

Lots of food for thought!