POP is an ever expanding business in the simplest of forms - they offer both a product and a service for our consumerism. The product is where they make money, the service, however, is free. The product drives the ability for the service to be performed at similar or higher levels than before, and the service drives desire to purchase the product.
When it comes down to it, there has been a large influx of players over the past year, all over the world. That is, in no small part, due to the fact that tournaments are free. The ability to participate in them is not - you have to have the product - but the tournaments themselves are free. It's perfectly understandable to think that just because there is a larger player base does not necessarily mean that the players are keeping up with original / average sales, and as such, we as players are losing the benefits we had before.
It's all a numbers game. More people = more cost to POP. More tournaments = More cost to pop. Continued prize setting, including shipping services, [ because as far as I am aware, the prizes have NOT downsized in the last year - it's rumored that the regionals might be downsized, but the CC's have not. ] = continued cost to pop. Trips = continued cost to pop. Venues = Cost to pop.
All they have to counterbalance that? The amount of products the players buy. If the income starts to dwindle, they have to compensate somewhere.
Now, on a personal level, I don't feel like I've lost anything - I won my first CC yesterday, and the prizes are simply an added perk. Playing [ and winning ] the game is my bread and butter - I could honestly care less about the prizes. They're nice, but that's not why I play the game, and I would continue to play even if the prizes were taken away.
So it just comes down to a question of what drives you to play. If you're in it for the free stuff, sure, that's fine, but you have to continue looking at it from a 'free stuff' Point of view. ANYTHING pop gives you for prizes is free, and is considered a gain. If you look at it from a SoTG standpoint - going, playing, having fun is what drives you, and those people aren't too worried about not having a bag shipped on time. You'll get it soon enough.
When it comes down to it, there has been a large influx of players over the past year, all over the world. That is, in no small part, due to the fact that tournaments are free. The ability to participate in them is not - you have to have the product - but the tournaments themselves are free. It's perfectly understandable to think that just because there is a larger player base does not necessarily mean that the players are keeping up with original / average sales, and as such, we as players are losing the benefits we had before.
It's all a numbers game. More people = more cost to POP. More tournaments = More cost to pop. Continued prize setting, including shipping services, [ because as far as I am aware, the prizes have NOT downsized in the last year - it's rumored that the regionals might be downsized, but the CC's have not. ] = continued cost to pop. Trips = continued cost to pop. Venues = Cost to pop.
All they have to counterbalance that? The amount of products the players buy. If the income starts to dwindle, they have to compensate somewhere.
Now, on a personal level, I don't feel like I've lost anything - I won my first CC yesterday, and the prizes are simply an added perk. Playing [ and winning ] the game is my bread and butter - I could honestly care less about the prizes. They're nice, but that's not why I play the game, and I would continue to play even if the prizes were taken away.
So it just comes down to a question of what drives you to play. If you're in it for the free stuff, sure, that's fine, but you have to continue looking at it from a 'free stuff' Point of view. ANYTHING pop gives you for prizes is free, and is considered a gain. If you look at it from a SoTG standpoint - going, playing, having fun is what drives you, and those people aren't too worried about not having a bag shipped on time. You'll get it soon enough.
