Neeseek Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I have no issues paying this as I've been playing MMORPGs for over 10 years, however why is this the "trademark" monthly price? With a titan like MMORPG out there, and with all these new MMOs coming out and failing, I'm surprised no MMO has attempted a "9.99" or so subscription fee and think longterm, the cheaper the game is, the more it sets itself up in the long term and perhaps even more subscripers. Just a thought here, any reasoning to why it's always 15? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wager Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Because it's been shown that people will pay that, and if they won't it's probably better to go F2P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdell Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Probably the most accommodating figure. When you tally up server hardware, ISP's, staff payroll, etc etc.. It's the best dollar number for the public to be able to afford whilst keeping the game alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scar Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I forget where I read the article, but it was Richard Garriott who talked about where they got the $9.99 for UO back in the beginning of these games, and his response was basically, "We just thought is was a good number that people might not balk too much over paying." Paraphrasing, of course, but they basically just plucked $10 out of the air. And then over time, it went up to $15. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marshalleck Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Because that's what the market stabilized at. Post a thread suggesting a game should charge more than that and see how people respond. Very few would say it's a good idea they'd be willing to shell out for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorbrand Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 There are a few with lower monthly fees than $15/mo. I myself would actually pay up to $50/mo for a real MMO to come out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lankybrit Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 It's a form of collusion and we should report them to the Anti-trust Division Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pengatron Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 It has actually got cheaper over time. $15 today is not as much as it was 8 years ago. So you are actually paying less now (compared to the overall value of the dollar) than you were years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiennen Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I have no issues paying this as I've been playing MMORPGs for over 10 years, however why is this the "trademark" monthly price? With a titan like MMORPG out there, and with all these new MMOs coming out and failing, I'm surprised no MMO has attempted a "9.99" or so subscription fee and think longterm, the cheaper the game is, the more it sets itself up in the long term and perhaps even more subscripers. Just a thought here, any reasoning to why it's always 15? Perpetuum Online has a 9.99 sub fee. and no cost to buy. Good game, but too much like EVE with a smaller playerbase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hung_H Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Its a good balance. With the economy nowadays, would you pay 18 bucks a month? that would cut off 25% of the people. If it was 12 bucks a month, BW would be making 20% less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baracca Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 15 bucks is nothing. It's about the cost of a scotch on the rocks or 2 beers in the tri-state area. If you play 2 crappy hours a day (and we know everyone *wink* is playing more than that)... that's 2x30 days = 60 hours = 25 cents an hour for entertainment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaimiIflya Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 If MMO Subs kept up with inflation they should be almost $19/month by now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quip Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Honestly I think the days of the pay to play MMO are grinding to their miserable end. "Freemium" MMOs make vastly more money than all of the pay to play MMOs save one, and with appropriate effort on the gaming and business models should be a great way to get product onto people's machines in into their schedules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naekyr Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) Don't worry OP, Subcription based MMO's are becoming more and more unsutainable. Eventually all MMO's will be F2P or B2P, but little to no P2P - its a dying model. P2P is a scam - WoW with its 10 million subs admitted that 1 months subs = an entire years server/employee salary and development costs. Everything blizzard needs to run for a year is done in just 1 month's subs from WoW. Yet they only release new content every 6 months or even longer - next expac won't be out for a long, long time. 11 months of profit for very little content - why keep paying that. This is why P2P is dying - developers abuse it. Edited January 19, 2012 by Naekyr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
run_hello Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Because back in the day it was 9.99 a month to play. Then someone thought "Hey I bet we could raise it a few bucks and they'd still play". And they were right. I wouldn't be surprised to see it go up again at some point, games have been 14.99 a month forever it seems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuyoshii Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Cause they can simple as that. Look at Guild Wars for example its a AAA title and no sub. GW2 is coming soon prolly going to put all these games to shame and its no sub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naekyr Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Cause they can simple as that. Look at Guild Wars for example its a AAA title and no sub. GW2 is coming soon prolly going to put all these games to shame and its no sub. GW2 is using a much better business model. With GW2 you pay $60 for the game then pay no monthly sub. Then you just pay again for each expansion, which would be around $30. This encourages the developers to create new content. Monthly subs make them lazy because money keep coming in even if there's no new content... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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