subscription pricing in recent mmos

[Blakinik]

Boy, Nice to see the welfare state has come to MMO's now. My personal opinion is you don't buy and play a game you cannot afford - called personal responsibility. Of course you could say "Not paying" and don't. No one has the gun to your forehead telling you to play.

 

What I think people forget is EA is a for-profit company. Yes i know - Profit is a dirty 6 letter word these days, but greed is good in that it keeps companies pushing to provide the service or product to win the market. That said here is my take.

 

I own EA stock. I have had it for over 2 decades I think. It ain't much in number of shares, but it was something I picked up when I was younger because I like playing video games. To me, EA better be maximizing profit. If they don't, I would dump my shares or vote to chuck the BoD out on their duff. That said, I am almost 100% certain EA has Financial Analysts that their whole job is to look at how to maximize profit for the company. If they could drop the price to $8 or $10 or heck even $2 and gain enough customers to increase their ROI you bet they would be all over it like flies to scat. However, as of right now, $15 seems to be the price that maximizes profitability for the game and a market price point that works.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Blakinik

[DrowNoble]

Why has it always been 15 dollars a month? Why not drop it to 10 or even 8? You would still make a ***** load of profit.

 

Would you play an mmo that was 8 dollars a month with content that keeps coming and a sandbox world that is beautiful and fun?

 

People don't make mmos for fun and pleasure anymore. All it is these days is about money. That should not be. It is nice to make a profit and be rich, but companies need to know what players wants and if the majority of the players want it, it should go in very soon. To keep them happy, thus keeping the player base happy and word of mouth gets out that the devs listen to you. Am I right?

 

For the old timers, when EQ1 first came out it was $10 a month. There was lot of grumbling when SOE raised the basic single month cost to $15.

 

What I think is actually going to happen is mmos are going to be F2P/Sub hybrid models in the future. The company will still get X players who want to sub to their game, but now gain Y extra players who will go freebie and just occasionally buy items/unlocks.

[Soluss]

15 bucks a month is a good deal, if you have enough to keep busy. If you dont then 0 is a good deal.

[LasherC]

Why has it always been 15 dollars a month? Why not drop it to 10 or even 8? You would still make a ***** load of profit.

 

If they drop it to 8, they would basically have to double their subscription base to have the same income as before, not even talking about actually making more money. That's not happening.

 

Also the company should know players really don't like free to play all that much.

 

SOME players don't like free to play. Based on how free to play games done right do, I'd say a small number of players.

 

Nop. I do not. Free to play games have a...gist to it people don't like. They aren't free. Yes they don't have to be pay to win but it's still not free. It's gisting people into buying cool looking things in a cash shop. People who design their game around that have no souls

 

I'm sorry, but what ? As far as I can tell, " gisting " means " looking for the main idea or most important point in a written or spoken text ", so I have no idea what you're trying to say. Assuming you mean that they're trying to sucker you into buying something, I'd have to say not especially, no. Yes, they will make it so that you can buy convenience and cosmetic items, but since you haven't payed any money up to that point, that isn't exactly unreasonable.

[Kahldor]

Not to be harsh but if $15 a month is a lot of money to anyone, then they should probably be investing their time in other areas until the monetary commitment is less of a burden. $15 dollars a month is not a lot to many folks.

 

I personally have a lifetime sub to TSW, my SWTOR sub, my WoW sub (that I cancel often lol) and I have GW2 pre-purchased. If it wasn't for the MMOs I would probably spend just us much on other types of games per month. I probably spent more when I was a console gamer.

 

With all that said, I would be willing to pay $19.95 per month for a game that was worth it. If TRION was managing SWTOR, I'm sure it would be worth the $15 easily.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Kahldor

[Hartharia]

Why has it always been 15 dollars a month? Why not drop it to 10 or even 8? You would still make a ***** load of profit.

 

Would you play an mmo that was 8 dollars a month with content that keeps coming and a sandbox world that is beautiful and fun?

 

People don't make mmos for fun and pleasure anymore. All it is these days is about money. That should not be. It is nice to make a profit and be rich, but companies need to know what players wants and if the majority of the players want it, it should go in very soon. To keep them happy, thus keeping the player base happy and word of mouth gets out that the devs listen to you. Am I right?

 

Would they really? Do you even have the tiniest inkling of what their costs are? Profit is the money left over after all costs have been taken out of the income. I love when people go you will make a profit even if you cut the price and then work out how much the subs raise going by the publicised figures of subscribers. They forget entirely the costs involved. These are the ones I can think of just off the top of my head:

-Staff wages

-Multiple types of insurance

-Utilities

-Servers their maintanance and emergency work

-Multiple types of tax

-Rental if they don't own their server farms

-Staff training

On and on and on. I am sure others can come up with more.

 

 

As to it's all about money. Well then explain why the costs have stayed the same for years in many games. With other increases the subscription should have gone up over the years and it hasn't which means technically they have taken a cut in profits. Also this game given its' investment has a while to go to break even let alone make a profit. If you have answered this then I appologise as for some reason I can't read the thread when replying, something I've always been able to do in every other forum I have been on.

 

Now tell me what else you can do for a month for the same amount. A night out in the pub costs more than £8.99, going the cinema costs a lot I could go on. I visited my mum recently in Liverpool, traveling from Manchester, it cost me more than that in bus and coach fares.

[Hartharia]

Well. Here is where I think it should be headed. Subscription prices should not be so high. To some 15 dollars is peanut change, pocket feathers. But to some that 15 dollars a month is the last part of the payment on the electricity bill. BUT they still want to play an mmorpg that is good because they can escape this world and go into another world that they can do whatever they want. People still want that, and not for a lot of money.

 

Then don't play. Pure and simple. if you can't afford it go without. Pay priorities first and luxuaries last, and playing paid for games, whether one off payment or sub based ones are luxuaries.

[Baptes]

Well maybe all the "big" MMOs are $15 a month, but some smaller ones (like Wizard 101) are $9.99 a month.

[vsalcedo]

The truth is that $15 a month is peanuts for most folks. As long as they are getting the value for the money, they will continue to spend it. Unfortunately, brainiacs (like those at EA) think that they are losing subs because $15/mo is some kind of rich person territory, they don't see them losing subs because the game sucks and isn't worth the equivalent of one movie a month, or 1.5 drinks at a bar.

 

Dont know about you but I only go to the theater to see good movies this means about once every three months so yes I have gotten my moneys worth from SWTOR.

[Hessen]

I'd say the majority don't care what the price is (as long as it's reasonably relative to time spent). It's the principle and the effort required to pay.

 

Take something like Facebook, if they charged $1 a year to use it, the number of people using it would instantly at least half, despite people being able to afford it.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Hessen

[bahdasz]

Free > $15

 

but

 

Good game > Free

 

In this case the game's only hope is going free.

[CorellianWannabe]

If they drop it to 8, they would basically have to double their subscription base to have the same income as before, not even talking about actually making more money. That's not happening.

 

.

 

The subscription base has already left, and the remainder apparently isn't enough to maximize revenue. So why not lower the price?

 

Actually I think they should offer the option to drop the fee and as a consequence not receive any cash shop currency. I have yet to hear why this would be a bad idea-let players use the money saved each month to buy any items they might want, without accumulating currency for months (and paying the full fee) in the hope something desirable becomes available.

[CorellianWannabe]

Boy, Nice to see the welfare state has come to MMO's now. My personal opinion is you don't buy and play a game you cannot afford - called personal responsibility. Of course you could say "Not paying" and don't. No one has the gun to your forehead telling you to play.

 

What I think people forget is EA is a for-profit company. Yes i know - Profit is a dirty 6 letter word these days, but greed is good in that it keeps companies pushing to provide the service or product to win the market. That said here is my take.

 

I own EA stock. I have had it for over 2 decades I think. It ain't much in number of shares, but it was something I picked up when I was younger because I like playing video games. To me, EA better be maximizing profit. If they don't, I would dump my shares or vote to chuck the BoD out on their duff. That said, I am almost 100% certain EA has Financial Analysts that their whole job is to look at how to maximize profit for the company. If they could drop the price to $8 or $10 or heck even $2 and gain enough customers to increase their ROI you bet they would be all over it like flies to scat. However, as of right now, $15 seems to be the price that maximizes profitability for the game and a market price point that works.

 

The savings & loan bailouts, Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, the dot-com bubble, the housing crisis- oh yes, greed is good alright.

 

BTW how's that EA stock working out for you?

 

If they knew how to maxmize profit they wouldn't release games in the state that TOR was released. How many have they driven off- I think it's been over 1 million so far.

Edited August 24, 2012 by CorellianWannabe

[LasherC]

The subscription base has already left, and the remainder apparently isn't enough to maximize revenue. So why not lower the price?

Did I stutter ? If they halve the monthly fee, they need to double the number of subscribers just to make the same amount of money. It's not happening, I doubt they'd even get a measurable increase , let alone double the number of subscribers.

The fact that subscribers have already left is irrelevant.

Edited August 24, 2012 by LasherC

[Hessen]

Actually I think they should offer the option to drop the fee and as a consequence not receive any cash shop currency. I have yet to hear why this would be a bad idea-let players use the money saved each month to buy any items they might want, without accumulating currency for months (and paying the full fee) in the hope something desirable becomes available.

 

Well it's pretty obvious why.

 

Charge $15 and give away 1000 points each month to spend on virtual stuff that doesn't cost anything to produce

Charge $8 don't give away 1000 points and hope that people spend that $7 they've saved back in the game

 

When the difference between a $15 and $8 doesn't materially affect the number of people with a subscription.

[CorellianWannabe]

Well it's pretty obvious why.

 

Charge $15 and give away 1000 points each month to spend on virtual stuff that doesn't cost anything to produce

Charge $8 don't give away 1000 points and hope that people spend that $7 they've saved back in the game

 

When the difference between a $15 and $8 doesn't materially affect the number of people with a subscription.

 

So in other words the currency isn't worth the amount they value it at-which means subscribers are being given worthless currency.

 

I wonder if players will be allowed to sell coins to each other then-that way people that want fluff can get it and players that don't can get the cash for it.

[Hessen]

So in other words the currency isn't worth the amount they value it at-which means subscribers are being given worthless currency.

 

I wonder if players will be allowed to sell coins to each other then-that way people that want fluff can get it and players that don't can get the cash for it.

 

Yes the currency is worth nothing. Which is why you get it free when you pay $15 for the rest of the content.

[CorellianWannabe]

Did I stutter ? If they halve the monthly fee, they need to double the number of subscribers just to make the same amount of money. It's not happening, I doubt they'd even get a measurable increase , let alone double the number of subscribers.

The fact that subscribers have already left is irrelevant.

 

I don't know-do you normally stutter as you type? I'm sure you can get help for that.

 

So 15/month worked so well the game lost over 1 million players and is going f2p, so let's keep charging 15 and hope it starts working with cash shop purchases to help prop up the model? Why not lower the fee and potentially entice free players to become subscribers?

 

I realize my thinking involves actually wanting the freebies to become subscribers, which is foolish since there is not enough in the game to warrant a subscription fee unless you enjoy hacked warzones and bug-riddled raids.

Edited August 24, 2012 by CorellianWannabe

[LasherC]

So 15/month worked so well the game lost over 1 million players and is going f2p, so let's keep charging 15 and hope it starts working with cash shop purchases to help prop up the model? Why not lower the fee and potentially entice free players to become subscribers?

 

I realize my thinking involves actually wanting the freebies to become subscribers, which is foolish since there is not enough in the game to warrant a subscription fee unless you enjoy hacked warzones and bug-ridden raids.

 

They didn't lose 1 million players because the subscription fee is 15$, and they won't gain a significant number by lowering it. That's why I said that it's irrelevant that they lost subscribers.

[TKMaster]

The surprise is that it is still only $15 a month, compared to how prices have risen on everything else $15 has been the standard for many years.

 

Trust me, with the MMO playerbase and thier fragile emotions you do not want to be the company that tries to raise it.

[CorellianWannabe]

They didn't lose 1 million players because the subscription fee is 15$, and they won't gain a significant number by lowering it. That's why I said that it's irrelevant that they lost subscribers.

 

So why bother with subscriptions at all then? Just convert the whole game over to f2p and let people use their little coins to unlock content. If subs aren't paying the rent why bother continuing with that failed model?

[Etheric]

Hey Op, I wish you well in your endevor, I hope this works out well for you. Who knows i may even end up playing the game you develop. Just a word of advice ( take it or leave it, its F2P) Don't worry too much about sub cost at this point, No one here knows what the market may be like 2,3,4 years from now. Just focus on your vision and don't let anyone talk you out of seeing it through.

[BigfootNZ]

Its odd finding this, since I read this after noon something I hadn't really thought of. The actual cost for running and maintaining servers in things like MMO's is more or less none existence relatively speaking, im talking like under 10k a year.

 

Which begs the question... WHAT does the sub fee actually get used for?

 

Content Development?, on a game like TOR we sure havent got out moneys worth thats for sure and it kinda makes me feel ripped off.

 

Someones getting a HUGE amount of cash once all the wages/bills are paid... even with the lowish sub numbers in TOR. Definitely not money well spent for sitting around on fleet for large stretches of time or repeating the same old same old over and over every week.

 

I dont like F2P, but there is no reason for us to pay a sub or at least a sub at the price its currently at, at all.

Edited August 24, 2012 by BigfootNZ

[Hartharia]

So why bother with subscriptions at all then? Just convert the whole game over to f2p and let people use their little coins to unlock content. If subs aren't paying the rent why bother continuing with that failed model?

 

The argument point that the poster was using was why it was mentioned. The subscribers who left did not leave because of the subscription itself but the state of the game. Indirectly yes it makes it relevant, because people have decided it isn't worth the amount in it's current state.

 

However as the main reason they left was the game and not the subscription they could cut the subscription but it won't bring them back.

 

Some people are more confortable with the subscription model, the f-2-p model is new to those of us in the west compared to it's prevelance in some eastern countries. We as a gaming people need to get used to it, and when we are we are likely to see more and more games go that way.

[Gokkus]

It depends on the Price elasticity of demand and the competition really.

They want to make as much money as they can, making this game cost only $8 would (obviously) require twice the amount of subs for it to be worth it. I doubt they just randomly put it at $15.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Gokkus