subscription pricing in recent mmos

[Kalfear]

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?

 

Nope

 

Sandbox MMORPGs FAIL, doesnt matter if they $0.00 or $100.00/hour

Fail is fail

 

Now for a proper MMORPG (why do you always forget the RPG portion of the genre???), cheaper is not better

 

The biggest problem I see in modern day MMORPGs (besides the dumbing down of everything) is the new generation community.

 

Its rather toxic to be very honest and most of these "people" widely acknowledge that as the price goes up, they move on.

 

Personally I think a AAA MMORPG should try releaseing at $20.00-$25.00/month rather then the standard $15.00/month

 

And maybe it works out that they draw less players but the higher price covers any population loss.

 

Id love to see how that games population behaved and interacted vrs the toxic and vulgar and rude populations frequent in modern day MMORPGs.

 

The BEST community I ever saw was original NeverWinter Nights on AOL (circa 1991-97).

When it opened it costed $20.00 for 20 hours/month and then $2.95/hour ($3.95/hour Canadian) after that!

People were paying $200.00, $300.00, $1500.00 a month bills just to play the game and the thing I remember most about back then is

 

There were ZERO trolls

There were ZERO greifers

 

The game was simply to costly to spend on such negative behaviors

 

A role Player started role playing with you, you didnt freak out and yell them down for role playing on general. You simply role playered yourself out of the role play and moved on about your bussiness. It was just easier, faster, and more productive to do so.

 

Someone jumps you in the pvp zone, you dont spend 5 hours ranting on the forums about being jumped

You do your best, probably hit the gate, and then move on to your next destination as very rarely were any out to stop you from also having fun.

 

In other words, it was a MUCH MORE MATURE CROWD (in behavior if not age) and thats honestly been missing more and more and more since UO released.

 

Cheaper doesnt make a better product,

not in the slightest!

 

I know Id gladly pay upwards of $25.00/month for a quality MMORPG with good communication between developer and player base.

[kevlarto]

Well, I can assure you. In the next years there will be a certain mmorpg that doesn't have any of the same formula. It will be built from feedback and fans. I have started a company for gaming recently and we have already started production on it. No details yet, just know that it is not going to be anything you have EVER heard of before mechanic wise and skill wise. It's going to be very fun, addicting, and we plan on having the people spread word about the good game. Not pay off sites to say it's good.

 

You will love the game. It is not the same old same old with a different skin plopped on it. Just think FUN sandbox where nothing ends, and it's all fun. Not boring, lame sandbox, where there's nothing to do or nothing that is in depth. That is what you will see from my company in the coming years

 

I will play it, I will beta test it also, when you get to that stage, best of luck on the project.

[Styxx]

Just like gas. Industry standard.

 

You can only lower this by lowering demand.

 

Thing is, when they (Publishers) were met with lowered demand, instead of dropping the price, they started lowering the quality of the product and advertise it as free. For a small fee, that is, you can get it free. Thing is.. you need a few more things to make it work. Don`t worry... for a small fee...

 

And, to be honest... nobody likes water in their fuel

Edited August 24, 2012 by Styxx

[Hessen]

I'm surprised nobody has really cornered the high end MMO market, instead of everyone trying to steal the Farmville crowd.

 

I'm sure there are lots of people out there willing to pay a premium to play a high quality game.

 

Hell, I'd probably pay £100 a month for a polished MMO with great support and a great community.

[LasherC]

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?

 

A couple of reasons.

First, there's no reason to remove it. It doesn't really cost them anything to have it as an option, and some people ( probably a fairly large number of people ) prefer it this way. This will still be a major source of income moving forward.

Second, it's not really a failed model. Even if they lost a million, they still have more than 500k. That's a considerable amount of money. Giving up that money for no apparent reason would be silly.

 

As far as I know, you can unlock the game in pieces if you so desire. I think they said that some of the unlocks will be subscription-only, but maybe that will change. Personally, I believe everything should be unlockable as a non-subscriber, so if you're into pvp, but not operations, you can just remove the restriction on warzones, or vice versa. Anyway, we don't know exactly what can and can't be unlocked separately, so this is just pointless speculation.

[pocketthesaurus]

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?

There have been some games that are $10.

[Jedi_Wannabe]

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.

 

They used to be $9.99. Even less if you got more than one month at a time. So, they've gone up about 50%. I wonder how many free-to-play games would have been fine with the old prices.

[Styxx]

I'm surprised nobody has really cornered the high end MMO market, instead of everyone trying to steal the Farmville crowd.

 

I'm sure there are lots of people out there willing to pay a premium to play a high quality game.

 

Hell, I'd probably pay £100 a month for a polished MMO with great support and a great community.

 

For 100 a month I fully expect a masseuse for my neck and a red carpet in front of the door.. and that`s only for the first month.

 

But, honestly, that 100 a month has to be THE Second Coming. Which, sadly, I don`t see happening. It would surely be a breath of fresh air, though.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Styxx

[Cakellene]

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?

 

The word sandbox would make me stay away.

[Wayshuba]

 

...snip...

 

If you are intent on developing and introducing an MMO, I feel you need to get ahead of the curve on how MMOs are being monetized by the big dogs over the next several years.

 

Good research but you have to overlay macro and mirco trends to get a clearer picture.

 

A few examples:

 

Mobile gaming comprises a much broader cut of demographic age than MMO players. What matters is what percentage and value comes from the same demographic. As an example, my 6 year old son probably spends $15-$20 a month on little games on my tablet to my $0.99 two or three times a year (I am 46). Yet, I spend $15-$20/month on MMOs.

 

A for the free-to-play rise, there are some trends that must be carefully considered:

- First, the sheer volume of companies offering this business model inherently is going to make it look like that model is growing. It doesn't mean it is preferred.

- Second, the market leader is still dominated by a sub fee. Second, in December 2011 SWTOR was the best launch in MMO history with customers knowing there was a sub fee.

- Third, industry trends does not mean they are customer preferred. Case in point, Video rental stores used to charge for every title you rented and late fees. NetFlix introduced the flat rate model intending to compete and instead destroyed a massive industry business model because customers hated the model. All stats and market research were showing that the charge for everything model was growing every year, but doesn't take into account it was all customer had to select from.

 

So, stats on market are not enough. What this industry desperately needs to do is serious customer demographic studies to understand what their customers want. Unfortunately, the industry is also plagued with a lot of undeserved designer egos and outright arrogance and the business models are being adapted to compensate.

[Hessen]

I want a subscription fee for my local supermarket.

 

Pay £50 a week, then just eat whatever I want.

 

I am a bit of a hardcore eater though. Others might be more casual. But we'll both pay the same price and get what we want.

[Sarfux]

So it seems you guys would be happy with 10 dollars month if you got communication, regular content, updates on what's happening, not copy pasted responses, and the game was a fun sandbox with a little bit of themepark elements in it instead of the other way around. It needs to be exciting, fresh, bold, something new and always have something to do for the player. Crafting needs to be challenging but also fun BUT not too complex because you don't want to feel like you have been working in a video game. Video games should be about fun, not mind benders.

 

So would you pay 10 dollars a month for that? Hmmm

[pocketthesaurus]

I want a subscription fee for my local supermarket.

 

Pay £50 a week, then just eat whatever I want.

 

I am a bit of a hardcore eater though. Others might be more casual. But we'll both pay the same price and get what we want.

There are all you can eat buffets. Same idea... It all evens out in the end.

 

...I just wish I could steal eat four plates of food like my younger days. Where has my metabolism and stomach gone? Shrunken away...

[Hessen]

not too complex because you don't want to feel like you have been working in a video game

 

Some people get home from their job and want to chill out playing a video game.

 

Others don't work and want to play a video game as if it was a job so they can feel a sense of accomplishment for the hundreds of hours of virtual effort they put in.

[calleverybody]

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?

 

 

change the prices like netflix

[Bojangle]

All? My screen is 19" and my computer only cost $ 1250. And I did not buy it to only play MMO's with. I use it for a lot more than gaming. Narrow minded thinking will lead to all kinds of misjudgements.

Fact of the matter is gaming is a hobby that costs money just like any other hobby. If you can't afford a $15 a month sub yet pay at least $49 for a game, then maybe gaming is for you. Not a knock to those in financial issues but this is a hobby. Can I go collect coins, stamps, sports cards for free? Nope.

 

Gaming is also a form of entertainment like going to the movies, out to eat, amusement parks, etc. Maybe don't go out to eat one time a month or if it is fast food maybe 2 times a month don't go and BAM there's your $15.

[Kahldor]

Nope

 

Sandbox MMORPGs FAIL, doesnt matter if they $0.00 or $100.00/hour

Fail is fail

 

Now for a proper MMORPG (why do you always forget the RPG portion of the genre???), cheaper is not better

 

The biggest problem I see in modern day MMORPGs (besides the dumbing down of everything) is the new generation community.

 

Its rather toxic to be very honest and most of these "people" widely acknowledge that as the price goes up, they move on.

 

Personally I think a AAA MMORPG should try releaseing at $20.00-$25.00/month rather then the standard $15.00/month

 

And maybe it works out that they draw less players but the higher price covers any population loss.

 

Id love to see how that games population behaved and interacted vrs the toxic and vulgar and rude populations frequent in modern day MMORPGs.

 

The BEST community I ever saw was original NeverWinter Nights on AOL (circa 1991-97).

When it opened it costed $20.00 for 20 hours/month and then $2.95/hour ($3.95/hour Canadian) after that!

People were paying $200.00, $300.00, $1500.00 a month bills just to play the game and the thing I remember most about back then is

 

There were ZERO trolls

There were ZERO greifers

 

The game was simply to costly to spend on such negative behaviors

 

A role Player started role playing with you, you didnt freak out and yell them down for role playing on general. You simply role playered yourself out of the role play and moved on about your bussiness. It was just easier, faster, and more productive to do so.

 

Someone jumps you in the pvp zone, you dont spend 5 hours ranting on the forums about being jumped

You do your best, probably hit the gate, and then move on to your next destination as very rarely were any out to stop you from also having fun.

 

In other words, it was a MUCH MORE MATURE CROWD (in behavior if not age) and thats honestly been missing more and more and more since UO released.

 

Cheaper doesnt make a better product,

not in the slightest!

 

I know Id gladly pay upwards of $25.00/month for a quality MMORPG with good communication between developer and player base.

 

A premium MMO that did not cater to the Bargain MMO shoppers would be a beautiful thing. I would gladly pay $20-30 a month for a solid premium MMO. Hell, I would pay double that to rid myself of the trolls and younglings. However, I don't think there would be enough of us to warrant constant content updates.

[Kahldor]

Fact of the matter is gaming is a hobby that costs money just like any other hobby. If you can't afford a $15 a month sub yet pay at least $49 for a game, then maybe gaming is for you. Not a knock to those in financial issues but this is a hobby. Can I go collect coins, stamps, sports cards for free? Nope.

 

Gaming is also a form of entertainment like going to the movies, out to eat, amusement parks, etc. Maybe don't go out to eat one time a month or if it is fast food maybe 2 times a month don't go and BAM there's your $15.

 

Agreed. If you can't afford to play at a premium golf course, then you shouldn't complain that their prices are too high. It costs a lot of money to keep the greens and fairways pristine. Take yourself to that par 3 with your 2 clubs and play for cheap. Or save up your money and enjoy something that takes a little more work to maintain.

 

Now, the fact that SWTOR is not worth a subscription fee is a different story. But, premium MMOs should be free to charge premium prices for their content.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Kahldor

[bahdasz]

So it seems you guys would be happy with 10 dollars month if you got communication, regular content, updates on what's happening, not copy pasted responses, and the game was a fun sandbox with a little bit of themepark elements in it instead of the other way around. It needs to be exciting, fresh, bold, something new and always have something to do for the player. Crafting needs to be challenging but also fun BUT not too complex because you don't want to feel like you have been working in a video game. Video games should be about fun, not mind benders.

 

So would you pay 10 dollars a month for that? Hmmm

 

I was paying $15 a month for that game until about a year ago when it was turned off to make room for WoWars.

Edited August 24, 2012 by bahdasz

[Sarfux]

I was paying $15 a month for that game until about a year ago when it was turned off to make room for WoWars.

 

sorry...again I wasn't referencing SWG. This isn't about SWG. So stop trying to make it into something it's not.

[Kahldor]

sorry...again I wasn't referencing SWG. This isn't about SWG. So stop trying to make it into something it's not.

 

But you are ignoring the people who would pay more for a better game so that you can argue your $10 price point. There are many 2nd tier MMOs that are charging $15 per month for content currently and they are all dividing up players because their games are all so-so. A cheaper price point turns a game into Lotro (limited variety).

 

As the old adage goes, "You get what you pay for." Cheaper is merely cheaper, not better. A vacation to Milwaukee at a Motel 8 is not the same as one to Maui at the Four Seasons.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Kahldor

[grombrinda]

Thing is however, it's not true that the prices on everything have risen on everything else. If we look technology service wise in many instances ISP's have gotten more affordable.

 

Around 10 years ago when MMO's cost 15 bucks, a subscription with my ISP cost around 60 Eur a month to get a 2 mbps connection in order to be able to actually play decently. That was cable internet alone. Now for 45 Eur a month I get a 50 mbit connection, TV, Film Channel and telephone combined.

 

Did MMO's start bundling up and reduce to around 10 Eur a month? In case of EA for example publishing a package consisting of SWTOR, WAR and TSW in such fashion? No, they keep sticking to the same pricing model.

 

Why did ISP's do this? Simple, the market started to saturate, they needed to compete in something, and they're competing in favor of the consumer.

 

 

Cellular plans are still behind a bit. However, if we look at around 10 years ago, I paid roughly 25 Eur / mo on a 120 minute plan, which came with like... 25 sms or so included. That was sim-only. Now for that same price I can get a galaxy S II, 500 MB internet, 150 minute/sms. Pricing stayed similar, but I get a 350 Eur phone along in the deal.

 

Once again, the market got saturated, these companies adjusted by starting the competition.

 

 

The MMO market, is also saturated, better yet, it's stagnating. What does the MMO industry do? Stick to the same pricing 'because everybody else does it'. Industry standard as they'd commonly call it. In my ears it sounds more like publicly anouncing a price cartel, but yeh.

 

It's probably not going to change anytime soon in this field I'm afraid. There's just no competition going on in the video game industry. Just a lot of crying over why their products ain't selling. And as long as piracy remains the easy target, publishers aren't going with the notion that an inferior product doesn't sell for the same price as a superior product. And with limited MMO experience for most, they appear to apply the same logic there.

 

+1 to this...If you cant understand this....then you are lost friend.

[Bethmora]

Well, I can assure you. In the next years there will be a certain mmorpg that doesn't have any of the same formula. It will be built from feedback and fans. I have started a company for gaming recently and we have already started production on it. No details yet, just know that it is not going to be anything you have EVER heard of before mechanic wise and skill wise. It's going to be very fun, addicting, and we plan on having the people spread word about the good game. Not pay off sites to say it's good.

 

You will love the game. It is not the same old same old with a different skin plopped on it. Just think FUN sandbox where nothing ends, and it's all fun. Not boring, lame sandbox, where there's nothing to do or nothing that is in depth. That is what you will see from my company in the coming years

 

Hhmm, I and many have heard that before and what do we get? same old song and dance. but good luck and hope you do come out with a good game.

[Kahldor]

+1 to this...If you cant understand this....then you are lost friend.

 

Problem with that argument is that the MMO community today is MUCH more demanding. We constantly want WoW and Rift type of updates and content added, but want them to be free because we pay a monthly fee. We also want all of our bugs, game balance, hackers, botters and issues fixed instantaneously by patches, a GM or Customer Service.

 

While EA/BW's SWTOR does not provide the support we desire, companies like TRION and Funcom (TSW) have knocked it out of the park with their great Customer Service and attention to community. The MMO community does not deserve a price break when they have become much more needy and instant gratification seeking.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Kahldor

[Arlon_Nabarlly]

If they dropped cost of subscription from 15 to 8, then that would double there break even number of subscribers from 500k to 1 mil. The game currently has under 1 million. If the price drop didn't bring enough people to put the game over 1 mil, then they are below break even. Very risky idea, when all trends show most gamers don't want pay subscription and even WoW's subs are dropping.