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On The Rising Price of MMO Subscriptions
An anonymous reader writes "With the ever rising price of online games and special offers like Anarchy Online's free trial where you can play free until September for $9.95. I've been wondering - how much do people feel is too much to pay for an online game? The 'normal' price used to be $9.95 per month, and EverQuest is now $12.95 a month, with Star Wars Galaxies, City Of Heroes and others at $14.95. How much do increasing monthly fees affect your playing habits, and does the price of an MMO subscription affect which game you might choose to play?" Perhaps schemes such as the Sony Online All Access subscription are a possible solution?
Well, to quote my own web site:
Either charge a subscription, or charge for the game, but don't ask me to pay twice.
If I need a subscription to play, I'm very unlikely to pay $50 for the game, because if I decide I don't like it I'm left with a $50 coaster. Games which are offline or online can get away with charging for the game itself, but it's still a bad idea if the main point is the multiplayer: A high up-front cost to join a subscription game screams "We don't think you'll stay a member for long so we'd better get some cash up front".
Monthly subscriptions don't work for me, unless they're really cheap.
Your market is people with broadband and significant disposable income. To me, that says adults with jobs. Like many adults with jobs, there are months when I don't really get any time to play video games at all.
It seems to me that it's not technically hard at all to have a "per hour" fee, capped at the cost of a monthly subscription. That would encourage casual gamers and people who aren't sure they will like the game enough to get really into it and spend hours on it every month.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Mine's movies. I compare it all to movies. I'm often willing to pay $10 for two hours of entertainment. Whereas I'll spend the same money for many hours a month playing an MMO (puzzle pirates).
The harsh reality of the matter is that MMORPGs cost a metric ton of money to develop and maintain. You can't just push the boxed product out and then maybe do a few bug fix patches, you have to actively develop new content for it over the span of multiple years, while paying your bandwidth bill, and supporting the massive customer service department you have to have. So, I don't think it's too much to ask for a boxed copy fee, PLUS a monthly. That's the extra cost of playing a game experience that goes beyond what you got in your initial money dump. Some smaller MMOs which can't support huge audiences can charge nothing or next to nothing, and you've got Guild Wars which is ostensibly free but asks for money to access certain content -- but you're never going to get a truly free MMO.
:) After 15, you're pushing it, since most luxury monthly-fee services like Tivo and such tend to pile up and are all in the same 15 range. You want to keep them small enough, or folks will start looking for ways to trim the fat.
But that said, look at the economics of it; a 15 a month subscription is the absolute maximum, and that's assuming you don't play any other MMORPGs. (I can't see a casual player playing more than 1-2 of them, anyway. There's just not enoguh hours in the day.) 15 is not that much of a step up from 13. All you have to do to make the extra two bucks is not supersize it once a month.
...would have to change before I invest money and time into it.
To begin, it costs way too much to support that sort of habit these days. I'd pay... 4.95 to 9.95 a month for a decent MMORPG. Even if the CD costs me 49.95 to start. (WoW: Blizzard, are you listening?).
I would absolutely love to play World of Warcraft when it comes out, but, when the numbers add up, I'm afraid my 'disposable' income can't take that hit.
Here's another issue. Players who detract from the overall experience. Espicially when game administration refuse to do anything about it. Not a case of 'can not', cases of 'will not'. Albeit, some games are adopting tougher policies on cheaters/assholes and are cracking down on them. Good. Good for them. More of you should be doing it.
Informatus Technologicus
I was going to moderate the hell out of this thread, but I decided to post instead.
.. revealing how RETARDED the Jedi system is for your Star Wars game!).. but you still have 8 months left that you paid for.. oh well!
:)
People who claim $15/mo isn't "that much" don't realize that us adults have other living expenses and everything adds up.
I cancelled my CoH account because the game is simply NOT worth $15/month. It was a fun game, but I've played other MMORPG's that provide a lot more content and a greater variety of entertainment, and they cost less per month.
I suspect in 2005, we'll find ourselves paying $17.95 for new games. I also wouldn't be surprised if EQ2 and SWG increased their price to $17.95 a month. It won't be long until we're paying $20/mo. Inflation has gone up steadily 2-3% each year, but MMORPG's subscription costs are inflating by 10-25% each year. Companies like SOE actually want to charge you MORE (they've specifically stated this, Raph Koster in fact) for their MMORPG's.
The cost of the "box" should cover the development cost of the game and kick back a bit of profit, just like any other game. Now, if a game costs $15/mo, I expect an entire new game's worth of content ADDED every 4-5 months (which is NOT unreasonable), otherwise I might as well go out and just buy a new game. Right now, other than maybe Asherons Call 1, no MMORPG has provided content additions that are actually WORTH the monthly subscription. They always come out with expansions that cost you $20-$30 MORE just to "activate". It's all bullshit if you ask me.
It's also very un-wise to pay for an MMORPG in blocks (3 months, 6 months, 12 months), despite the discount. The gaming companies are COUNTING on you to pay in advance, this is what they want.. however when you find out the game totally sucks and you already paid for 6 months, then have fun getting your money back (hope you paid with a Visa!). Or what if "your class" gets so nerfed you want to quit (or something else happens, like
Thankfully, the market is so saturated with MMORPG's now, we have many choices for where we want to spend our money. Unfortunately, for some of us, developers still haven't managed to get it right. I think SWG was close, but they screwed that game up so bad it's shameful. Here's to hoping for EQ2 (not likely) or WoW (I hope). Both of which will be $15/mo, if not more.
So the cost of the game in present value is really between $190 or $200 (I forgot the exact charge.) So forget about this complaining about paying each month/paying an upfront fee. Just look at that amount and decide if it's worth it.
In my heavier days of online gaming, i used to joke that if you divided the amount of time i played / 10$, i ended up spending 5 cents an hour for entertainment (a good deal cheaper than going to a movie or the local pub).
To the people that really play these games, 10-15 dollars a month is beyond trivial (I paid for 2 Daoc accounts, and even then i never felt shorted), and i have no problem shelling out 40-50 dollars for a new game.
If there's one feature MMORPG's could add to make me more likely to play them, it's an account hibernation feature where I could quit if I knew I wasn't going to have time to play this month and resubscribe later. This would clearly not be a prohibitive cost, since DAoC has just done exactly this without even having been asked in advance as a "win back players who've left" tactic.
Of course, this feature is the opposite of the MMORPG business model. Those of us who play sufficiently infrequently to consider hibernating an account any given month? We're the customers they want to keep MOST because we're the ones they're making the most profit off of. Fact is, this industry uses the casual players and ones who try and dislike the game to subsidize the ones who make the game their second job. And that, as a member of the former group, I don't like.