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Lifetime Subs for Sub-based MMOs?
Theonenoni
Member Posts: 279
I was looking at Champions Online and saw something about a lifetime sub. It costed $200 I think for a lifetime sub with unlimited access to premium content. Lets see, if a game was awesome and I knew that I would be playing the game for more than say 5 years I would definitely buy the lifetime sub. But most MMOs are going F2P with limited content, content that you can buy with in-game currency that is rewarded by achievements.
The lifetime sub would definitely pay for itself in the long run. I think companies would want all your money now rather than later.
I think veteran WoW players would love this lifetime sub deal. If they have one let me know, because I would rather not spend $15 a month.
-I am here to perform logic
Comments
Don't do it man.
It's your money at the end of the day, but all the games that offer the lifetime gimmic, you'll be done with them in like 2 months. The games that most people would pay 200 bucks to have lifetime access to, don't have a program for it.
You may have noticed that the games offering a "lifelong sub" are usually those who are not too successful or change to f2p later down the path.
I wouldn't do it for anything other than if you wanted to show your true support to the devs, though most of it will land at the publisher I guess.. anyway..
Just doesn't seem like too good of an idea, especially if you tend to mmo-hop every other year or even sooner.
Also the only games that are economically worth it (i.e. won't fail in a year or so for sure) don't offer that possibility. The only games that do are those that are likely to die soon.
Most games these days aren't designed to be played for 5 years. They have small amounts of quick burst content like WoW, and no player tools to make fun for themselves.
Only a handful of MMOs are on the market now that I think would have been worth a lifetime sub. Eve, Darkfall maybe, Dark Age of Camelot, Ultima Online. Games like WoW and all of its modern clones just don't have enough features to justify it. There's no player freedom to keep it fun.
life time sub is the worst choice ever.... you pay 200 or more for a life time sub and you feel like you are committed to play the game 24/7 to feel your money was well spent..... i personally get bored of mmos quite soon, if i pay 200+ for a life time sub and i get sick of the game 2 months later.... im very stupid by wasting that money cos they wont refund me the remaining balance....
I´d assume that in the end of LotRo´s P2P era many people who played were Lifetime subs. So the game didn´t deliver much income. I try to imagine if WoW goes to F2P because they have 5 millions subs in US/EU... okay this leads to some trolling: "Why should we make WoW F2P? The cash shop is more profitable with P2P."
Lifetime subs are bad for the game and the people who pay it..
Look at LoTRO.. It got where so many who were playing the game were lifetime subs which really cut into the money that was coming it. Then going F2P just screws over everyone..
I would only pay for a lifetime sub if I had been playing the game for a year or more. The problem is most of these lifetime subs are only available at launch (I might be wrong about this).
I like lifetime subs but not before you actually play the game. I'm the type of player who goes back and forth on what I want to play and I always go back to certain games like Eve. I play for 5 or 6 months and then get bored and try out something new for a while but I always seem to go back each year. If I could buy a lifetime for Eve I think I would, even now. Over the last 5 years I would imagine I have purchased about 30 months or more of Eve game time.
Then there are the mistakes (like anything Cryptic makes) that try and grab your money by offering a reduced rate before you can even try it out. I can say that Cryptic has helped me to fix a few habits, the first of which is that I wont ever buy another MMO during the first month again. I will wait for reviews from PCGamer and these forums before I buy another MMO. I will also never buy a lifetime sub to a game that I have not played for several months to be sure it is something I want to continue playing.
I like lifetimes, but only after you have had time to evaluate the product.
Microtransaction done right, IE not pay 2 win LotRO.
You really have to love a game for a lifetime sub to be a good deal. Problem is many MMOs only offer limited lifetime deals before you even get a chance to form an opinion of said game.
Well, if you think about it.. $200 for a lifetime sub isent that bad, considering you normaly pay 180 a year otherwise. Now if you know you going to be playing a game for more than 1 year, weather it be realy enojying the trial, or getting that gut fealing from beta or demos.. then well.. Its definately worth it, just carefull on the game. Maybe like Swtor, that game if thay added that payment type would probably make some serious bank at launch. They would end up loosing money if it turns out to be a huge, sucessfull mmo for the next decade, Hell if wow offerd a lifetime sub durring the first 6 months,, think of how many millions they would be out of just for that.
On the other side of the coin thoe, most companies that offer a lifetime sub, probably dont expect you to play your moneys worth. That game you just blew 200 bucks on could tank that year, or be all fluff like AOC was int he begining and then turn out to be a broken down gimic that could have been a good game. (not saying AOC isent a game.. but i was a little more than angry after leaving tortage for the first time. didnt stop me from playing for a year thoe)
To finish this reply thoe.. To crunch numbers here, you could effectly buy thoe most expenicive btp game you ever have bought, and alot of console gamers spend that in a month anyway.. I know people who buy 1 console game a week.. beat it then buy a new one the next week, $60 x 4 = 240 a month..Think about it
It is irrational, illogical and oportunistic behaviour.
If you are gonna play the game for 5 years, and expect the game will have further content updates, it is absurd to think, they gonna continue to pay its development team without any income. If everybody will think the same opportunistic way that you do -> all the customers would become lifetimers and there'd be no income to pay for the development team to add new content - hell even pay the server maintainance.
Basic lifecycle of a game is - it has the most popularity at its release, and then going down every year. It's again irrational, and illogical to think there would be enough new players every year to pay for the development team - that will add content for players that are lifetimers for 5+ years.
REALITY CHECK
Lifetime subscriptions are always going to be a hot topic because companies will want us to comit within a small window of time (i.e. not play for 6 months and then decide we’ll take the cheapest deal, thus loosing them money) and players will always feel disgruntled if they’re pressured into a decision.
But even if a player doesn't necessarily feel pressured into a decision, personally, the thought that comes to mind when the subject of Life-Time Sub arises is *there's a sucker born every minute*.
But that's me. I think those that do life-time sub, lose any purposeful opinion since the company already has their cash. Then there's the Champions Online scenario that was out for a year and a half, people bought into life-time subs, and now it's free-to-play. A topic for a different discussion, but none-the-less, I dont appreciate the potential down-side of life-time subs from a consumers point of view.
How about Hellgate London lifetime? Terminated 6 months after release.
REALITY CHECK
I bought a lifetime sub for LOTRO after MOM got launched, more than worth the money I paied for it. Now with FTP I get ALL content free plus extra points for nothing.
I also bought a lifetime for ST:O before I actually played the game.......................oops