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Where do you think MMO payments will go?
Taxm
Member Posts: 3
was thinking about AOC going F2p and was wondering what you think about MMOS and the way people will be paying for them in the future?
personaly i think the way of P2P or even subs for premium content in F2P mmos will have trouble sustaining itself when games like GW 2 get released, I have to say that my favorite scheme is F2P with a one off payment to a premium account . other them guild wars, why dont they make more games which you pay $50 outright for the premium account then the company releases expansion packs every 6-12 months for $20-$50 in between this release map packs fo $10 while having a cash shop for just minor charachter alterations and costumes which dont effect actual gameplay. they can even have guild tournaments ever month or two where every entry/team pays $10 to enter and the winning guilds and a guild at random that enter gets prizes,
just some food for thought really, so where do you guys think payments in MMos are heading?
Comments
I think there still will be room for some P2P games.
However do I think that P2P games with itemshops will soon be a thing of the past, B2P, Freemium and F2P games will eat those pretty soon.
But there are people out there willing to pay more for no item shop and they will continue with P2P as long as there are games around with the right payment method.
I personally think that adding itemshop to games like EQ2 and Wow was a huge misstake even if they get some money fast because of it.
It is profit. Why not charge a monthly fee if people are willing to pay for it?
A good game makes up the development costs with box sales alone. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is one of the most succesful titles in the video gaming history. Its development costs were between 40-50 million dollars. Add to that production, distribution and marketing, the whole launch budget was around $200 million.
Activision Blizzard made $550 million within the first five days after the game's release. (source)
Now MW2 is far from an average game but lets compare it to one of the most popular MMORPG titles ever, World of Warcraft. WoW cost somewhere around 100 million dollars for Blizzard to make. Nowadays, they make that amount every month. (source)
I did a little bit of googling. Estimates of running costs from 2004 (release) to 2008 vary greatly. Some blogger wrote that if you take the most expensive one it would amount to around 4,5 million per month (blog). But like he says too, it could be less than half of that today.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
i like the idea of B2B. so pay once for content and then regulary for additional content (expansions, DLCs). i also dont care about an additional cash shop with cosmetic stuff and account related stuff. even xp-boosters are ok. i dont use them and i dont care about rushers anyway. however, the B2B model might lead to minigames with tons of mini-DLCs which is again an unholy trend.
i hate pure F2P. they focus not only on one-time goods like bags or content usually. the real money comes with recurring consumables, supported best with item decay and stuff like that. so you have to pay ongoing, in order to keep your level of entertainment and a lot of people pay more than with a subscription this way.
the freemium model is not a bad approach, as long as the premium account is really a buy-out from the cash shop. especially all not cosmetic or not account-related services should be fully free for premiums. but that means, you cant put pay-to-win consumables into the shop at all or this would not work in your freemium model.
i never had an issue with the subscription model, but i see the advantage for some casual players or players playing more than one MMO. so i am afraid in the future we will see a further development of B2B, F2P and Freemium or a wild mix of them.
to put expansions on top of the subscription, is usual. to put DLCs on top makes me sceptical and to put a full blown cash-shop on top not just with cosmetics but with ongoing costs for consumables and important items is simply outrageous. i will not play such a game.
played: Everquest I (6 years), EVE (3 years)
months: EQII, Vanguard, Siedler Online, SWTOR, Guild Wars 2
weeks: WoW, Shaiya, Darkfall, Florensia, Entropia, Aion, Lotro, Fallen Earth, Uncharted Waters
days: DDO, RoM, FFXIV, STO, Atlantica, PotBS, Maestia, WAR, AoC, Gods&Heroes, Cultures, RIFT, Forsaken World, Allodds
I can only see P2P still being the most preferred choice for the so called AAA games, with not as much straight up F2P, but more having a freemium model (like RS, Wurm, LoTRO, etc).
Money will always be brought in , in any game big enough. When its P2P its harder, because the expectations are higher for the game. No one wants to pay a monthly, yearly, one time fee for a crappy game. Therefore, P2P games have to keep on-top of their priorities(promotions, patches, updates) if they don't they will surely lose players paying membership or even new registrations.
MMOs which are free to play, but you pay in to get exotic or amazing items, is a little different. Coins and speciality money for extreme items can throw a game off balance. Some people will spend loads of cash just to stack epic items, so they feel more powerful. Eventually , people spend so much money obtaining items that they are powerful and have rarity among the game.
F2P I like best, if its good, its worth the money. Nothing.
The trend is very clear.
DDO & LOTRO made a lot more money after going F2P.
There are many successful pure F2P MMOs out there: maple story, ROM ...
More and more previously sub-based MMOs are going F2P ... Global Agenda and AOC are a good examples. Some dead ones are rebirth with this route: Hellgate London, APB.
Now, new AAA MMOs are exploring F2P (Marvel Universe Online).
Research has shown that MOST (70%+) MMO players ONLY play F2P MMOs.
My take is the sub-MMOs will become a thing of the past, except of course WOW.
while fremium games are becoming more popular,
p2p is here to stay
example, Age of Conan is going free to play this summer
but I assume Funcom is going to treat their next new mmo, Secret World, like any another p2p - with a monthly fee
also,
different players like different mmos (regardless of what they cost monthly)
EQ2 fan sites
I don't think WoW will last forever.
But I do think there will always be gamers that don't enjoy playing cash shop games.
Whether it's WoW, or another game, someone will want to take money from the players willing to pay for a game that is not an item mall.
I think Buy to Play, one fee for the purchase of the box, and the servers are free, no cash shop, no subscription, also works for players that do not like cash shop games.
I'm pretty sure payments in the near future will look like: none.
Buy once = real f2p
Like GW ever was and #2 will be aswell.
No other top-nodge MMO in the near future will have other options. They would be... stupid.
Sure. With a market with TENS OF MILLIONS of players, you can always find some. But the trend is clear. As of NOW, 70%+ of the MMO players only play F2P games. Most of them don't pay a cent. Heck, this is in a market where WOW is still dominent.
It won't surprise if MOST of the future MMOs are F2P, and a few to fill the niche of those who don't like the payment model for whatever reasons.
I don't think WoW will last forever.
But I do think there will always be gamers that don't enjoy playing cash shop games.
Whether it's WoW, or another game, someone will want to take money from the players willing to pay for a game that is not an item mall.
I think Buy to Play, one fee for the purchase of the box, and the servers are free, no cash shop, no subscription, also works for players that do not like cash shop games.
but end of the day along as its not p2p and the cash shop doesn't effect the balance of the game or add stuff that should be free anyway do gamers realy care? I see aoc new f2p just as a unlimited trail. If gw2 is half the game they hype to be p3p will be in trouble . Don't be surprised to see more b2psI enjoy freemium models like Global Agenda, DDO, and LOTRO a lot. You're able to actually play a good amount of the game and see if you really want to sub for it, and then you sub for it and unlock either 100% or 99.9% of stuff.
I would like to see Buy 2 Play with fluff only item/service shops become the norm. I don't mind paying for services like races changes, name changes, or some costumes, because I can choose whether I would rather reroll a character, or purchase a costume. I also don't mind dropping a little cash up front to access a game. Buy 2 Play also makes developers a little more accountable, imo.
They have to develop a game that people will want to purchase, and if it's good enough, they'll purchase your expansion packs whenever they come out. If you fail to meet expectations, you cut your own potential profit margin.
I tend to be a bit more forgiving of P2P games, because I have invested money into the box and sub, so I will stick around a bit longer to see things get fixed. For B2P and F2P games, if it sucks out the gate I will walk away and maybe relook at it 6 months down the road.
If all of my games were B2P, I would also probably split my time among a few games a bit more, since I wouldn't feel like I have an expected return of my investment.
It's said that F2Ps generate more money than P2P ones, so that might be an issue. Still, B2P sounds like a good deal for me.
I once played AQWorlds, and it was F2P, but you can pay a monthly fee to get/use special bonus content and buy premium equipment. Right now, though, I play F2Ps like Aika Global, Forsaken World, and S4 League (when I want TPS fun).
Sturgeon's Law: "90% of everything is crud."