Here is the reason box price of $59.95 plus $15 sub does not work any more.
Remember back in 2004 everyone both rich or poor, people could pay the price of the game and subscription ?
Inflation,
Between 2009 and 2017, the US Treasury began printing paper money at an alarming rate that feed into electronic money. Initially this money was worth its amount. But once deeply distributed across the country and world, it becomes more worthless.
Now, the problem of mmorpg and all video game products are a luxury that many can't afford even $15 subscription prices much less the $59.95 digital download. REMEMBER HOW EVERYONE COULD AFFORD IT ? Price was never an issue, no one talked about it.
Paychecks never increased to adjust !!!..... That $15 is just as hard to make, yet will not buy anything and will not keep the video game companies in business..... Both sides feel the impact.
Add poor game design between 2009 and 2021, made people switch to Social media and i-phones to spend money on. People are starving yet they have i-phones. This is now the modern fun.
<Average quote>
" I'm starving and my phone bill needs to be paid"
Both are of equal importance.
$15 much less $25 for subscription is unthinkable. $15 monthly was a good sweet spot. It should be $25, yet $15 is now hard to come by.
What still works is "gambling sickness"....... Cash Shops.
People tend to think by giving a little, they are unique and hope for a lot in return. The word "hope" is built into people, more so during desperate times.
Owe money ?.... play the lottery !
I'll end with this..... where screwed.
Comments
Overall I think that paying $15 per month for +75 hours of enjoyment is pretty cheap (compared to $30 for 3 hours of ski, or $20 for 2 hours of cinema).
Gambling will be on the upswing, odd way get out of money problems, but it's what people do.
$15 for all that game time is cheap, but why are people now complaining even without box price ?....... 2004 no one complained.
I mean, just searching I found this several years old article so I suspect it's risen even more ...
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/414042-yearly-wage-growth-rises-to-fastest-rate-since-2008
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Good to see you back, avoid the drama if that's possible on the internet.
But I can also see $15 buys you nothing, MOST people don't double in salaries, and MOST are not very fortunate.
I see this daily... I'm sure you do to.
Wife's family comes up my house to eat my candy... he can't even afford candy!..... But has the latest i-phone
I tend not to listen to people who cry poverty if they have the latest cell phone and several subscriptions to various streaming services, etc.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
True story,
Just last week he came to my house for a three hour visit. He came with a dead phone and forgot his charger.... We drove around for one hour to find a phone charger... all for a three hour visit.
24 years old
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
Welcome back.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
So what devs need to do is keep the price affordable,attractive to gamers but recoup their losses as well as turn a profit.
A sub fee is simply too much,so what is fair?IMO a well developed game needs around a $100 price tag but nobody will play it and that would be a huge risk for any studio to ask that price even though likely 75% in SC have laready spent more than that without even a finished game.I would say MOST cash shop games are costing people far above $100 to play and still never receive the full game only whatever they can afford from the cash shop.
So it is up to the industry to drill into consumers that cash shops are NOT cheaper and 50+sub fees are not cheaper either.So a straight up $100 price tag is where it needs to be.
Even if a studio does a really good job of making a really good mmorpg it does not mean they will reach even 1 million player,that wouldbe a return of 100 million,not nearly enough for a AAA mmorpg.So now you see the never ending problem of HOW to monetize,HOW to recoup losses,NO guarantees and lots of risk.
This is why i KNOW we will NEVER see a true passionate built AAA mmorpg because it does NOT make any sense financially.Instead studios will keep whipping out half assed products and hope something gets lucky,maybe great marketing,maybe popular streamers help with hype but still always a risk.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
You can't take a 300+ million dollar game and sell it for 50 bucks.A few really rich studios can spend a ton on marketing and hype and paying off streamers and websites to help hype their games but most studios cannot afford to do that.
There is a very old saying,you get what you pay for and in gaming there is a very good chance you get even less.
If you don't have the money or find the prices too steep,you'll end up playing ARPG crap and LOL and Dota and Destiny BR's aka Fortnite all the really shallow games.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Yet, it is working as is evidenced by the several MMORPGs that continue to function with paid for expansions and subscription fees. It doesn't work ideally, as the revenue apparently needs to be bolstered with cash shop revenue, or simply provides desired additional revenue. Regardless, they keep chugging along.
However, with subscription games where the cash shop is supplemental, purchasesare usually in no way needed. One does not need cosmetics, progression boosts, fancy mounts and such. Sometimes they also provide services not obtainable elsewhere, but from what I've seen these are the same as those that cost extra back in the subscription only days.
So, since none of it needed, or would have cost extra anyway if done in the past, players are only as "screwed" as they want to be when cash shops are supplemental.
When the cash shop is the only source of ongoing revenue it tends to offer items one could easily consider more about need than desire. But, if someone chooses to play a game funded by nickle-and-diming the player to death they are opting in to what comes along with.
There are a few f2p games entirely reliant on cash shops where the inventory is more like that of subscription games that thrive regardless due to popularity, PoE being an example. Some might feel that ideal, but it's pretty rare.
A subscription only game free of a cash shop with a higher subscription cost than today's standard may work now as player discontent with cash shops seems to endlessly escalate. It would be like any other premium service people are willing to pay more for to avoid elements of the standard they disfavour and those have proven viable for entertainment products.
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2024: 47 years on the Net.
Well, if you fail to pay protection money to a highwayman right beside you, he can harm or kill you. If you choose not to purchase things in an online game you are not subject to immediate injury or death. One of these things is not like the other.
That list of what can be bought does seem to provide a great deal of benefit for those that can afford it. For those that can, good for them.
My subscription to ESO comes with a stipend of cash shop currency, which I limit my purchases to over the year. I enjoy that as I can pick up a few things without any additional cost, making the prices associated not a bother.
If they actually cost additional money I wouldn't purchase them, as though some items appeal none do to that degree.
It does nothing for you anymore, and when the model fails, I'll say good riddance.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
We were paying by the freaking hour for games....
Same thing in games as other services and goods....more competition, equals lowering the prices. Lowering the prices, more games to choose from. More capital people invest in the making of games.
Why we went through a boom...which is always followed by a bust...
And then the new cash people looking for better marketing and cash income models...so on and so on...nothing new is going on. Really following almost all capitalist society and history of products and services.
Can complain about it ...but until something better comes along...
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
I don't know. Probably not. Does it matter? I don't think so. I expect many here don't agree with many of my posts.
Agreement isn't something I seek. The most interesting discussions usually result from disagreement. Perhaps Delete feels the same.
Regardless, his posts lead to such as often or not.