All the games you listed don't require much of an upkeep.
MMOs have a longer upkeep list.
Server costs.
Constant development costs.
Constant customer service costs.
Just to name a few.
I think Blizzard spends around 50 million a year on upkeep just for WoW.
50 million a year for WoW ? Please tell us in detail how that happens ?
Yes I agree mmos do cost money but there is a huge misconception that mmos cost mega million bucks to run. Also there is very little that serperates from a mmo and a non mmo. MMOs have larger land masses and persistant worlds but that doesn't mean they cost a ton more of money to make.
You are so wrong it's painful.
Spend less time posting random crap on the internet and MORE time reading random crap on the internet.
That is $200 million since launch and it is closing in on 7 years soon. Less typing and more comprehending what you read. Blizzard made over $258 million with just retail sales alone and according to the link that number should be even higher because when WoW was released the game was $50.00. If you think WoW could not survive on downloadable content rather than subscription fees then you need to read more than I do.
The upkeep article was created in 2008, 4 years.. 200 million = 50 million a year.
So imagine if Blizzard charged $15 EVERY patch, aka, downloadable content. It would still cost about the same as a monthly sub.
Taken right from your link. - $200 million since the game launched in 2004. That is over 6 years ago who cares when the article was made because that is totally irrelevant. Either way you already proved my point that no monthly fees, item malls and cash shops are needed for mmos to run. The other point is that it is a total lie, a myth that has been spread by mmo developers just for the sake of their own greediness.
Yeah......the article was created in 2008 and wow opened in 04, so yes it is relevant when dealing with upkeep costs. According to the article, thats 100mil difference.
We're not with the comapanies accounting department, so we have no idea how much they actually spend on certain parts of the company. Either it be employees, marketing, development, etc.
The bottom line is, there's no point in trying to argue or prove a point that we have no power in changing. If you want to start a movement to have companies stop with monthly fees, good luck. I doubt anybody will go with it because people will pay money to be entertained. No matter what shape or form that person desires and companies know this. This is the reason why they charge money for what they do.
1. Starcraft 2 - 1.5 mill units iin 48 hours and it looks like it may hit close to 4 million by the end of the year. Blizzard was surving just fine on their game sales before WoW was even thought of.
2. Halo: Reach - $200 million in 24 hours. Last time I checked Bungie has not filed for bankrupcy yet...
3. Borderlands - Sells 3 million as of Feb 2010 and still selling. Gearbox not filing for bankrupcy either anytime soon.
4. Mass Effect 2 - Sells 2 million units in a week. Bioware lasting 15 years with no monthly fees,item malls or cash shops.
5. Modern Warfare 2 - 12 million units and last I checked Activision is still surviving, barely...
All these great games outselling just about any AAA mmo on the market today and the developers last I checked the companies above are still making great games. The point here is that if you make a quality game it sells itself. No need for monthly fees, item malls or gimmicks to be successful. The only way to be successful is hard work, dedication and make quality games. Sadly most mmo developers do not even follow any of those standards. Perhaps we all should take a real hard look if monthly fees, cash shops and item malls are really needed for mmo to be successful.
*Shakes Head and Laughs*
There's a game that's already gone this route. Guild Wars. In the last 5 years it's released less content than Lord of the Rings Online did in its first year, and that's discounting the fact that LotRO at launch was like 10 times larger than Guild Wars at launch.
MMOs without monthly fees = development slowing to a crawl.
I'm not a cheapskate, I'd rather pay my monthly and get frequent content in return.
Then again I differ from your average gamer in that I'm not an ADD-riddled mutant and would PREFER to find one GOOD MMO and play it for 3-5 years as opposed to playing a new game every month.
Ummmm Guild Wars came out with 3 expansions in only 2 1/2 years. Dunno where you've been, but did you forget Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North? I mean technically, Eye of the North was the only expansion, since that was the only game you actually needed the first game to play. The other two were stand alone games, but you can traverse between all of them with any of your characters, if you actually have those 3 games.
All 4 of those games had HUGE worlds and not to mention, their own pvp, story, and every area has different channels. Not sure if having multipule channels would cost more or less for upkeep.
1. Starcraft 2 - 1.5 mill units iin 48 hours and it looks like it may hit close to 4 million by the end of the year. Blizzard was surving just fine on their game sales before WoW was even thought of.
2. Halo: Reach - $200 million in 24 hours. Last time I checked Bungie has not filed for bankrupcy yet...
3. Borderlands - Sells 3 million as of Feb 2010 and still selling. Gearbox not filing for bankrupcy either anytime soon.
4. Mass Effect 2 - Sells 2 million units in a week. Bioware lasting 15 years with no monthly fees,item malls or cash shops.
5. Modern Warfare 2 - 12 million units and last I checked Activision is still surviving, barely...
All these great games outselling just about any AAA mmo on the market today and the developers last I checked the companies above are still making great games. The point here is that if you make a quality game it sells itself. No need for monthly fees, item malls or gimmicks to be successful. The only way to be successful is hard work, dedication and make quality games. Sadly most mmo developers do not even follow any of those standards. Perhaps we all should take a real hard look if monthly fees, cash shops and item malls are really needed for mmo to be successful.
*Shakes Head and Laughs*
There's a game that's already gone this route. Guild Wars. In the last 5 years it's released less content than Lord of the Rings Online did in its first year, and that's discounting the fact that LotRO at launch was like 10 times larger than Guild Wars at launch.
MMOs without monthly fees = development slowing to a crawl.
I'm not a cheapskate, I'd rather pay my monthly and get frequent content in return.
Then again I differ from your average gamer in that I'm not an ADD-riddled mutant and would PREFER to find one GOOD MMO and play it for 3-5 years as opposed to playing a new game every month.
Ummmm Guild Wars came out with 3 expansions in only 2 1/2 years. Dunno where you've been, but did you forget Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North? I mean technically, Eye of the North was the only expansion, since that was the only game you actually needed the first game to play. The other two were stand alone games, but you can traverse between all of them with any of your characters, if you actually have those 3 games.
All 4 of those games had HUGE worlds and not to mention, their own pvp, story, and every area has different channels. Not sure if having multipule channels would cost more or less for upkeep.
Bungie's Halo: Reach $200 mill in 1 DAY would cover Blizzard's supposedly upkeep of 258 million for 5+ years. I know what you are saying but serously, people are totally misled on what stuff really costs. Sure it takes money to upkeep a mmo but not to the extent mmo developers are telling the public. I worked in the computer operations for 20 years and i say that qualifies me of having better understanding on what really goes on.
All the games you listed don't require much of an upkeep.
MMOs have a longer upkeep list.
Server costs.
Constant development costs.
Constant customer service costs.
Just to name a few.
I think Blizzard spends around 50 million a year on upkeep just for WoW. Although, they make more than a billion a year. They could actually cover costs just by charging a dollar a month.
So they could get by with a much cheaper monthly cost, but then they couldn't fill their swimming pools with cash.
But couldn't they actually cover that dollar with what they get from selling boxes and expansions?
Guildwars did pull in a lot of money and GW2 might change things forever if it becomes big enough.
Monthly fees are a rest from the time of Meridian and UO, when bandwidth cost a lot. Now you can actually run a MMO without them even if that might mean worse customer service and that the CEO wont get a private jet.
Of course as long as everyone else takes monthly fees everyone will, why kill the goose that lays golden eggs?
But I think B2P will be the winner in the long run.
There's only one reason for a monthly fee and that's greed, but what do you expect? Most companies aren't making games for your enjoyment, they're making them because they sell. I'm pretty sure Guild Wars already proved that you don't need a monthly fee or a cash shop to make a ton of money.
All the games you listed don't require much of an upkeep.
MMOs have a longer upkeep list.
Server costs.
Constant development costs.
Constant customer service costs.
Just to name a few.
I think Blizzard spends around 50 million a year on upkeep just for WoW. Although, they make more than a billion a year. They could actually cover costs just by charging a dollar a month.
So they could get by with a much cheaper monthly cost, but then they couldn't fill their swimming pools with cash.
But couldn't they actually cover that dollar with what they get from selling boxes and expansions?
Guildwars did pull in a lot of money and GW2 might change things forever if it becomes big enough.
Monthly fees are a rest from the time of Meridian and UO, when bandwidth cost a lot. Now you can actually run a MMO without them even if that might mean worse customer service and that the CEO wont get a private jet.
Of course as long as everyone else takes monthly fees everyone will, why kill the goose that lays golden eggs?
But I think B2P will be the winner in the long run.
Bandwidth costs have gone down, but at the same time development costs have skyrocketet, extreme example TOR with $150 million. GW1 had $16 million I think it was. Do the math.
If everyone would suddenly refuse to p2p, investors would see MMO business way more risky than it already is. You could kiss goodbye to new studios trying to enter the market (they wouldn't get loans so easily). Only few companies would have the financial backing to develop a new MMO. Less choices for everyone.
How incredibly selfish and naive of you OP. How terrible it is that game companies are a business and business is built around making more money. Do you have any idea of how expensive it is to develop and release AAA MMO's? Do you think box sales alone could fund future development for these huge projects? Would you rather developers release polished games then stop developing content for it? I think monthly subs are perfectly reasonable. Item malls... it really depends. If there's nothing in the store that is game-changing I really have no problem with that either.
I challenge you to find me another activity that you can do for an entire month that will only cost you 50 cents a day.
1. Starcraft 2 - 1.5 mill units iin 48 hours and it looks like it may hit close to 4 million by the end of the year. Blizzard was surving just fine on their game sales before WoW was even thought of.
2. Halo: Reach - $200 million in 24 hours. Last time I checked Bungie has not filed for bankrupcy yet...
3. Borderlands - Sells 3 million as of Feb 2010 and still selling. Gearbox not filing for bankrupcy either anytime soon.
4. Mass Effect 2 - Sells 2 million units in a week. Bioware lasting 15 years with no monthly fees,item malls or cash shops.
5. Modern Warfare 2 - 12 million units and last I checked Activision is still surviving, barely...
All these great games outselling just about any AAA mmo on the market today and the developers last I checked the companies above are still making great games. The point here is that if you make a quality game it sells itself. No need for monthly fees, item malls or gimmicks to be successful. The only way to be successful is hard work, dedication and make quality games. Sadly most mmo developers do not even follow any of those standards. Perhaps we all should take a real hard look if monthly fees, cash shops and item malls are really needed for mmo to be successful.
I take your Mass Effect and Borderlands and i raise you Fantasy Westward journey at 400 million and Perfect World at 300 million in 2009.My points is average cash shop MMO that turns into a hit East like those game make a silly amount of money in a year.
Plus i am going do some math for you
At max AoC had 800,000 subs if you times that by the box price you get 39,992,000 ,plus if you times that number by 14.99 you get 11,992,000.So if AoC cost 50 million dollars to make with in the first two months they mad back their money because almost every month AoC bring 11,992,000.So from that point on once they made back their money all they had do is make sure running the server, paying the workers,and ads does not cost more that 11 million and they are making a profit.
Every month EvE online at 300,000 sub makes around 4,497,000. So when mass effect has stop making money which it has for most part except for those little DLC content.EVE chugs along collecting ther 4 million then you consider that eve didn't start at that amount and learn to run eve when it less money coming in.
Even if my math is wrong you should get the point.Call of Duty and Boderlands is drooling at money mmo make trust these games would jump at chance to charge 14.99 a month.If Borderlands was smart their next game would be a MMO like "GW1 and Global Agenda".
Guys....seriously....it's just an analogy. Yes, it's true that some MMOs probably could still make many money without subscription fees but then again...if starcraft II, mass effect and HALO costed like 10 bucks the companies would still make a ton of money and probably still wiping their ***** with dollars.
Originally posted by jusomdude All the games you listed don't require much of an upkeep. MMOs have a longer upkeep list. Server costs. Constant development costs. Constant customer service costs. Just to name a few. I think Blizzard spends around 50 million a year on upkeep just for WoW.
50 million a year for WoW ? Please tell us in detail how that happens ? Yes I agree mmos do cost money but there is a huge misconception that mmos cost mega million bucks to run. Also there is very little that serperates from a mmo and a non mmo. MMOs have larger land masses and persistant worlds but that doesn't mean they cost a ton more of money to make.
That is $200 million since launch and it is closing in on 7 years soon. Less typing and more comprehending what you read. Blizzard made over $258 million with just retail sales alone and according to the link that number should be even higher because when WoW was released the game was $50.00. If you think WoW could not survive on downloadable content rather than subscription fees then you need to read more than I do. http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/07/30/npd-world-of-warcraft-has-sold-8-6-million-boxes-at-retail/
That linked article was written in 2008. In 4 years WoW's upkeep costs were over 200Million.
You clearly cannot understand this.
That's fine.
When you learn to read and digest that which you are reading, we may speak again.
Why do people constantly seem to think that they have some kind of "right" to a game? Companies make games for one reason: to make money. More specifically, to make as much money as the market will bear. You don't like it? Go play Farmville, because that's the kind of garbage you'll be left with.
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
1. Starcraft 2 - 1.5 mill units iin 48 hours and it looks like it may hit close to 4 million by the end of the year. Blizzard was surving just fine on their game sales before WoW was even thought of.
2. Halo: Reach - $200 million in 24 hours. Last time I checked Bungie has not filed for bankrupcy yet...
3. Borderlands - Sells 3 million as of Feb 2010 and still selling. Gearbox not filing for bankrupcy either anytime soon.
4. Mass Effect 2 - Sells 2 million units in a week. Bioware lasting 15 years with no monthly fees,item malls or cash shops.
5. Modern Warfare 2 - 12 million units and last I checked Activision is still surviving, barely...
All these great games outselling just about any AAA mmo on the market today and the developers last I checked the companies above are still making great games. The point here is that if you make a quality game it sells itself. No need for monthly fees, item malls or gimmicks to be successful. The only way to be successful is hard work, dedication and make quality games. Sadly most mmo developers do not even follow any of those standards. Perhaps we all should take a real hard look if monthly fees, cash shops and item malls are really needed for mmo to be successful.
You really need to stop making these flawed comparissons. Those games are genres that are significantly more popular than MMORPGs. The most important difference is that they don't have the upkeep that MMORPGs have, thats why they don't have to charge a fee.
I agree.Studios earning a lot of money and they just go to overkill their pockets.
If some people have questions how to maintain servers etc then le t me ask u a question.How Gw2 will manage to maintain their servers with out monthly fees and is the best game to come next year?
So just admit it that all people who pay for monthly sumbscriptions are victims.
Anyway ok WOW is an exception no other MMO that is any godo has clsoe to the amonut of Subscribers that WOW has.
So maybe blizzard have made enough cash from WOW already to keep it running for a good few years btu they stil need the extra income for develtopnig new games... I would have thought without WoW we would not have seen SC2 or Diablo 2....
As for other MMOs well they have a lot less subs and spend probally around the same on keeping servers running and paying people. Programmers/Level Designers/scripters/technical support/customer support/acconut support/managers/advertising.. the list goes on forever...
Let me think here where i work ni a small company, 4 main servers maybe 80 desktops.
There is me and my I.T. manager between us wages are probalyl around the 100k mark for the year.
Maint costs on the servers plus 24 hour support from external companies for all out I.T. stuff prob works out about 80k.
Backup and disaster recovery another 30k a year inc suepr fast availability and all that crap..
Anyway you guys get the point that just for supporting 80 users running office apps... Now imagine running multiple servers 1000s of people all around the world... its not a cheap thing to do..
So if an MMO had say 2000 active subs of $15 a month that would be $30000 a month. $360k a year... Thats probalyl not enough to cover wages after tax so they would need a lot more..
As for GW2 if its anything like the origional the instances will have max of 6 people in them, thats nothing ... you could rent a dedi game server that could handle that for $5 a month.. Unless they have totally changed the way GW2 is played compared to the first then thats why they can afford it. Think of it like joining a server for a FPS game.. just because its all running in a nice 3d engine does not really make it much different from you clicking find game in COD or whatever.
Why does it even matter to you? And why generalize? If you don't think a particular game's worth the price, don't play.
For example, I consider all the F2P games with item malls to be not worth it. So I don't play them. I certainly don't hate them for existing. And other people obviously find them worthwhile, so I'm happy for them. To each their own.
I also consider games like Mass Effect, etc, to be pretty poor value. I love ME and ME2 and can't wait for ME3, but honestly, $70 for 3 days of playtime? Not worth it. I generally wait till I can get it for about $25. But again, others consider them to be worth it, so more power to them.
I consider my $15 monthly sub for EQ2 to be well spent given what i get out of the game. If a totally free game offers me the same experience and service over 6 years as EQ2 has, then i'll be happy to play that free game. But so far, no game has even come close.
Ultimately it's about the product being worth it, not the model they use. Hell, Magic Online is an item mall and it's appropriate for that game (not that it's an mmo).
And theoretically, I'd probably be willing to pay $50 or $100 a month if a game delivered an amazing enough experience. But I don't think that's going to happen any time soon. Anyhow, I'm all for paying for services rendered. Give me good stuff, I'll pay you - both as reward and as incentive to make more of it.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall Currently Playing: ESO
Comments
Yeah......the article was created in 2008 and wow opened in 04, so yes it is relevant when dealing with upkeep costs. According to the article, thats 100mil difference.
We're not with the comapanies accounting department, so we have no idea how much they actually spend on certain parts of the company. Either it be employees, marketing, development, etc.
The bottom line is, there's no point in trying to argue or prove a point that we have no power in changing. If you want to start a movement to have companies stop with monthly fees, good luck. I doubt anybody will go with it because people will pay money to be entertained. No matter what shape or form that person desires and companies know this. This is the reason why they charge money for what they do.
Everyone has opinions, but does that make them the universal truth??? NO!
Ummmm Guild Wars came out with 3 expansions in only 2 1/2 years. Dunno where you've been, but did you forget Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North? I mean technically, Eye of the North was the only expansion, since that was the only game you actually needed the first game to play. The other two were stand alone games, but you can traverse between all of them with any of your characters, if you actually have those 3 games.
All 4 of those games had HUGE worlds and not to mention, their own pvp, story, and every area has different channels. Not sure if having multipule channels would cost more or less for upkeep.
Everyone has opinions, but does that make them the universal truth??? NO!
Bungie's Halo: Reach $200 mill in 1 DAY would cover Blizzard's supposedly upkeep of 258 million for 5+ years. I know what you are saying but serously, people are totally misled on what stuff really costs. Sure it takes money to upkeep a mmo but not to the extent mmo developers are telling the public. I worked in the computer operations for 20 years and i say that qualifies me of having better understanding on what really goes on.
But couldn't they actually cover that dollar with what they get from selling boxes and expansions?
Guildwars did pull in a lot of money and GW2 might change things forever if it becomes big enough.
Monthly fees are a rest from the time of Meridian and UO, when bandwidth cost a lot. Now you can actually run a MMO without them even if that might mean worse customer service and that the CEO wont get a private jet.
Of course as long as everyone else takes monthly fees everyone will, why kill the goose that lays golden eggs?
But I think B2P will be the winner in the long run.
There's only one reason for a monthly fee and that's greed, but what do you expect? Most companies aren't making games for your enjoyment, they're making them because they sell. I'm pretty sure Guild Wars already proved that you don't need a monthly fee or a cash shop to make a ton of money.
Bandwidth costs have gone down, but at the same time development costs have skyrocketet, extreme example TOR with $150 million. GW1 had $16 million I think it was. Do the math.
If everyone would suddenly refuse to p2p, investors would see MMO business way more risky than it already is. You could kiss goodbye to new studios trying to enter the market (they wouldn't get loans so easily). Only few companies would have the financial backing to develop a new MMO. Less choices for everyone.
It's basic 101 economy really.
How incredibly selfish and naive of you OP. How terrible it is that game companies are a business and business is built around making more money. Do you have any idea of how expensive it is to develop and release AAA MMO's? Do you think box sales alone could fund future development for these huge projects? Would you rather developers release polished games then stop developing content for it? I think monthly subs are perfectly reasonable. Item malls... it really depends. If there's nothing in the store that is game-changing I really have no problem with that either.
I challenge you to find me another activity that you can do for an entire month that will only cost you 50 cents a day.
I take your Mass Effect and Borderlands and i raise you Fantasy Westward journey at 400 million and Perfect World at 300 million in 2009.My points is average cash shop MMO that turns into a hit East like those game make a silly amount of money in a year.
Plus i am going do some math for you
At max AoC had 800,000 subs if you times that by the box price you get 39,992,000 ,plus if you times that number by 14.99 you get 11,992,000.So if AoC cost 50 million dollars to make with in the first two months they mad back their money because almost every month AoC bring 11,992,000.So from that point on once they made back their money all they had do is make sure running the server, paying the workers,and ads does not cost more that 11 million and they are making a profit.
Every month EvE online at 300,000 sub makes around 4,497,000. So when mass effect has stop making money which it has for most part except for those little DLC content.EVE chugs along collecting ther 4 million then you consider that eve didn't start at that amount and learn to run eve when it less money coming in.
Even if my math is wrong you should get the point.Call of Duty and Boderlands is drooling at money mmo make trust these games would jump at chance to charge 14.99 a month.If Borderlands was smart their next game would be a MMO like "GW1 and Global Agenda".
Guys....seriously....it's just an analogy. Yes, it's true that some MMOs probably could still make many money without subscription fees but then again...if starcraft II, mass effect and HALO costed like 10 bucks the companies would still make a ton of money and probably still wiping their ***** with dollars.
That linked article was written in 2008. In 4 years WoW's upkeep costs were over 200Million.
You clearly cannot understand this.
That's fine.
When you learn to read and digest that which you are reading, we may speak again.
Alltern8 Blog | Star Wars Space Combat and The Old Republic | Cryptic Studios - A Pre Post-Mortem | Klingon Preview, STO's Monster Play
Why do people constantly seem to think that they have some kind of "right" to a game? Companies make games for one reason: to make money. More specifically, to make as much money as the market will bear. You don't like it? Go play Farmville, because that's the kind of garbage you'll be left with.
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
~Omar Khayyam
You really need to stop making these flawed comparissons. Those games are genres that are significantly more popular than MMORPGs. The most important difference is that they don't have the upkeep that MMORPGs have, thats why they don't have to charge a fee.
Pretty much. MMO's have a lot more to them so costs are higher, in simplistic terms.
Also...4 out of 5 on that list are a product of brand familiarity and loyalty. This can take years to establish.
I agree.Studios earning a lot of money and they just go to overkill their pockets.
If some people have questions how to maintain servers etc then le t me ask u a question.How Gw2 will manage to maintain their servers with out monthly fees and is the best game to come next year?
So just admit it that all people who pay for monthly sumbscriptions are victims.
Cant believe this has so many posts lol..
Anyway ok WOW is an exception no other MMO that is any godo has clsoe to the amonut of Subscribers that WOW has.
So maybe blizzard have made enough cash from WOW already to keep it running for a good few years btu they stil need the extra income for develtopnig new games... I would have thought without WoW we would not have seen SC2 or Diablo 2....
As for other MMOs well they have a lot less subs and spend probally around the same on keeping servers running and paying people. Programmers/Level Designers/scripters/technical support/customer support/acconut support/managers/advertising.. the list goes on forever...
Let me think here where i work ni a small company, 4 main servers maybe 80 desktops.
There is me and my I.T. manager between us wages are probalyl around the 100k mark for the year.
Maint costs on the servers plus 24 hour support from external companies for all out I.T. stuff prob works out about 80k.
Backup and disaster recovery another 30k a year inc suepr fast availability and all that crap..
Anyway you guys get the point that just for supporting 80 users running office apps... Now imagine running multiple servers 1000s of people all around the world... its not a cheap thing to do..
So if an MMO had say 2000 active subs of $15 a month that would be $30000 a month. $360k a year... Thats probalyl not enough to cover wages after tax so they would need a lot more..
As for GW2 if its anything like the origional the instances will have max of 6 people in them, thats nothing ... you could rent a dedi game server that could handle that for $5 a month.. Unless they have totally changed the way GW2 is played compared to the first then thats why they can afford it. Think of it like joining a server for a FPS game.. just because its all running in a nice 3d engine does not really make it much different from you clicking find game in COD or whatever.
Why does it even matter to you? And why generalize? If you don't think a particular game's worth the price, don't play.
For example, I consider all the F2P games with item malls to be not worth it. So I don't play them. I certainly don't hate them for existing. And other people obviously find them worthwhile, so I'm happy for them. To each their own.
I also consider games like Mass Effect, etc, to be pretty poor value. I love ME and ME2 and can't wait for ME3, but honestly, $70 for 3 days of playtime? Not worth it. I generally wait till I can get it for about $25. But again, others consider them to be worth it, so more power to them.
I consider my $15 monthly sub for EQ2 to be well spent given what i get out of the game. If a totally free game offers me the same experience and service over 6 years as EQ2 has, then i'll be happy to play that free game. But so far, no game has even come close.
Ultimately it's about the product being worth it, not the model they use. Hell, Magic Online is an item mall and it's appropriate for that game (not that it's an mmo).
And theoretically, I'd probably be willing to pay $50 or $100 a month if a game delivered an amazing enough experience. But I don't think that's going to happen any time soon. Anyhow, I'm all for paying for services rendered. Give me good stuff, I'll pay you - both as reward and as incentive to make more of it.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO