Would never pay so much money to play a game, its not a car or a house payment, it's a game! If your house payment is $25 a month please let me know where you five because I'd like to drop my $2500 payment and move there!
Guild wars 2 seems like it's doing fine with no sub and they bring out a lot of new stuff on a frequent basis (at least when I played). I can cope with a sub when its an acceptable amount (maybe $5, no more specially when one has already paid $50 or $60 for the game itself) and $25 sub is way too much to pay for a game. You are absolutely allowed to have your opinion about what your time in worth. Can't argue with personal opinion.
In a way it is quite funny the enormous amount of greed direction the major publishers are heading and people are eating it like it's candy (although I believe some people are willing to pay higher subs I also suspect some people are just saying that on foruns and the gaming scene on behalf of "someone" to scout the market), we've got to a point where we pay for the games + sub + if we want to sell it/ loan it/ give it away to a friend you can't bought you bought a licence I think its ridiculous and that paying more will only get stockholders more profits it will not reflect the quality and quantity of the gaming experience. By this reasoning one should never purchase anything but the most basic model of any item. Following the logic trail it would be equivalent to saying that paying more for a luxury car does not result in a luxury car experience because paying more for the car would just line the car companies stock holders pockets.
Someone mentioned what they pay for cable as an example around $140, well I can watch a movie with my girlfriend, a show with the kids, some sports with my mates and for that price will probably get a "gazillion" channels about different subjects (don't want to get in to the quality of what they broadcast it may be somewhat relevant but goes a bit out of the scope of the discussion). With a game only I will play it (if the girlfriend wants to play she'll have to have her own acc + the kids + the mates). To say "oh its only 10cents an hour" is oversimplifying the core of the subject. On top of that to play the game you have to have internet so you would also have to add that to the final price. Of course by that reasoning you could get two subscriptions for yourself to share for $50... but let's not get in the way of a good rant.
I think companies should worry more about delivering finished, polished, ready to use products (when I buy any faulty product I can return it or get a new working one) than to try to milk us, they are not a dying industry, far, far from it according to revenue numbers....
Just my 2 cents
And you are absolutely welcome to them. There are literally enough F2P games that you can play a new one every day for a year and not run out. I think your market segment is well served. While not for everyone, I think there is a significant portion of the gaming world that WOULD pay a premium subscription for a game that differentiated itself from the pack and delivered a premium gaming experience. When I made the poll I expected maybe 20-25% of the respondants would be willing to pay a premium. It looks like the response so far is more than DOUBLE that, so I am quite encouraged!
See responses above.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
For the period of about a year before the NGE was released for SWG, I was paying $45/month for three paid account. For two years before that I was paying for two accounts the whole time. You could only have one character per account, and I wanted to do different things. I paid the amount happily and enjoyed the game to the fullest. I'd pay that much for a premium MMO today, if I felt it was worth it.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
I wouldn't, but not because of the cost, but because I don't think it could be done. Where I think the overwhelming majority of MMOs fall down isn't the programming, it isn't the game itself, it's the people playing the game. I'd certainly pay more for an entirely better class of people playing the game, but since that's not within the control of the developers, there's no point in paying them more for something they cannot reasonably deliver.
Hell yeah cause I would I'm from that long forgotten Era of paid Mo's,where once in the shadows of the net whispers were abound of a game that was what they called F2P,many of my guild mates scoffed at this how could this be how could they fund such a venture nay this would be a fad but a trip into folly.
Fast forward to 2013 now it's completely flipped now many of the internet are aghast that you actually pay a sub,and get full content and nearly die of shock when you actually buy the game as well.
Maybe this hearty few ESO,Wildstar,FFARR these brave MO's will suprise the non believers and maybe they won't be seen as in the days of the Salem witch hunts the spawn of satan and only fit to be burned at the stake !!
Behold these are the games I subbed to a devilish mix of sodomy and devilish defilement.
Dark and Light,Horizons,Runescape,Vanguard,LOTRO,AC2,Eve,Fallen Earth.
Originally posted by Vorch I could do so much more with 15 bucks a month in 2013.
Please do share because I am at a loss for what I could spend less than 10 cents an hour on entertainment. Heck my cable bill is $144 a month and we watch maybe 80-100 hours a month on it.
25$ is not much to me, BUT..... lets be more realistic and put it this way...
I can pay 300$ a year for one mmorpg, and hope that it will keep me entertained and not become repetitive in that time.
Or I can keep buying single player games whole year (AAA's and cheap indies, used and new) until I reach 300$ limit and so far it has been 100% successful in keeping me entertained whole year and there was zero repetiveness. As a matter of fact, some single players with great story can keep you busy for months, so you would pay much less a year in some cases.
I pick in this case the second option. Unless you are addicted to mmo, second should be more reasonable. Have in mind that increasing price for a game by lets say 100% doesn't mean an increase in quality by 100%, the number would be much, much smaller.
I have a hard time understanding how anyone who is serious enough about gaming to come to this site and post a response, can't be bothered to pay a few more bucks to get a better experience. The whole premise of the question is that you in fact get something worth the extra bucks, so all the arguments that we're not getting that are totally non-responsive.
But back to the point: if you can't afford to pay the premium, maybe you should mow a few extra lawns next week and try to save up a few bucks?
Men do not stop playing because they grow old. They grow old because they stop playing. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
I wouldn't pay twenty cents a month to play a game I have already purchased. Absolutely despise the subscription model. If non-MMO games can live for YEARS with only forcing players to pay a flat purchase fee, then there is no excuse for MMO's to not be able to do the same. Subscription fees are nothing but robbery. All the fees that you should have to pay are the purchase cost of the game and $15-$20 for any expansion packs that you decide that you want to play.
Originally posted by Hei_Atzfel I wouldn't pay twenty cents a month to play a game I have already purchased. Absolutely despise the subscription model. If non-MMO games can live for YEARS with only forcing players to pay a flat purchase fee, then there is no excuse for MMO's to not be able to do the same. Subscription fees are nothing but robbery. All the fees that you should have to pay are the purchase cost of the game and $15-$20 for any expansion packs that you decide that you want to play.
Who are you to say that just because a company CAN charge a lower price that they have to? It's not theft to charge something that people are willing to pay. Video games (including MMO's) offer far more entertain per dollar than other traditional ways to spend your time.
Originally posted by Hei_Atzfel I wouldn't pay twenty cents a month to play a game I have already purchased. Absolutely despise the subscription model. If non-MMO games can live for YEARS with only forcing players to pay a flat purchase fee, then there is no excuse for MMO's to not be able to do the same. Subscription fees are nothing but robbery. All the fees that you should have to pay are the purchase cost of the game and $15-$20 for any expansion packs that you decide that you want to play.
Who are you to say that just because a company CAN charge a lower price that they have to? It's not theft to charge something that people are willing to pay. Video games (including MMO's) offer far more entertain per dollar than other traditional ways to spend your time.
It's not theft simply because it's a subscription, it's theft because the game could be running just the same and the developers could be making their money back just as well by charging only a one-time fee. What a subscription service essentially does is; you buy the game for a flat rate, but what you're really buying is nothing more than the right to download the software (digital purchase) or just the physical medium in which the game is stored (disk purchase). Because when you actually want to play the game, you're forced to buy the RIGHTS to do so once a month, even though you already purchased it. In essence, a subscription fee is basically the developers saying; "Hey you just bought our game for sixty bucks! Well guess what, now you're going to have to give us more money just to play the game you already purchased!" It's arrogant in a way, and the willingness of people to support this business model disgusts me.
Originally posted by Hei_Atzfel I wouldn't pay twenty cents a month to play a game I have already purchased. Absolutely despise the subscription model. If non-MMO games can live for YEARS with only forcing players to pay a flat purchase fee, then there is no excuse for MMO's to not be able to do the same. Subscription fees are nothing but robbery. All the fees that you should have to pay are the purchase cost of the game and $15-$20 for any expansion packs that you decide that you want to play.
Who are you to say that just because a company CAN charge a lower price that they have to? It's not theft to charge something that people are willing to pay. Video games (including MMO's) offer far more entertain per dollar than other traditional ways to spend your time.
It's not theft simply because it's a subscription, it's theft because the game could be running just the same and the developers could be making their money back just as well by charging only a one-time fee. What a subscription service essentially does is; you buy the game for a flat rate, but what you're really buying is nothing more than the right to download the software (digital purchase) or just the physical medium in which the game is stored (disk purchase). Because when you actually want to play the game, you're forced to buy the RIGHTS to do so once a month, even though you already purchased it. In essence, a subscription fee is basically the developers saying; "Hey you just bought our game for sixty bucks! Well guess what, now you're going to have to give us more money just to play the game you already purchased!" It's arrogant in a way, and the willingness of people to support this business model disgusts me.
Yeah so I'll just say again: it's not theft to charge more than you need to. Ever. If the market will pay for it, that's the right price, as long as they're not being dishonest about what they're offering. Who are you to decide what the right price is?
I'll also say again: you get way more entertain per dollar on video games (including MMO's) than other traditional forms of entertainment.
It's not theft simply because it's a subscription, it's theft because the game could be running just the same and the developers could be making their money back just as well by charging only a one-time fee.
prove it.
You obviously have access to financials that we don't. Things like investment in development, how much money they will actually make per sale, the cost to pay for further development, insurance, salaries, cost of actually running the business, other things that insure a business can keep operating.
By all means please share. Because from my assessment I'm surprised any game company even attempts an mmo that's going to cost them upwards of 200 million just based on sales alone.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Let me ask a supplemental question: What if the $20-$25 a month isn't enough for a 'premium' experience? What if the company decided it needed $50 a month to meet its financial goals? Would you still be willing to pay?
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
OP, after reading your replies i got the feeling that this thread shouldn't have been titled with a question, but with something like a "i want people to pay more for premium game+service" statement instead.
You're not really asking people's opinions, you are only allowing "your side" while (purposefully or not i can not judge) "misunderstand" what's written against it.
I was actually going to answer your reply to my post until i saw the futility of doing so in the other replies you've made here.
If you can not accept that a GAME, MMO or otherwise, has to compete with other real-life passtimes, and that a "price per hour" doesn't really apply, than that's your right.
But asking a question and handling an answer you don't like the way you do means i'm out. Sorry i wasted your time, and mine, in an effort you give an honest answer.
Originally posted by Mendel Let me ask a supplemental question: What if the $20-$25 a month isn't enough for a 'premium' experience? What if the company decided it needed $50 a month to meet its financial goals? Would you still be willing to pay?
The game was available on CompuServe for no additional charge. However, CompuServe cost $6 per hour for 300 baud or $12 per hour for 1200 baud access rates
----------------------
Yes but ,game today should be pretty awesome,like those were back in the day.
Something like UO50000
So, did ESO have a successful launch? Yes, yes it did.By Ryan Getchell on April 02, 2014. **On the radar: http://www.cyberpunk.net/ **
OP, after reading your replies i got the feeling that this thread shouldn't have been titled with a question, but with something like a "i want people to pay more for premium game+service" statement instead.
You're not really asking people's opinions, you are only allowing "your side" while (purposefully or not i can not judge) "misunderstand" what's written against it.
I was actually going to answer your reply to my post until i saw the futility of doing so in the other replies you've made here.
If you can not accept that a GAME, MMO or otherwise, has to compete with other real-life passtimes, and that a "price per hour" doesn't really apply, than that's your right.
But asking a question and handling an answer you don't like the way you do means i'm out. Sorry i wasted your time, and mine, in an effort you give an honest answer.
I simply asked IF people would pay a premium sub free to play a premium game. I think perhaps you misread that to mean: Please explain why you do not want to pay a sub without a rebuttal.
As I stated previously. I fully expected that maybe 20-25% of the responses would be supportive. After all right off the bat such a game would eliminate 100% of the people that are looking to just play a game for free. Instead we have more than DOUBLE that as of this post. That is an incredible response as far as I am concerned and I hope some AAA developer somewhere takes note that there IS a demand for such a service and game! They can be F2P game number 278 to release this next year, or they can distinguish themselves by being a higher-tier service and charging a higher-tier fee.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Originally posted by Mendel Let me ask a supplemental question: What if the $20-$25 a month isn't enough for a 'premium' experience? What if the company decided it needed $50 a month to meet its financial goals? Would you still be willing to pay?
Yes.
However, the whole premise of the original post (which has been discussed on this site before) is whether or not, given all the crap and "limitations" of the mmo's that have been released, whether or not you would pay a premium for a game that actually could "deliver".
I think others are taking it to be "would you pay more money" and in their cynical outlook are applying that as "would you pay more money for the same if they 'said' it would be a premium experience".
This is a "pie in the sky" discussion.
And to be honest, I think $50 would probably be more in line with what would be required for a premium game experience.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Before I start let my apologize if someone has already said this, as I didn't have time to read through 7+ pages of replies.
I believe that I and many others would pay much more than 25 a month, hell I would pay 50 a month if the game warranted it.
What I believe a premium mmo experience should be is a massive company that employs 1000 + people ( event managers, gm's etc) To run in game events on every server constantly. They should have the flexibility to shake up the world and make each server unique.
Events in game would be run once only and there would be infinite numbers of them due to the fact that you have 1000+ people constantly creating new experience. (besides seasonal events/ events that have lore that allows them to run multiple times)
Human controlled bosses and mobs would be another thing I would expect out of this company.
Pretty much I would want an experience run by humans because that injects a bit of unpredictability into the game world that makes it feel more alive.
Lot's of people are complaining about the shift to subs for future games.
There is no 'shift to subs' for future games. Major titles have always launched with a subscription model. I'm willing to bet all of these games will eventually switch to f2p model.
Lot's of people are complaining about the shift to subs for future games.
There is no 'shift to subs' for future games. Major titles have always launched with a subscription model. I'm willing to bet all of these games will eventually switch to f2p model.
I am willing to do that bet too, who wouldn't? Because to prove that a game will never go f2p, you will need to live forever so that it is a safe bet.
Originally posted by Hei_Atzfel I wouldn't pay twenty cents a month to play a game I have already purchased. Absolutely despise the subscription model. If non-MMO games can live for YEARS with only forcing players to pay a flat purchase fee, then there is no excuse for MMO's to not be able to do the same. Subscription fees are nothing but robbery. All the fees that you should have to pay are the purchase cost of the game and $15-$20 for any expansion packs that you decide that you want to play.
This response makes no sense at all, you obviously know nothing about real world economics. The game developer that develops a game and sells it for a one-time fee, is DONE, and has no further obligations other than patches if necessary. The MMO company, on the other hand, has huge annual support costs to maintain failsafe data centers, ongoing GM support, and about a bazillion other expenses that continue as long as there are subscribers. There is no comparison to the one shot game developer.
If you can't afford a subscription game, fine, don't play it. Or mow a few more lawns next week so that you can afford it. But don't think for a minute that it's "robbery", that's just silly.
Men do not stop playing because they grow old. They grow old because they stop playing. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Comments
See responses above.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Heck no.
I've never seen a game worth that kind of monthly subscription...or a company able or willing to give the level of service required.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
Hell yeah cause I would I'm from that long forgotten Era of paid Mo's,where once in the shadows of the net whispers were abound of a game that was what they called F2P,many of my guild mates scoffed at this how could this be how could they fund such a venture nay this would be a fad but a trip into folly.
Fast forward to 2013 now it's completely flipped now many of the internet are aghast that you actually pay a sub,and get full content and nearly die of shock when you actually buy the game as well.
Maybe this hearty few ESO,Wildstar,FFARR these brave MO's will suprise the non believers and maybe they won't be seen as in the days of the Salem witch hunts the spawn of satan and only fit to be burned at the stake !!
Behold these are the games I subbed to a devilish mix of sodomy and devilish defilement.
Dark and Light,Horizons,Runescape,Vanguard,LOTRO,AC2,Eve,Fallen Earth.
25$ is not much to me, BUT..... lets be more realistic and put it this way...
I can pay 300$ a year for one mmorpg, and hope that it will keep me entertained and not become repetitive in that time.
Or I can keep buying single player games whole year (AAA's and cheap indies, used and new) until I reach 300$ limit and so far it has been 100% successful in keeping me entertained whole year and there was zero repetiveness. As a matter of fact, some single players with great story can keep you busy for months, so you would pay much less a year in some cases.
I pick in this case the second option. Unless you are addicted to mmo, second should be more reasonable. Have in mind that increasing price for a game by lets say 100% doesn't mean an increase in quality by 100%, the number would be much, much smaller.
I have a hard time understanding how anyone who is serious enough about gaming to come to this site and post a response, can't be bothered to pay a few more bucks to get a better experience. The whole premise of the question is that you in fact get something worth the extra bucks, so all the arguments that we're not getting that are totally non-responsive.
But back to the point: if you can't afford to pay the premium, maybe you should mow a few extra lawns next week and try to save up a few bucks?
Men do not stop playing because they grow old. They grow old because they stop playing. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Who are you to say that just because a company CAN charge a lower price that they have to? It's not theft to charge something that people are willing to pay. Video games (including MMO's) offer far more entertain per dollar than other traditional ways to spend your time.
It's not theft simply because it's a subscription, it's theft because the game could be running just the same and the developers could be making their money back just as well by charging only a one-time fee. What a subscription service essentially does is; you buy the game for a flat rate, but what you're really buying is nothing more than the right to download the software (digital purchase) or just the physical medium in which the game is stored (disk purchase). Because when you actually want to play the game, you're forced to buy the RIGHTS to do so once a month, even though you already purchased it. In essence, a subscription fee is basically the developers saying; "Hey you just bought our game for sixty bucks! Well guess what, now you're going to have to give us more money just to play the game you already purchased!" It's arrogant in a way, and the willingness of people to support this business model disgusts me.
Yeah so I'll just say again: it's not theft to charge more than you need to. Ever. If the market will pay for it, that's the right price, as long as they're not being dishonest about what they're offering. Who are you to decide what the right price is?
I'll also say again: you get way more entertain per dollar on video games (including MMO's) than other traditional forms of entertainment.
prove it.
You obviously have access to financials that we don't. Things like investment in development, how much money they will actually make per sale, the cost to pay for further development, insurance, salaries, cost of actually running the business, other things that insure a business can keep operating.
By all means please share. Because from my assessment I'm surprised any game company even attempts an mmo that's going to cost them upwards of 200 million just based on sales alone.
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
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
OP, after reading your replies i got the feeling that this thread shouldn't have been titled with a question, but with something like a "i want people to pay more for premium game+service" statement instead.
You're not really asking people's opinions, you are only allowing "your side" while (purposefully or not i can not judge) "misunderstand" what's written against it.
I was actually going to answer your reply to my post until i saw the futility of doing so in the other replies you've made here.
If you can not accept that a GAME, MMO or otherwise, has to compete with other real-life passtimes, and that a "price per hour" doesn't really apply, than that's your right.
But asking a question and handling an answer you don't like the way you do means i'm out.
Sorry i wasted your time, and mine, in an effort you give an honest answer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_Kesmai
The game was available on CompuServe for no additional charge. However, CompuServe cost $6 per hour for 300 baud or $12 per hour for 1200 baud access rates
----------------------
Yes but ,game today should be pretty awesome,like those were back in the day.
Something like UO50000
So, did ESO have a successful launch? Yes, yes it did.By Ryan Getchell on April 02, 2014.
**On the radar: http://www.cyberpunk.net/ **
Sorry, can't comment on a hypothetical situation.
Show me the game and then I will decide.
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
I simply asked IF people would pay a premium sub free to play a premium game. I think perhaps you misread that to mean: Please explain why you do not want to pay a sub without a rebuttal.
As I stated previously. I fully expected that maybe 20-25% of the responses would be supportive. After all right off the bat such a game would eliminate 100% of the people that are looking to just play a game for free. Instead we have more than DOUBLE that as of this post. That is an incredible response as far as I am concerned and I hope some AAA developer somewhere takes note that there IS a demand for such a service and game! They can be F2P game number 278 to release this next year, or they can distinguish themselves by being a higher-tier service and charging a higher-tier fee.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Yes.
However, the whole premise of the original post (which has been discussed on this site before) is whether or not, given all the crap and "limitations" of the mmo's that have been released, whether or not you would pay a premium for a game that actually could "deliver".
I think others are taking it to be "would you pay more money" and in their cynical outlook are applying that as "would you pay more money for the same if they 'said' it would be a premium experience".
This is a "pie in the sky" discussion.
And to be honest, I think $50 would probably be more in line with what would be required for a premium game experience.
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
Before I start let my apologize if someone has already said this, as I didn't have time to read through 7+ pages of replies.
I believe that I and many others would pay much more than 25 a month, hell I would pay 50 a month if the game warranted it.
What I believe a premium mmo experience should be is a massive company that employs 1000 + people ( event managers, gm's etc) To run in game events on every server constantly. They should have the flexibility to shake up the world and make each server unique.
Events in game would be run once only and there would be infinite numbers of them due to the fact that you have 1000+ people constantly creating new experience. (besides seasonal events/ events that have lore that allows them to run multiple times)
Human controlled bosses and mobs would be another thing I would expect out of this company.
Pretty much I would want an experience run by humans because that injects a bit of unpredictability into the game world that makes it feel more alive.
Anyways my $.02
Cheers
There is no 'shift to subs' for future games. Major titles have always launched with a subscription model. I'm willing to bet all of these games will eventually switch to f2p model.
I am willing to do that bet too, who wouldn't? Because to prove that a game will never go f2p, you will need to live forever so that it is a safe bet.
This response makes no sense at all, you obviously know nothing about real world economics. The game developer that develops a game and sells it for a one-time fee, is DONE, and has no further obligations other than patches if necessary. The MMO company, on the other hand, has huge annual support costs to maintain failsafe data centers, ongoing GM support, and about a bazillion other expenses that continue as long as there are subscribers. There is no comparison to the one shot game developer.
If you can't afford a subscription game, fine, don't play it. Or mow a few more lawns next week so that you can afford it. But don't think for a minute that it's "robbery", that's just silly.
Men do not stop playing because they grow old. They grow old because they stop playing. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes