The future of MMOs will certainly see many attempts at an FPS/MMO crossover. IMO that is the holy grail of game development. If someone can create a crossover title that plays to both genres, it will be huge. As far as in game ads, this has already begun. Battlefield 2142 already has this in game. I must admit, I was a little concerned, but it was done very well. They are placed on billboards and sides of buildings, pretty much where you would expect them in real life. They also are weathered and torn up so they fit the atmosphere. Its only a matter of time until ads in games are standard. If its done right it does not intrude, but enhances the effect.
Have a look at The Chronicles of Spellborn (menu on your left for forums :P) - it's going into the world of MMO/FPS (they're using the Unreal engine).
Anyway, future MMOs will continue to grow technically and graphically. This is probably out of the question. I'm more curious to see how things are going to work out money-wise.
I have to agree with most people that advertising will probably work its way into games in one form or another. We'll probably see a concurrent shift from pure Fantasy (as more and more of that genre will dilute the market) to more Contemporary Time based MMOs which easily incorporate ads.
As for fees, it's far too early to see a trend. General inflation will probably push the price of MMOs up slowly. However, someone here pointed out correctly that ten years ago we paid for MMOs, and we still pay (and about the same amount, too). I don't think we'll see radical change of this within ten years. Even if ads get incorporated in games, gamers won't reap the benefits, companies will. After all, we want to play a game, we have no choice to put up with ads, and we have no choice but to pay. Of course, this goes for the big names (Everquest X, WoW 13), which people will play regardless. For smaller MMOs, ads might give them a way to get additional funding to drive prices down to get customers. It all depends on their individual price-profit relations; some firms will want more customers rather than a high price, others can afford to set a high price since they will still have lots of customers.
Regardless, I don't foresee a rise in free MMOs. Most free MMOs now have some form of cash-based shop, deftly using people's drive to be better than others to make money (and, according to some, making more than pay-to-play MMOs!). This trend will probably continue, so there will be both cash shops and pay-to-play. In fact, there will probably be mergers between both, although not in the near future after the recent debacle of having a pay-for-items server on a certain game.
Anyway, ten years down the line, I'll probably still be playing MMOs no matter what!
"Kono yo ni aku ga aru to sureba sore wa hito no kokoro da."
although not in the near future after the recent debacle of having a pay-for-items server on a certain game.
Debacle? Is that what you call it? From most analysts viewpoints the station exchange service (as this is what I believe you're talking about) has been an overwhelming success in an MMO with very small market share. Just cause you don't like something doesn't mean that it's a debacle. Contrary to popular belief, the secondary market is alive and well and has many more users and supporters then those who are against it. It's just that those who support it aren't nearly as vocal as those who oppose it.
The words "High quality MMORPG" and "Free to play" do not match, where would you get a regular income frrom?And why not take advantage of the gold mine that is youre playerbase?If the regular income would be from sponsors like coco cola or michael jackson for all i care theyd inflict quite a bit of harm on the game i think.
Games can be free, but if they are they wont be high quality!
Fair enough, point taken. I only know that many people agitated against it :P At any rate, I'm sure that sort of thing will probably happen more and more, slowly, as the resistance against it whittles away. I personally have no problems with it, especially not if there are several separate servers.
"Kono yo ni aku ga aru to sureba sore wa hito no kokoro da."
If we took WoW as our example, then advertisers will clearly be intrested in any medium with an a readersip of 8 million. Especially a medium that can be specifically targeted by region, age intrest etc. Your MMO provider has a lot of data about you available to it. How long you logges in, how many seconds that advert was on your screen...etc etc
An advertising agent would most surely be willing to pay something for this kind of service.
If we continue with the WoW model, we see that eachserver holds 3,000 (ish) people and costs a hundreds if not thousands of dollars a month to run.
Will advertisers be willing to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars per month to reach each group 3,000 people?
I don't think that's even remotely realistic, (I can't see anyone being willing to pay more than 20 quid) so until bandwidth/hardware prices come down, there isn't really any hope of a serious MMO being solely maintained on the revenues of advertising. Or even significantly maintained.
If they can convince the players to both accept advertising and pay subscriptions, they might be in for a little bit extra. A bonus for their christmas party or whatever.
I'm all up for adverts in free games. Or even in trials.
Once I start to pay for a premium subscription, I expect nothing less than a premium service. No adds, tech support/GM's who actually do what they are asked, local servers and minimum possible lag.
Call me unreasonable, but if I get anything less than this for my top dollar, I cancel my subscription (and in some cases cancel my payments too).
What will happen is that mmo's will start offering "lifetime memberships" similar to LOTR but these will be reflective of 1 years play.
so for a regular game your paying $50 bucks, for a mmo youll be playing $149.99.
the reason why is simple. 300,000 x $150 = $45,000,000. Which will cover the cost to make the game and millions left over to support it and start new ones.
you dont need a million players to make alot of money. Doesnt hurt though.
To the op, do you understand that there are gamers out there that wont play a f2p game even if its great? Generally the community in f2p is the most horrid of any and will keep the more mature gamers out. If anyone can tell me of a f2p game that has a great or even decent community i'll be there to check it out and would eagerly say i was wrong in this post.
I would gladly choose a game w/ no ads and a monthly fee over one with ads and no monthly fee. It's the same reason why I pay for movie channels that have no advertisements.
And what makes ads acceptable in a Sci-Fi MMO? Have you played the free version of Anarchy Online? The ads are annoying and make a Piece of Crap game even Crappier. They don't fit with the game world and lore at all.
I would gladly choose a game w/ no ads and a monthly fee over one with ads and no monthly fee. It's the same reason why I pay for movie channels that have no advertisements. And what makes ads acceptable in a Sci-Fi MMO? Have you played the free version of Anarchy Online? The ads are annoying and make a Piece of Crap game even Crappier. They don't fit with the game world and lore at all. Please kill this idea here and now...
I've never played Anarchy Online, so I can't comment on it's game paly or adds. Again, if done right, the advertising will make the world more immersive. If you have the option to choose free-2-play for in game advertising, or montly fee w/o advertising, then why not? I would be interested to see it, and as much as you may or may not dislike it, it's coming sooner than you think.
Comments
Anyway, future MMOs will continue to grow technically and graphically. This is probably out of the question. I'm more curious to see how things are going to work out money-wise.
I have to agree with most people that advertising will probably work its way into games in one form or another. We'll probably see a concurrent shift from pure Fantasy (as more and more of that genre will dilute the market) to more Contemporary Time based MMOs which easily incorporate ads.
As for fees, it's far too early to see a trend. General inflation will probably push the price of MMOs up slowly. However, someone here pointed out correctly that ten years ago we paid for MMOs, and we still pay (and about the same amount, too). I don't think we'll see radical change of this within ten years. Even if ads get incorporated in games, gamers won't reap the benefits, companies will. After all, we want to play a game, we have no choice to put up with ads, and we have no choice but to pay. Of course, this goes for the big names (Everquest X, WoW 13), which people will play regardless. For smaller MMOs, ads might give them a way to get additional funding to drive prices down to get customers. It all depends on their individual price-profit relations; some firms will want more customers rather than a high price, others can afford to set a high price since they will still have lots of customers.
Regardless, I don't foresee a rise in free MMOs. Most free MMOs now have some form of cash-based shop, deftly using people's drive to be better than others to make money (and, according to some, making more than pay-to-play MMOs!). This trend will probably continue, so there will be both cash shops and pay-to-play. In fact, there will probably be mergers between both, although not in the near future after the recent debacle of having a pay-for-items server on a certain game.
Anyway, ten years down the line, I'll probably still be playing MMOs no matter what!
"Kono yo ni aku ga aru to sureba sore wa hito no kokoro da."
Debacle? Is that what you call it? From most analysts viewpoints the station exchange service (as this is what I believe you're talking about) has been an overwhelming success in an MMO with very small market share. Just cause you don't like something doesn't mean that it's a debacle. Contrary to popular belief, the secondary market is alive and well and has many more users and supporters then those who are against it. It's just that those who support it aren't nearly as vocal as those who oppose it.
The words "High quality MMORPG" and "Free to play" do not match, where would you get a regular income frrom?And why not take advantage of the gold mine that is youre playerbase?If the regular income would be from sponsors like coco cola or michael jackson for all i care theyd inflict quite a bit of harm on the game i think.
Games can be free, but if they are they wont be high quality!
"Kono yo ni aku ga aru to sureba sore wa hito no kokoro da."
If we took WoW as our example, then advertisers will clearly be intrested in any medium with an a readersip of 8 million. Especially a medium that can be specifically targeted by region, age intrest etc. Your MMO provider has a lot of data about you available to it. How long you logges in, how many seconds that advert was on your screen...etc etc
An advertising agent would most surely be willing to pay something for this kind of service.
If we continue with the WoW model, we see that eachserver holds 3,000 (ish) people and costs a hundreds if not thousands of dollars a month to run.
Will advertisers be willing to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars per month to reach each group 3,000 people?
I don't think that's even remotely realistic, (I can't see anyone being willing to pay more than 20 quid) so until bandwidth/hardware prices come down, there isn't really any hope of a serious MMO being solely maintained on the revenues of advertising. Or even significantly maintained.
If they can convince the players to both accept advertising and pay subscriptions, they might be in for a little bit extra. A bonus for their christmas party or whatever.
I'm all up for adverts in free games. Or even in trials.
Once I start to pay for a premium subscription, I expect nothing less than a premium service. No adds, tech support/GM's who actually do what they are asked, local servers and minimum possible lag.
Call me unreasonable, but if I get anything less than this for my top dollar, I cancel my subscription (and in some cases cancel my payments too).
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
What will happen is that mmo's will start offering "lifetime memberships" similar to LOTR but these will be reflective of 1 years play.
so for a regular game your paying $50 bucks, for a mmo youll be playing $149.99.
the reason why is simple. 300,000 x $150 = $45,000,000. Which will cover the cost to make the game and millions left over to support it and start new ones.
you dont need a million players to make alot of money. Doesnt hurt though.
i think your right about a si-fi mmo but i doubt it will be free
ill tell you this for free i really want to play an honest to god out and out si-fi mmo thats well thought out even better made
Tin Foil hats dont work.. its all a conspiracy
I would gladly choose a game w/ no ads and a monthly fee over one with ads and no monthly fee. It's the same reason why I pay for movie channels that have no advertisements.
And what makes ads acceptable in a Sci-Fi MMO? Have you played the free version of Anarchy Online? The ads are annoying and make a Piece of Crap game even Crappier. They don't fit with the game world and lore at all.
Please kill this idea here and now...
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Life sucks, buy a helmet.