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The Increasing Costs of MMORPG's
Zhanghia
Member UncommonPosts: 1,312
In the beginning, there were no -free- MMORPG's, the earliest was branded Meridian 59, Ultima Online, The Realm Online, or EverQuest. Sure it's not much of a selection and it was a relatively unplayed battlefield thus it was cheap, all you'd need to do it pay the software costs and 10.99 (I think?) a month to enjoy a month's worth of gaming. Nowadays, World of Warcraft and FFXI have established high costs for their services up to a whopping 14.99 (or so, not so sure) that older games feel compelled to take a bite out of that pie by upping their subscription costs as well. Personally, I've felt disgusted that DAoC while a bit old has to take this venue. Yes, it has lower players and the server costs are probably rising by at 6000 players on at one time (from last count) it should be enough to sustain on 12.99 a month.
I don't care if I could mow the lawns for the extra money, the cost is still steadily increasing and that's what the subject is at hand about. Presently, I feel that a new subscription model is needed that if you buy a month's worth of subscription, you actually get a month's worth, not 6 or 8 hours a day depending on your schedule. Yes, I know it can be compared to your cable bill and everything but they lack the equipment to tell if you're actually watching tv or just having the tv turned off.
I'm saying this because it appalls me from wanting to choose DAoC as my new home town for the moment, yes, it's only a few bucks but it's still money earned and it should be money well spent.
Comments
is this in dollars or pounds?
$US, of course, with every rise of the subscription plan, foreign countries have to pay more to convert to the dollars.
I think you'll find there are already new subscription models e.g. SoE's station pass - which is extremely good value of money (as for the games, that's an entirely different subject), GW [Guild Wars], etc. More competition will mean more subscription models.
I compare MMOGs the same way that I value my other outlays i.e. cable bill, mobile phone, drinking (my outlay for socializing is sancrosanct :P), cinema, eating out, etc. I personally feel that the pricing model for MMOGs is spot on. I'm quite suprised how cheap they actually are i.e. I thought they would be around $25 per month.
As others would say, the cost is as much as the market will bear. The real 'hidden' cost is in expansion packs - how many will be released, over what period of time, how much will they cost, will I need them?
Regards,
Riotgirl
"If you think I'm plucky and scrappy and all I need is love, you're in way over your head. I don't have a heart of gold or get nice. There are a lot nicer people coming up. We call them losers."
I know, I'm a veteran of many MMO's. I've played nearly all of them but seeing this model raise the bar higher and higher, it becomes a little overwhelming. At what point will they stop and go, 'I think this is high enough?'. I think if they leave the costs too high, they're only shooting themselves in the foot of potential subscribers when they're not so hot anymore. When they're new and great, they can afford to lose a few from their high prices.. but it's just getting ridiculous now.
The flat rate model - fixed price, unlimited usage - will be the predominant subscription model because it is easy for users to understand and easy for companies to administer. Also, If you are a heavy user, it offers great value for money. Your bone of contention is price for this usage rather than the model. You offered up a model based on determining your usage - but that will drives prices UP! Think how complex it will be to monitor individual usage compared to a flat rate model based upon unlimited usage for a fixed price every month. It's a no brainer both for companies and for consumers.
You have to make a cost judgement on what you get for your money, compared to other forms of entertainment. Also, costs DO rise year upon year due to inflation and wage increases. The MMOG industry is just like any other industry: it will pitch a price that it thinks the market will bear. If the price is too high, either it will lose subscribers or they will look towards the competition.
As I mentioned before, GW is offering a completely new model, as is Roma Victor (although Project Entropia was the first to use the RV model - I think!?).
Regards,
Riotgirl
"If you think I'm plucky and scrappy and all I need is love, you're in way over your head. I don't have a heart of gold or get nice. There are a lot nicer people coming up. We call them losers."
The companies also have to consider how many other games are on the market, in addition to what price point brings the best subscription/profit ratio. Having a ton of new games coming out every year, multiple times per year, offers consumers the option to waveoff on one game that's too expensive, knowing that another one is coming shortly.
And in my younger days, price would be a consideration. But I'm a little older now, and have enough income that I don't have to look at the right-hand-side of the menu, so to speak.
How much do you think the bigger games cost to produce and design?
How much money do you think is spent on PR and advertisments?
How much money do you think is spent on maintaining servers?
Then you get into liscensing agreements and royalties. It costs alot to design an engine or to lease one out.
I would rather pay more for a great game than less for a half assed game. As inflation increases and technology gets better, games will get more expensive.
Compare it all though, how much do you pay for two people to go watch a movie for two hours? If you and your wife go watch two movies a month, thats more than an MMO sub fee.
How much does it cost to go to a football,baseball, or basketball game for one person for four hours?
How much does it cost to go to a concert or rave?
The cost is really low considering the amount of time you use this medium as an entertainment source.
I play games between 4-8 hours a day during the week and every other weekend like 10 hours a day. If I were to pay for another entertainment source listed above for the same amount of time, I would spend much, much, much more.
Even if my alternative was to go out to eat and catch drinks or bar hop with friends, I would spend 6-10x more in one night than I would on a whole month on a MMO.
Even so, when will the bar be halted? I'm not a newbie to MMORPG's, I just feel they need to reconsider their subscription numbers, I know they need to make a profit.. but there's also a limit.. I guess I might stick to DAoC but I'll wait until October when they release their compendium.
Theres talk of it going up another 4$ I don't remember where I read it though. Also to the person who tried to justify these rising subscriptions they are more than paying for those things these subscriptions raises aren't need espessially with that 4$ up was supposidly gonna happen to WoW.
But I've never heard anything about wow raising sub costs, I don't play it anymore.
Although petty, remember that the British pound and the Euro are worth more than the dollar. Yes, I realize that they too have to shell out more when our prices go up. However, I believe you were making the assumption that all other countries exchange rate is lower than ours.
Cartman has a big fat ass!
My take has always been that the initial subscription time should be equal to what you pay for the box. For instance, the monthly fee is $15 and the box is $30 so you should get 2 months of game time with the purchase of the box. In the case of WoW, The fee is $15 and the box is $60 so you should get four months of play time with the box. Most big developement houses won't do that since they know damn good and well that they don't have four months of content in their games. I've only been playing City of Heroes for two months now and I'm already bored with it.
As another person pointed out, companies are churning these things out like cheese sandwiches. What they didn't mention is that there can be only one. Let me explain. With single player games, I can go out and buy every new game that hits the market knowing that I'll probably get around to it eventually. With MMORPGs, you can only play if your subscription is active. As a result, many players will only play one MMORPG at a time. This means that "me too" products are just not going to cut it in MMORPGs the way that they do with single player games. Only one MMORPG can control the largest slice of the market at any given time. Strangely enough, there doesn't seem to be much competition between game designs in this genre as compared to the harsh market that they are made for. You're probably going to see the older games drop in price to stay afloat with the newer games be released with higher and higher pricing.
Another thing that makes this market unique is the longevity of the games themselves. UO and EQ have been around for the better part of a decade and still have subscribers. NONE of the games released this year, or slated for release withing the next two years, seem to have this in consideration. The producers of these games are treating them like single player games. Hyping the hell out of them so that the title will be the next big thing, and then just leaving them to flounder until the next expansion allows them to do the same thing all over again. Part of the reason that these games seem so much worse than a typical MUD is the sheer lovelessness of their creators. The people that made the games love cash more than they love games and the net result are a swath of boring immitators. In that climate, the top dog can only expect to stay on top for a year or two before being replaced by "the next big thing".
More games = more competition = lower prices. I'm also banking that one of these open source MMORPG projects gets off the ground in the next year or two and opens the door to a large number of small, hobbyist run, graphical MUDs that will offer the same thing to consumers for a much lower cost if not free. Once that happens, the prices will probably get lowered back to the $10 level they were originally.
First rule of capitalism: whatever the market will bear.
Therein lies almost all you need to know to understand why prices are the way they are and what you'd need to do to help change their direction.
the reason the prices keep rising is because were stupid enough to keep paying it
But I've never heard anything about wow raising sub costs, I don't play it anymore.
They also charge use about 30$ per expansion.
I blame it on the fact that the market has expanded (more popularity) and inflation. more demand, so more they can get away with in price
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-Anarchyart
All you friggin suburban white kid wannabe poobutts that are in love with G-Unit are sad and pathetic. Find your own identity
The "bar" will never be halted, because of inflation. Every decade the price of most things increase substationally, as does min. wage and the like.
50 years ago people payed about 10% of what we pay now for most things, but also made about 10% of what we make now.
I commented on this subject a few days back in one of the developer forums:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion.cfm/load/forums/loadforum/472/loadthread/50817/setstart/1/loadclass/155
Are prices really increasing in MMOs? For some yes, others no. The original neverwinter Nights on AOL charged by the HOUR. Players paid substantially more than the $10-$15/month that most games charge today. Jessica Mulligan commented that one player ran up roughly $1,000/month in charges. The flat pricing structure has LOWERED the cost for nearly all MMO players.
The price, on average, for those who charge monthly fees has been on the rise. The first of the largely successful MMOs, UO, charge $9.95/month when it launched. $14.95/month is the current pricepoint for AAA titles. There are some other things to consider, however. For one, many games now offer other ways to play such as no fee, but with ingame advertising (AO), or free to play, but with RMT (real-money transactions) to advance. In both those cases the cost to the player has gone down, not up. Also, a number of companies are moving toward MMO bundling -- such as SOE with their station pass -- which gives players a much lower price/MMO than in the past. Even the retail box price that many titles charge upfront is actually FALLING when adjusted for inflation. The retail box price for UO in 1997 was $50. Today the retail box price for WoW is $50. That means that it's actually LESS expensive when you factor inflation.
When you also factor in the rapidly rising cose of making a AAA title and inflation, MMOs at the $15 price point are only marginally more expensive than paying $9.95 for UO back in 1997. Your $9.95 in 1997 dollars is roughly $12.60 in 2005 inflation adjusted figures. I guess you are saying that WoW isn't worth the extra $2.35/month?
Many people complain about the lack of creativity and quality in today's MMOs. Often they are the same people who complain about the "high prices" for MMOs. There is a reason that Ferraris are more expensive than Fords; you get what you pay for.
~PD
www.TheChippedDagger.com My 90-day 2D Java MMORPG project
They that can give up essential liberty for temporary safetey deserve neither. -- Ben Franklin
If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. -- Milton Berle
I'm not saying that.. I mean DAoC is rather old and them turning to a higher cost is unfathomable.. of course everyone has to turn a profit, it's needed to survive.. but eh.. they state their development costs have doubled.. that may be true.. *shrugs* Just jaded I guess.
Flat rate models aren't going to go away. They may get modified (like the SOE All Access Pass) but the primary format will likely remain some kind of flat rate pricing scheme. Because, as someone else said, they're easy to maintain, understand and administer. Pay-as-you-go doesn't work, it adds admin overhead on the company (thus raising prices) and also increases the cost for the users games most want to keep (the powergamer).
So you won't see 'pay as you go' come back. It's been tried (M59) and proven not to work. Because you lose the dedicated players who WANT to stay with a game because it's too expensive for them to stick with it.
Some alternative payment methods are being tried (GW, RV is also planning to try something else). But at least for the foreseable future flat rate gaming is here to stay.
Now: Why are costs going up?
Because: The market supports the increased price. Companies will charge whatever they think they can get for their products. As to why development costs have doubled? Because you gotta PAY the developers. And with the sheer number of MMO's on the market Developers have become a VERY hot commodity. Salaries in the Software, especially MMO, market have been sky-rocketing.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
Or people could just look to the smaller games and companies that don't have to pay the higher fees, only the actual costs for servers...thus they have minimal costs like 5 dollars a month.
*points to Etherea: Dark Gensesis for uncalled for plug*
Lol
Creator of Etherea: Dark Genesis
A Fantasy/Mythical MMORPG in development
Found at www.etherea-dg.com
I think it sucks to pay a monthly fee for a game
the game should be bought once,
and than it's ok,
just like Guild Wars
and the prices are indeed way too high
Nice post, Pinkdaisy. I really enjoyed reading it.
I remember the days before Freeserve (ISP in the UK that introduced a flat pricing structure for usage) where I was playing MUDS and being charged by the minute by my Telco. Even at 0.1p per minute (1 pence), my bill used to run into the HUNDRED + per month - never mind per quarter! The year 2000 was a watershed for me due to the introduction of the flat pricing structure and much more competition.
God bless Freeserve!
** Even if I spent HOURS trying to connect on dial-up due to demand exceeding capacity.
Regards,
Riotgirl
"If you think I'm plucky and scrappy and all I need is love, you're in way over your head. I don't have a heart of gold or get nice. There are a lot nicer people coming up. We call them losers."
Dont ask me where i read it but i did. I read from the companies they raise the prices because they can. They said they are trying to see how much people are willing to pay for a MMO subscription. If you remember the article or read it please put it on a post here so these other people that think the reasons for justifying raised prices are untrue. My second mmo was daoc and it didnt bother me to see them raise the prices except for when they said on their forums that they see people pay the same for wow and ffxi and that they want to make more money too. In more or less words.
I agree i think the bar needs to stop now. On the otherside though i used to buy a new game every two weeks to a month so the price of a mmo plus subscription is alot less then the 50-100 i used to spend a month on games. So im not complaining to much.