Games with higher maintenance costs have to allow their members to spend as much as they can.
Those with lower entry cost, f2p, have to go more ballistics. Imagine yourself in their shoes: if you have a customer who wants to spend 5 digits in your shop, would you limit them?
What matters is your target audience and how much do you want to make from average member, because your game has to remain fair to them.
I tend to stay away from MMOs that I have to spend +$100 a month to remain in the "fair" group, even if it is cosmetics only. And I spend much more on single player games and other hobbies. I do prefer for that fee to remain a solid $15 per month because more people would remain in the fair group and that would result in a better virtual world to be a part of.
There are 2 ways to handle high maintenance costs: few people paying much or many people paying not so much.
Games that go for the first tend to have a rather limited number of players and more then a few whales jump games every few months so a game like that tend to get in lots of money just after launch while going into the same mode that Vanguard and SWG had the last few years they were running: few players and few updates.
Being too expensive just isn't a good business model for most games and we seen some of them being forced to lowering their fees to survive.
P2P without cashshop and B2P with a limited cashshop that sells cosmetic and convinience items are the the right way to go if you want long term success in the west. More people paying less is safer then depending on a few people paying a lot.
But long and short term fun is even more important, if your game doesn't have both of those it doesn't matter what model you have, it will fade away anyways.
Yeah you worded it much better than I did, that's what I meant.
A fine example in my opinion is ESO. I really like their business model. I think that can be defined as a new standard for MMORPGs.
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"One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men out of touch with their instinctive selves." - Carl Jung
What you are asking has nothing to do with types of game and everything to do with business model. And the question quickly comes down to value.
An easier way to look at it is to ask e.g. is it more expensive to buy a TV or rent one. You can still rent TVs! Short term the answer is: renting is cheaper. Small amount of money for which you have access to the latest and greatest TV.
Most people however pay upfront because - longer term - it works out cheaper.
The cost of buying outright is one factor but another is what would the total rental cost be - not just how much for the TV but how much for the TV, fridge, microwave, bed (yes you can rent beds and furniture) and maybe car and house/apartment/flat and so on. So they may opt to purchase each item, or buy some and rent others, or take out a loan. It varies but - mostly - people opt to buy.
Same deal with games. Some people may play just one game. If so then they may be happy with one rental cost per month. For that is what a sub is - a rental. Especially as the first months rental gives them access to all the content. With each passing month though the content gets more expensive - much like the new TV. Which means that for many there is a tipping point.
Most people however - sweeping statement I know - play more than one game. If all the game they play have a sub it could get very expensive indeed (WoW, FFXIV, optional sub to SWTOR, ESO, LotR etc. etc.) Even though it could be said that the cost of game X is not that much per month the cost of X1 + X2 + X3 + X4 ...... can be very high.
So most - and it is most - buy their games. Some brand new games each year, along with various discounted games and possibly a clutch of Steam sale games.
When it comes to value though.
Well you could consider content.
Does person A who pays a monthly sub have access to more content than person B who buys a single $15 game. In month 1 lets say yes. In month 2 though person B buys a second game. And another in month 3. And another in month 4. At some point though - especially when $15 can buy you e.g. base ESO game - there will be a tipping point. Which is a typical rental situation.
I would say however that at the end of the day its about "enjoyment" not content. Which means it comes down to e.g. do you crave the familiar or get bored and seek to move on?
Unless you're stupid and play MMOs where you NEED to fork over extra cash to stay competitive in PVP or spend crazy money on non-essential costumes, houses and other vanity stuff, on a per/hour played basis MMOs are the cheapest games.
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“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
MMOs can easily be the most expensive genre of gaming for players/customers, but it doesn't have to be & that all depends upon the player(s). There are such a number of high quality totally free MMOs available nowadays as well as buy to play & then the buy to play & subscribe older versions. Then the many hybrid variations in-between those main three standards. I wont participate in the subscriber model anymore just because I don't think any game warrants it. The only one I can think of that is still subscriber only is World of Warcraft & I may be incorrect about that. I think if WoW was initially released today it would be a big hit but not the juggernaut it became years ago. If I play a free to play & it offers a cash shop I don't mind tossing some cash at it if I enjoy the game & I think it's a fair value. The buy to play model doesn't bother me neither, but I usually will wait after those type of MMOs have released to learn if they seem like a game I could enjoy before I buy. Overall, the microtransactions don't bother me at all upon any of the three standards because I don't have to buy. What I don't like &, most times, wont participate in are the "gambling/lottery" transactions. I want to know what I am buying. I think the rampant "gambling" in MMOs should be regulated more for accountability & is lessening the integrity of the genre. MMOs have a process of evolution to their duration, number of players, game mechanics, & timing is everything whether it's to play, buy, &/or subscribe to a game & the game's contents which is subjectively good or not good based upon each player's opinion. What I want is a good entertaining fun game to play, & if I deem that is the case I'll reward that game's company with my money plain & simple one way or another.
It depends on the MMO, apart from that, the card games are.
ah, yeah they are. The online versions are a rip off too...you collect imaginary cards that mean nothing, AND you can't trade them. You literally get 0 dollars back on them. They are pretty much a scam. The real card games you can actually trade, sell and make money off of them if you collect them long enough. But yeah, the online card games like hearthstone and what not are definitely more expensive. Especially cause they banned trading of any kind...stupidest genre of gaming because of how its designed rofl. Like buy real cards not fake ones that will disappear one day when the game shuts down :P
And if you have good real life RNG, you can make at least some money back one day selling the cards lol. Or just collect them and pass them down to your children and then their children etc. Can't do that with the scam of online card games :P
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
It depends on the MMO, apart from that, the card games are.
If you look at games in general (not just video games), yeah TCG's and war games are insanely expensive.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own. -- Herman Melville
Comments
A fine example in my opinion is ESO. I really like their business model. I think that can be defined as a new standard for MMORPGs.
What you are asking has nothing to do with types of game and everything to do with business model. And the question quickly comes down to value.
An easier way to look at it is to ask e.g. is it more expensive to buy a TV or rent one. You can still rent TVs! Short term the answer is: renting is cheaper. Small amount of money for which you have access to the latest and greatest TV.
Most people however pay upfront because - longer term - it works out cheaper.
The cost of buying outright is one factor but another is what would the total rental cost be - not just how much for the TV but how much for the TV, fridge, microwave, bed (yes you can rent beds and furniture) and maybe car and house/apartment/flat and so on. So they may opt to purchase each item, or buy some and rent others, or take out a loan. It varies but - mostly - people opt to buy.
Same deal with games. Some people may play just one game. If so then they may be happy with one rental cost per month. For that is what a sub is - a rental. Especially as the first months rental gives them access to all the content. With each passing month though the content gets more expensive - much like the new TV. Which means that for many there is a tipping point.
Most people however - sweeping statement I know - play more than one game. If all the game they play have a sub it could get very expensive indeed (WoW, FFXIV, optional sub to SWTOR, ESO, LotR etc. etc.) Even though it could be said that the cost of game X is not that much per month the cost of X1 + X2 + X3 + X4 ...... can be very high.
So most - and it is most - buy their games. Some brand new games each year, along with various discounted games and possibly a clutch of Steam sale games.
When it comes to value though.
Well you could consider content.
Does person A who pays a monthly sub have access to more content than person B who buys a single $15 game. In month 1 lets say yes. In month 2 though person B buys a second game. And another in month 3. And another in month 4. At some point though - especially when $15 can buy you e.g. base ESO game - there will be a tipping point. Which is a typical rental situation.
I would say however that at the end of the day its about "enjoyment" not content. Which means it comes down to e.g. do you crave the familiar or get bored and seek to move on?
Unless you're stupid and play MMOs where you NEED to fork over extra cash to stay competitive in PVP or spend crazy money on non-essential costumes, houses and other vanity stuff, on a per/hour played basis MMOs are the cheapest games.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
And if you have good real life RNG, you can make at least some money back one day selling the cards lol. Or just collect them and pass them down to your children and then their children etc. Can't do that with the scam of online card games :P
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
MMOs may be expensive to the whales .. but hey i do not judge. If someone insists to dump $$$ to subsidize my games .. I am not going to say no.