Quote:
Originally Posted by Focii
Still up Brad? You drink an "All Nighter" hehe... I'm glad things seems to have calmed down a bit. This is an important topic that concerns the longevity of VG and am gald to see you have the BBB to bring it up.

We seem to be skirting the main point. How to generate the income to keep the game immersive and growing on a regular basis and still be cost effective to both the player and the company.
I've seen alot of posts talking about the next generation of MMO's and is VG "The One" ect. If you look at the 2 big 2nd genration games (EQ2/WOW). They both have a different approach to adding content. But they both charge the same monthly subscription apprx 15/mo. If VG is truly going to be the next generation then it is going to take more manpower and will cost more to produce on an ongoing basis. I would think most gamers are smart enough to realize this and would be willing to pay more per month for the "Next Generation of Game".

So the next topic might be how much is the next generation worth per month? 17, 18, 20, 25/mo? Personally I think 20/mo is very fair for a true next generation MMO. By raising the monthly fee it would allow the hiring of a larger live content team and keep all Mini's and updates free and available to all in between Major Expansions. THe additional revenue monthly would also help reduce the pressure to release major updates before they were complete.

So everyone knows coming in what the expense is. Everyone is gets access to all the content and storyline ect. You get the time to make truly meaningfull full expansions that increase the player base not drive them away.

Sorry this post was so long but I thought the point needed to be brought up. Wether you agree or disagree please don't turn this into a war. After all it is just a dicussion of the that may or may not come to pass.

I think it would take a game like WoW to go first and raise the monthly fee and then the rest would follow. A smaller or newer game with less recognition could be quite a risk.

It is an interesting story, btw, how the whole 9.99 started. I've heard the story several times from old school Origin/EA folk. Back when there was a lot of skepticism in the higher ranks about this grand experiment (e.g. a massively multiplayer game, in this case UO), they were literall sitting around the table debating different pricing models and costs. There was a lot of doubt about the subscription based monthly model, but then paying by the hour games were starting to tank. Eventually someone just called out 9.99 and that's what started it all, and like I said, it's only been upped once really (aside from variations, premium servers, etc.). It was really that arbitrary. Personally I think the market would have gone for $15 or $20 even back then for UO. What would have been the result? Well, certainly more profits, but I also truly believe a bunch of that revenue would have been put back into the games and the entire genre would be a lot further a long now, nearly a decade later.

I'll say this, one day MMOGs and online interactive entertainment in general is going to be as big as movies, with similar budgets. I really think that's what consumers want, or will want shortly. And I can't wait for that day. No, again, not for profit reasons. For me, it's the dream of what kind of incredible immersive and massive world could be made for $100-$200M. I know this for sure, had I that kind of money, I wouldn't hesitate to fund an MMOG with a budget like that. Imagine taking the world of Forgotten Realms and bringing the decades of content, maps, details, lore, etc. that make up that world and bringing it to life as a virtual world. Sheesh, I'd never leave the computer. Man, that would rock. I hope I'm still around doing this when that day comes -- I sure plan to be.


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