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| | #391 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 3,003
| That is a important point I should of made. I can easily afford the pricing. That is not the point. Online gaming as it is right now is a very cost effective hobby and source of entertainment. You better believe that folks will fight tooth and nail to keep it that way. We are not "sensitive" because we can't afford it, we just don't want sitting on our ass clicking away at the keyboard to become something that flushes hundreds of dollars away. Keep in mind many of us have multiple accounts. My entire family enjoys MMOing. So $20 a month might not be a big deal... $20 x6 + $5-15 x6 for content updates starts to get a little stupid though. We might as well get back into paint ball instead for that kinda money. Better for us and more fun to boot heh. Last edited by Lost Ranger; 10-06-2009 at 10:23 PM.. |
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| | #392 (permalink) | |||
| BallBreaker Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Behind you with a knife
Posts: 1,243
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Personally, I think the current pricing scheme works best. And players like being thrown a bone now and then with free content updates, even if they are smallish. It shows your appreciation for their continued support, which in turn keeps them subscribing. Everyone wants to stretch a dollar as far as they can.
__________________ If you love something, set it free. If it doesn't come back, hunt it down and kill it. | |||
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| | #393 (permalink) |
| Registered Rex Offender Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Beijing, China
Posts: 1,078
| I want to echo what a few others have already said: until and unless you're bringing something to the table that supersedes the competition in major ways, do not think you can get away with raising prices. You were just soliciting opinions so I'm doing my best not to vent at you, but given all the absolute shit MMO customers have been shoveled over the years, it's pretty damn insulting that a company with no track record would even test the waters on a price hike. To put it another way: several years since the initial announcement of the product, the only manner in which you've hinted at how you will separate your product from the competition is that yours will be more expensive. That augurs ill. |
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| | #394 (permalink) | |
| You just keep thinkin' Butch. That's what you're good at. Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 768
+7 Internets | Quote:
I think you may want to point out the industry standard to your future publisher and lean them in the right direction. Oh yeah and how about a discount for those of us buying more than one account at a time? Let's not make this a discussion about how you can charge us more. Lets figure out ways you can save us a few bucks Last edited by Greyform; 10-06-2009 at 10:32 PM.. | |
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| | #395 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 174
+14 Internets | I think that $15 per month is the max anyone at this point in time is willing to drop down. If you really want to adjust the price point, consider this: $60 for the Uber Edition (felt maps, stupid pets, bubblegum) $45 for the Non Uber Edition $30 "Download/Key" only Edition (for those who quite frankly will not step foot into a video game store, yes I buy all my stuff off steam or wait for the "try it and buy it" fire sale eventuality) On another tangent. I'll play any game that allows for truly viable unarmed (Think TKM) combat in it's system....And/Or customizable mechs. (ala combat arms/mechwarrior) And on a final tangent. Please stay as far away from photorealistic graphics as possible. Create your own world, don't make it so that you need a Powerfucker 10k Octocore proc and 54 gigs of ram to play it. WoW is great because it has pretty much timeless graphics that allow expansions and ignores all kinds of dated looks that other games that strive for photo-realism fall into in 1-2 years. |
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| | #396 (permalink) |
| Registered User | Throwing Option Number Q out there: -$50-$60 for the box ($80-$90 for a CE with figurines, art books, a Munch plushie, etc.), which includes a "completed" game (meaning no bullshit like "Oh, Paladins are in the game...even though we only worked on them for 3 months before release and they're a junkheap."), some kind of map, an instruction booklet that's more than 20 pages long--per language--and a decent jewel case for the CD. No paper sleeve crap; how is that supposed to protect a CD from the rigors of bachelorhood? -$15-per-month recurring fee, with the option to pay more up-front and less over time for other subscription plans ($40 for 3 months, $80 for 6 months, $160 for a year). -12-to-18 month release cycles for major expansion at $30-$40 each (includes major story-arc expansions, new content, possibly new classes/races/advancement options/gameplay elements/etc.). -3-to-4 month release cycles for content packages at $4-$8 each (adds more content for those that have gone through your major stuff already, with tier-equivalent rewards, along with aesthetic/fun bonus gear/titles/whatever). I wouldn't go more than $8, as double-digits in terms of spending money is psychologically displeasing. Also, don't release one if you expect a major expansion to be released within 5 months; it probably won't sell and could just make you look greedy. -Don't jack up the subscription cost if at all avoidable. If it isn't, give at least 1-2 months notice to your players; some may call BS and leave, most either won't care or will appreciate the heads-up and stay subbed. As trite as it sounds, honesty can go a long way. |
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| | #397 (permalink) |
| Lord of the Dance Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 8,797
+166 Internets | First off in this day and age of digital downloads 50 bucks is fucking ludicrous. Prices are supposed to go down, not back up to the 60 dollar price point in the past. Retailers bah blah blah shelf space blah blah blah. This is like when CD's replaced Cassette tapes and they went from 9 bucks to 16 bucks. Secondly, 20 bucks a month? What the fuck. My gamefly account is 20 bucks a month and I can play as many games as I can think of. What are you going to offer for 20 bucks a month? A new dungeon every 3 months maybe? Remember, we aren't paying a subscription fee because you're gracing us with a couple gigs of database space and some tech support. Google gives me that much and for free. Hell, team fortress, left for dead and so on and so forth. The 15 bucks a month we're paying -is- for content updates. If you want to nickel and dime us for content patches then to ~also~ charge a subscription fee is goddamn criminal and you should be ashamed you even thought of it. Here, I'll make it simple for you. You want a license to print money? Make a game that is ridiculously fun to play and give it out for like 10 bucks a month. That right there will be a huge selling point. Where you make the real bank is charging 25 dollars for server transfers, changing our characters appearance, name changing, etc...etc... But 15 bucks a month -and- charging for content updates or 20 bucks a month? I know we're in a recession and you still need cash to pay those hookers doing lines of coke off your dick but I'm trying to find shit to cut from my budget and telling me that I can look forward to paying 20 bucks for having the privilege of not giving a shit about a new questline personally written by R.A. Phoningitinforthelast10yearsatore... Jesus, the balls on this guy. |
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| | #398 (permalink) | |
| OMG, it's Alpha!!!11!one! Join Date: May 2006 Location: West Coast
Posts: 1,033
| Quote:
Simply put, unless you can offer content that is qualitatively or quantitatively markedly better than the market standard (for $15.00/mo with only paying for expansions in most cases), then you can't expect to charge more and not see a backlash from consumers. The "average" mainstream MMO player these days is then going to compare your game and it's offerings directly with WoW, and that's a place most fledgling MMOs don't want to be.
__________________ Casual progression is my obsession. If I'm a pussy for not showing my internets, you're a bigger pussy for not signing them | |
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| | #399 (permalink) | |
| Still in China Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 1,437
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| | #400 (permalink) |
| Shiny Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Calgary
Posts: 1,761
| Yeah, it is something that people seem to care a lot about but I just don't know why. Even at $50/m it would still be astonishingly cheap entertainment per hour in my opinion, presuming it was good entertainment. No matter, the market is what it is and with a $15/m baseline any company needs to be in that area or apparently people will be upset. Having spent several hundred a month on pretty crappy games back in the early days, I just don't get quite so excited about it. Well, that and $15 or $50 is still a small portion of my monthly entertainment budget. Hell, MMOs have saved me a huge amount of money over the years! |
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| | #401 (permalink) | |
| Disco Disco! Good Good! Join Date: May 2006 Location: Italy
Posts: 914
+8 Internets | Quote:
I consider my 13-14€ /month pretty much the limit, because I think a MMO is not worth more than that, in fact I'd consider it worth less, but won't go crazy for a 2-3€ difference. We EU customers are already screwed enough by the change rate and taxes, so we end up paying more than US customers, which also have more "purchasing power" on average and despite the 1:1.47 change rate in our favour (we should pay 10€ top). In this situation, meaning the current disastrous worldwide employment condition, I wouldn't bet a dime on going gold with a higher than standard pricing model. Most people would likely say "fuck you, I'll play some more WoW (or something else), it's also cheaper". I'd list myself into this "most" as a matter of principle. 50€ for a box is also a ton of money (see change rate) for EU customers, I tend to ignore games that costly until I'm 100% sure they are worth the price, but when talking about MMO, 90% of the times, it's wasted money. Offer a free trial right away and make sure to have a godly game. About small cheaper game updates: don't, seriously. Many players won't buy them for whatever reason and people won't thus be able to play together, during EQ2 this made people unsuscribe (people I played with) and never come back. Microtransactions are bad, possibly the worst thing ever to be implemented in this kind of games. Make a kickass game and people will not unsub, fail to do so and you'll be screwed, no matter how many adventure packs you want to sell.
__________________ A dire bugie si va all'inferno, a dire cagate si va affanculo. | |
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| | #402 (permalink) |
| Face the mighty Bison Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,244
+18 Internets | The problem with minipacks of content upgrades like the EQ2 Splitpaw was it's not "necessary" compared to say, Wrath of the Lich King. If I don't buy it I miss out on a dungeon a single dungeon. If I don't buy WotLK, I get to see everyone go to places I cannot go, get more powerful, while I am stuck doing....I don't even know what people do who don't get the expansion. The only one I knew who didn't did that because he was incredibly, incredibly casual and not level 70 yet.
__________________ XBL: Bizazedo |
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| | #403 (permalink) |
| You don't know casual Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Georgia... no not the country.
Posts: 31
| Early on, EA-Mythic talked about breaking the industry pricing standard with WAR. Obviously it would not have worked out for them. Ngruk, If I were you, due diligence in this aspect would require me to contact an ex-dev from Mythic and ask why they didn't follow through with it. Should go without saying, but the with the economy where it is at right now, I wouldn't be talking about this even if I had it planned. Also, this tells me you have your target audience planned out already. So what is it, casual, hardcore, in-between? What is there to lure me away from my current game which is cheaper per month? As a true casual player, I'm not paying more than $15.99, and content updates better be free. Expansions, yeah I'm buying, but not a "content update". I know it may be a matter of semantics, but still. IMO, to be successful in this industry you're going to have to eat into WOW's subscription base. So how is your product going to be better to make me drop my subscription and pay more a month? |
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| | #404 (permalink) |
| J-Cup Idolator Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 64
| While I understand the origin of all the vitriol and angst that your pricing inquiries have raised, I do not sympathize with it. The problem originates with the utter lack of information available about your game and the inevitable assumption on behalf of most contributors to this thread that it will not differ significantly from other products. Some have acknowledged that they would consider paying a higher price for a better product. I think that is the key piece of information that you should take from this discussion. If your product is substantially better than alternatives, many customers will be willing to pay a higher price. All other markets work the same way, there is no reason why this one should operate any differently, unless it suffers disproportionately from an irrational consumer. On topic, I would prefer to pay $ 60.00 up front with a monthly fee of $ 20.00 that includes content updates rather than a lower box price and lower monthly fee with optional micro-transactions for reasons that others have already shared (i.e. the divisive effects of such optional content on social gameplay & the marginal quality of such content). I would like to see larger complete content updates distributed semi-anually and pushed back as needed to ensure completeness than to be tossed quarterly bones. Last edited by maskedmelon; 10-23-2009 at 01:39 PM.. Reason: sig |
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| | #405 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 322
| Imo there are only 3 possible pricing schemes that make sense without creating a (mostly psychological) barrier to entry that will turn a lot of people away. Barriers to entry are bad obviously. 1) 14.95 a month. 15.95 a month might slide if there is a 3 month option that makes it 13.95 or something 2) Lifetime sub for whatever. 250 maybe? 200? This is the only smart (imo) addition to pricing schemes I've seen recently. Hell, WoW is an awesome game and I've only spent like 14 months subbed to it total. Most games I do 3-4 months and move on. 3) something less than $10 (9.95 works) and micro transactions. But do micro transactions in a smart way. Something that appears trivial but can add up quickly.. travian has their micro transactions set up in a very intelligent way imo. 19.95 might fly.. but seriously, is the 5 bucks worth it? Extra players makes the game more fun which means more people stay which means more money and (likely) more new players down the road. Imo WoW was very smart to tear down a lot of barriers to entry as far as leveling grinds, confusion at lvl 1, etc. A new game adding a psychological barrier to entry due to price just seems stupid to me. $5 adventure packs from EQ2 were one of the stupidest ideas regarding pricing ever and EVEN SONY has turned away from the model. $60 box price is also retarded imo. Go for $49.95. or maybe even $39.95. What happens every time a decent game is cut in half on Steam? Sales go up like 1000% or 10,000%. There are quite a few games I own that I was willing to purchase at $40 but wouldn't have bothered if it was $60. |
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