If there is one thing that people can't seem to agree on in the world of MMOs, it's how games that are designed to be played forever should fund themselves.
There are plenty of models out there, like subscriptions, micro-transactions, advertisements, but all of them seem to have their different issues. When we spoke to Jeff Strain about his new MMO company, Undead Labs, and his upcoming zombie MMO, we brought this up.
He had some interesting things to say about why paying a monthly or annual subscription fee is the best way to go.
"I'm going to give you my honest opinion about this," he told us. "I think my game will almost certainly involve a subscription fee and the reason is that there's a lot of free to play games out here, and more everyday. The trend that I see that is really distressing to me, both as a game designer and a game player, is all of the different things that are coming in to try to squeeze revenue out of players after they've made the decision to play the game."
"That really bothers me," he continued, "because it's hardcore nickel-and-diming players. The thing that really bugs me about it as a game designer is that I want to be able to sit down and focus everyday on what is the most fun. I don't want to make games that are designed to psycologically hook you or designed to drive you into some kind of online store. I think in order to do this is to just say 'Hey, here's our game and we're either earning your respect and your money every month or we're not. It's as simple as that. Our job is to make the game worth your while."
As some of you mentioned in the comments of our interview with Strain, that sounds great on the PC, PlayStation 3, and even the Wii, where we aren't already paying a fee to get online service. But what about on the Xbox 360?
While Undead Labs hasn't announced what system its zombie MMO will be landing on, it will be on consoles, and Strain says that they'll have to jump that hurdle when (and if) they come to it.
Contest:
12:00 PM on 11.24.2009
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You know it's true.
for gamers like guild wars they could state they will support it for a set time like 5 years or 10 years.
but the past idea of mmo's being played forever is kinda gone, most now have been developed for short time play like a year or so... once the updates catch up players come back after getting bored.
Someone get Nexon to port their games to xbox plz.
its more then just porting, there's all kinds of legal and licensing issues too, just assume it add s up to $10
Exactly my thoughts. How many MMOs have said they will have console versions and then they don't come out? A lot. Why? Because MS and Sony have regulations and profit desires they refuse to make exceptions to.
So this guy is taking a "wait and see" approach to those issues? Wow, that worked out so well before dude! No wait, it didn't.
He better work this out or change development platforms ASAP, in my opinion. Someone needs to be extra blunt with the boss if they want to have a job in a year.
Don't expect true MMO to come to console for a while, and the Keyboard thing is kinda important for an MMO.
If you want to play an MMO just get a PC here's a link to how to build one:
http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Locke/guide-to-pc-building-why-would-we-do-this--152784.phtml
Or you can realize that this zombie MMO is going to suck anyway and walk away from this non-issue.
Personally I love Guild Wars because it is the total anti-thesis of MMOs.
Also, subscription fees pay to keep servers running, GMs working and a revenue stream from which to generate new content. Go to Aeria games and lookat what a crock their model is - since they won't come out and say it $10 is 1030 Aeria points.
Want a "Gunner Gold Pack" for SMT: Imagine Online? That's fifty bucks. Most of it is expendable items, too. One time use. Half the gear you will see in in-game stores will only be purchaseable in Aeria points, not the in-game macca currency.
Its also better than paying microtrasactions on top of fees for Live. Fees should be covering the stuff they withhold and want you to pay for. Its nonsense. They never charged for content in the previous incarnation of Live nor was content withheld for sale.
You guys who complain about monthly fees better check to make sure you're not paying %60 per game plus content on Live. I can play one MMO and it just be the game and the monthly fees and be set for a while. Those desparate to have the latest and greatest achievements plus horse armor and paying out a lot more than I am.
yea, you can you just pay more for not much benefit. and MOST people already own a keyboard, mouse, power supply, case, hard/ optical drives and OS. So for cost reasons it makes more sense to just get what you don't have and slat it together. It much easier now then a few years ago cause the IDE ribbons are gone.
1. screw in MB to case
2. place CPU, ram and cards into MB
3. attach sata cables to HDD
4. install OS
@ yehat
well technically speaking... $15 x 12 = $180 + $60 for the game = $240 for one year of play + XBOX Live $50 + internet ~$40 a month.
The difference is Guild Wars is only tenuously an MMO like Phantasy Star Online and Diablo 2.
However now that I think on it you have a lot of weight to your argument. Since private MMO servers work completely off of donations, they cost nothing to the players, it does start to raise the question on monthly fees.
Perhaps the ability is there to make a no subscription fee MMO but since everyone is so used to paying for subscriptions no company really has a desire to break the "tradition".
I think Ryzom is the same as well. Excellent comment BTW.
I understand your frustration at having to pay 60 bucks for the actual game considering you have to pay 15 bucks a month to continue playing it. The fact is that the game developer has to recoup the production cost of actually making the game. The monthly fees pay for updated content, customer service, server maintenance, plus profits of course. In WoW's case, they've drastically reduced the price of their original client and previous expansions. But yeah, if a new MMO sucks it's a bummer having shelled out the 60 bucks for only 1 month of playtime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyeemtS1jII
You probably won't believe this, but the extra cost of buying a computer is to make up for not doing it yourself. Some people don't want to build a computer or simply just can't.
Oh well, hopefully somebody'll finally get a free2play MMO on the PS3!