The Daily Grind: Is $15 a good fee for your MMO subscription?
by Michael Zenke 
Nov 21st 2008 at 8:00AM
Filed under: Business models, The Daily Grind
Most of the AAA MMOs we play right now charge about the same price: $14.99 a month. Some titles offer discounts for multiple months purchased in advance, and Turbine offers a unique offering in their lifetime subscription to Lord of the Rings Online. Most MMO gamers, though, are paying that $15 fee every month for the game or games of their choice. Our question this morning is simple: is that a good value for your game?Now, obviously nobody would turn down something for free. The microtransactional business model has made big inroads into the US by allowing players the opportunity to hop online with their friends without an up-front cost. Blizzard recently announced they have no intention of changing their pricing any time soon, and seems to think that they offer a great deal for the cost. Most AAA developers don't look like they'll be moving away from monthly fees any time soon. Do you agree that's a fair value? Or, alternatively, do you wish that every game offered a free-to-pay model? Let us know.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
david said on 8:31AM 11-21-2008
That is the main reason why I am not playing any MMO right now. The main thing is, I have a life and if I am not able to get on the game, I would be wasting $15 a month. The other thing is, $15 a month is a ripoff. I honestly think games should cost $5 a month. I am talking about WoW... Why is that game still $15 a month and they have 11 million subscriptions, they need to drop the price down to $5 a month, or hell even $10 a month would work...
Just my 2 cents.
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JP said on 9:50AM 11-21-2008
That doesn't make any sense to me. WoW has a good thing. Lowering the price would only cut their profits over time. From a consumer POV, sure it'd be great. But, from a business view it's not smart. What if the subs drop? Do they say "oh, we're raising the price again? Things didn’t work how we’d hoped". That wouldn't fly. People would be in an outrage.
Arguing that it would draw new players b/c it's cheaper is iffy at best. This is WoW we're talking about. There's not many people out there that haven't heard of the game that would play. So, lowering the price to draw new players is a risk they aren’t willing to (and don’t have to. They get lots of people happily handing them $15 a month) take.
And lowering the price for other titles would be disastrous for profits, and just isn't viable.
Further if WoW lowered it’s price the MMOG genre would suffer. To stay competitive, others would have to drop their prices, or close the game. Therefore creating a limited amount of publishers wanting to fund development for new games, and forcing players to choose between only a few.
So, ya, $15 a month isn’t the best thing in the world, but it’s not bad, and I’m happy to pay it.
FYI – I don’t play WoW. I play WAR.
david said on 8:34AM 11-21-2008
Also, if the game has a monthly fee, we should get the game for free... We would eventually pay it off paying the monthly subscription.
So either one of these 2 scenarios would work:
1 - Free game but with a monthly fee
2 - Free monthly fee with expensive game
I honestly hate the $15 a month garbage... :-\
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sluissa said on 12:16PM 11-21-2008
This is my biggest gripe. I'm willing to pay EITHER the monthly fee or the up front large cost, but not BOTH. If there is an up front cost, it should be very low and include game time. 20 dollars with a 15 dollar monthly fee would be reasonable for a boxed store game, although there should be no extra fee other than the monthly fee for a game you download.
I don't like microtransactions, but they're still better than the monthly fee thing. At least I can pay and advance at my own rate. If I pay 15 a month and only play a couple of hours a week, I'm getting less for my money than the person that plays 5+ hours a day.
Saryk said on 9:59AM 11-21-2008
This topic usually hits me hard. I pay for three accounts for EQ2. And I have to agree with David. But, I agree that they are a company and profits matter. But when a ship is sinking, why not try to keep it afloat, like dropping the price or coming out with new types of payments for families. I have said this on other forums. If the economic crisis isn’t put down soon, next year you will see a lot of MMO companies fold. If you disagree, think of this. If you are going to save money and get rid of excess bills, what is the first to go?
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MrGrouch said on 10:09AM 11-21-2008
Wow, people don't think much. $14.99 a month is a bargain. For WoW specifically, look at all the content that they have added through FREE patches/updates. Content that is in some cases about what you would get in an expansion in other games (orignal Naxx and recently Isle of Quel'Danas).
Before WoW, I was buying a game a month. That meant $50 to $70 a month, a whole heck of a lot more than $15. And I am willing to bet that people that play other MMOs would say the same thing.
Also, think of it as a hobby. What other hobby only costs you $15 a month? Comics? - if you buy less than six a month maybe. D&D? - A single book will set you back more than $15. TCGs? - No more that four or five booster packs a month for you? Starbucks? - Third latte and your done.
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Mr Angry said on 10:16AM 11-21-2008
Go see a movie, see how much fun that was? That was 2/3rds of a month's subs.....
Seriously people need to just leave this topic alone, before companies realize they could get away with charging more!
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MrGrouch said on 10:41AM 11-21-2008
Your argument has no validity. 2/3rds the price for two hours? $15 would be three hours, so if I spend more than three hours a month on the game, I'm already making it cheaper than the movies.
At least you showed a reason why you don't agree with the $15. Most people just say "It's too much!"
I guess starting off my original comment with 'people dont' think much' was a bit inflamatory. Sorry about that.
Rollins said on 11:05AM 11-21-2008
I think Mr Angry was agreeing with you, MrGrouch...
GRT said on 1:08PM 11-21-2008
LOL. MrGrouchy is SO grouchy he even argues with those who agree with him.
Mr Angry said on 1:11PM 11-21-2008
This is making it hard for me now, as I'm usually the one arguing here, but now when someone is arguing when I agree with them.....well, genius, I wish I had thought of that!
Anon said on 10:26AM 11-21-2008
The last few times I've subscribed to an MMO I've regretted it because I end up only putting in just a few hours for the whole month. Compared to the people who play MMO's like a full-time job I'm really not getting much back for it. I wouldn't mind a pay-by-the-hour plan as long as the rate was reasonable (and not some kind of "$4/hr, so you might as well buy a month" rate).
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Skypp said on 10:41AM 11-21-2008
Charge me the cover at the door, then don't limit me on content is all I ask. I hate Micro-trans because I'm not a teenager and I know 15 bucks a month isn't bad. I just know eventually some corp knucklehead is gonna decide to do both in one game, or add micro-trans to an existing sub modeled game. If the game I'm currently playing ever did that, they'd lose my money quick.
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John said on 11:21AM 11-21-2008
I have no problem with the $15 a month as long as the designers understand that with that price tag...comes responsibility to make the game as close to perfect as possible. I would be willing to put up with more problems in a game for $5. A movie here in NYC costs me close to $15 to see...that's for less than 2 hours and I hardly see movies anymore that are worth that price tag. WoW for example...I play more than 2 hours a month and I usually have a nice time (helps me unwind after work etc..)...so I see the $15 as enough if you have the goods to back it up. Warhammer for $15 a month...ummm...no.
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Nick said on 11:24AM 11-21-2008
As far as entertainment value is concerned... $15/month is awesome. Most people waste more than this each month on other things anyway. As stated before, you can't go see a movie, that's one movie, with friends for that cheap. Incidently, for those of you who play WoW with RL friends, you are saving more money and can spend it on other things (slurpies, car payments, health insurance!, Expansion packs!). AND you can play whenever. I no longer play WoW, but when I did, I got more than my money's worth out of it. IMO, Blizz shouldn't, under any circumstances, drop their pricing. Why would they?! They've created a fine product; it's none of our business how much they're making from it. Huzzah free enterprise economy!!!
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Pachelbel said on 11:24AM 11-21-2008
It does not have to be $15 a month. Wow in Asia is sold at a cost per time played. That's not necessarily cheaper, but as long as they have enough subscriptions with the current system they won't change. A competitor like WAR, or LOTRO could be tempted to gain market share. But then again this is not a very price sensitive market IMHO and no one really wants to kill their cash cow.
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Tom said on 11:30AM 11-21-2008
LotRO offers a pretty good deal, 3 months for basically $30, which id definitely cheaper than WoW. (And it's a better game, too.)
Subscriptions are less of a value for casual players; just as a cable TV subscription isn't as great a deal for someone who watches less TV. I'd prefer WoW and other MMOs offered tiered subs, say:
$15/month -- unlimited play
$10/month -- 30 hours of playing time/month, etc.
Something along those lines... This would offer a better, fairer deal for the way many people play.
Nothing beats the Guild Wars model, however, for casual players. Buy it once, play it as long as you like, with no subscription fee at all.
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GRT said on 1:13PM 11-21-2008
Yeah, I was going to suggest the same thing. $15 for "All you can eat" or $5 or $10 for a finite number of hours.
I don't mind $15/month when a game is new and I'm all psyched up on it and playing it exclusively, but for instance at this time of year when I'm playing an MMO plus Fallout 3 plus Fable 2 plus Gears 2 and suddenly I don't feel like I'm playing the MMO "enough" so I cancel.
If I could cut back to $5 for 10 hours/month, I probably would do that instead.
Andrew White said on 11:39AM 11-21-2008
Personally, I'm okay with $15/mo. I agree with some of the comments above: $10 feels more like the sweet spot to me.
What I feel are overpriced are the games and expansions themselves. That was one of the main things that kept me from getting into MMOs for so long. I play two games with a modicum of regularity: Guild Wars and WoW. Guild Wars is a great game; good, in a different way than WoW. The content is every bit as polished, though. So WHY are the game clients generally cheaper on release than WoW when the game has no subscription fee?
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Havok said on 11:45AM 11-21-2008
I hate Micro-trans. I am perfectly content paying the $15 to play every month on top of the box price if there are regular content updates and friendly, happy, quick tech support. I do NOT enjoy playing a game for "free," but I can't have certain powerful skills or make certain powerful items or play in certain missions because I refuse to be nickle-and-dimed to death. No thanks.
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