The end of subscription based MMOs!?

[tecnowraith]

Another MMO is going free-2-play? This time its Fallen Earth. Is the the end of subscription based MMO's? Well most MMO's are not truly f2p like Age of Conan which looks to be an extended trial rather true f2p. The MMO's I have seen and played to be true f2p are the ones with cash-shops and micro-transaction like Turbine, Allods and a few others. What do you think?

 

[Ebon Shar]

I would rather pay a flat monthly fee and get full access to a game I love than have a skeletal game with micro-transactions. I hate micro-transactions and I pray that's not the future.

 

[Relique du Madde]

I would rather pay a flat monthly fee and get full access to a game I love than have a skeletal game with micro-transactions. I hate micro-transactions and I pray that's not the future.

QFT.

Micro transitions suck. Champions does it and I hate the fact that if you want to play for free with all the benifits of a pay account essentially have to shell out multiple months worth of cash to unlock many of those option, and even then your character would still be severely gimped.

 

[Kzach]

I would rather pay a flat monthly fee and get full access to a game I love than have a skeletal game with micro-transactions. I hate micro-transactions and I pray that's not the future.

Me too. As long as the content keeps coming. I think Blizzard do a good job of always producing new content even if I no longer enjoy the game (WoW) itself.

Then there's the other side of the equation with things like Champions Online. I don't know what it's like now but when it was subscription-based, the content was almost non-existent.

Anyway, the market will support whatever the market will support. Personally I don't think micro-transactions will be successful unless the level of content provided for free is enough of an incentive to play without the requirement of buying things through the e-stores. When e-store content becomes a requirement, then it's no longer a F2P game. That line is a very fine one to balance on and I think a lot of companies will either give too much or too little and that the concept of micro-transactions as the primary means of generating income from a game will become a thing of the past (not saying micro-transactions will vanish, but rather that they will become just one component of a multi-faceted approach).

 

[Relique du Madde]

Then there's the other side of the equation with things like Champions Online. I don't know what it's like now but when it was subscription-based, the content was almost non-existent.

From what I heard, much of the new content consists of "Adventure Packs" which you buy (I'm not sure if paid subscriptions automatically get access to all of them) and much of it content consists of skins, new powers, etc that you also buy. Subscribers get some but not all of the new skins and outfits. Unfortunately the adventure packs only seem to be targeted to high leveled characters. :/

 

[Sombalance]

I recall seeing a study a few years ago comparing monthly subscriptions to pay as you go models (ie microtransactions for perks). In a straight up comparison micro transactions could generate more revenue for a company. I'm not surprised to see many more mmos going to it.

I'd rather see a game go pay for perks than to close down. I hesitated to try fallen earth because I doubted it had enough of a following with a subscription based model, but with a pay for perks model it might be worth giving it a chance.

What is really bad is the games that have both a subscription and a pay for perks systems (ie Star Trek Online).

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

From what I heard, much of the new content consists of "Adventure Packs" which you buy (I'm not sure if paid subscriptions automatically get access to all of them) and much of it content consists of skins, new powers, etc that you also buy. Subscribers get some but not all of the new skins and outfits. Unfortunately the adventure packs only seem to be targeted to high leveled characters. :/

Champions Online is now starting its first comic book series, and anyone can play them, Silver (F2P) and Gold (subscription) members without any cost.

These comic books mimics something Cryptic has introduced in Startrek Online (that is not Free to Play _yet_). The Featured Episodes there have one contained story-line over 5 missions that are released weekly.

We'll see how this works out for them.

I know that it will be very difficult to convince me to try a new game without free to play. I would not be surprised if overall, the pay-as-you-go might be more costly for me than traditional subscriptions, but I don't care - it's convenience, it is easy to get into it and it is easy to get out. That's worth something to me.

I am not going out to say that I like to pay for costumes and ships and what-you-have, but I think it will work fine enough.

The biggest advantage is really - it costs you _nothing_ to try out a F2P game. Even the biggest hater of item shops will have trouble ignoring all the new F2P games, and sooner or later, they will adapt. And if they don't - no harm done. There are enough people that will only start playing any game if the entry fee is zero that would never habe come a customer before. And at some point, they _will_ spend money in the game store.

 

[Umbran]

I don't expect the end of subscriptions is near. The market's got space for more than one business model. The different pay structures fit different customers, so I think you'll see a mix for the foreseeable future.

 

[Diamond Cross]

DDO uses this kind of system. But at least with DDO once you've down loaded all of the content it has to offer you don't really have to worry about paying for anything else ever again, unless you want some of the specials in its store. So I have no problem with this and actually think it's superior to a flat monthly fee and would rather go this route. I hate monthly fees because sometimes if you can't afford to pay then that means you can't play your game for another month, or even more if you're going through some financial difficulties of some sort.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I don't expect the end of subscriptions is near. The market's got space for more than one business model. The different pay structures fit different customers, so I think you'll see a mix for the foreseeable future.

Yes, I think the mix ultimately works well. You can attract casual players and hook them up - they will either spend money in the store, or get a subscription, possibly both.