What is the =maximum= that you'd be willing to pay for a game?

What is the maximum you would spend per month for one Game

  • $15 and under

    Votes: 24 25.3%
  • $16-20

    Votes: 48 50.5%
  • $21-30

    Votes: 12 12.6%
  • $31-40

    Votes: 3 3.2%
  • $41 and over

    Votes: 8 8.4%

  • Total voters
    95
LearsFool said:
Id be willing to pay a little more a month if there was no box and the expansion was just provided as it came out.

I agree with that one,

I would pay prob 20-25 for something like that. Something that had a retail expansion, maybe every 6 months or so, that came out for free.
 
Watching that video from Simucon 2004 (?) I got the very real feeling that Simu wants to pull money from all sorts of areas... I expect a full price box, tiered monthly pricing and full price expansion packs. I get the feeling that no one will ride for free.
 
blur said:
Watching that video from Simucon 2004 (?) I got the very real feeling that Simu wants to pull money from all sorts of areas... I expect a full price box, tiered monthly pricing and full price expansion packs. I get the feeling that no one will ride for free.
Sadly I got the same feeling.

Some people say "I could charge extra for this, but wont.. I still make money" others say "If people will pay, I will charge, and If I can charge extra I will. Money is my only friend!"
 
Dyngo said:
Sadly I got the same feeling.

Some people say "I could charge extra for this, but wont.. I still make money" others say "If people will pay, I will charge, and If I can charge extra I will. Money is my only friend!"

QFE!
 
Yup, and I think Simu is gonna be particularly harsh in this area because it's used to small(er) groups of gamers. David jokes about it in the video but, like most jokes, it's built on truth. Basically, he comments that it's easy to charge 'x' amount and have great customer service when you only have 80 players and you fight really hard to retain them all. So I can see how Simu goes above and beyond for its MUD people and also why it offers so many options to pay so much more above the basic price; because it basically NEEDS to wring that much money out of such a small base. I think it will get a surprise, however, when it gets multiples of those player numbers in the MMO world. It might realise, for instance, that a tidy profit and popular game can be had WITHOUT trying to charge players $50 a month if they're really into the game.
 
Dyngo said:
Sadly I got the same feeling.

Some people say "I could charge extra for this, but wont.. I still make money" others say "If people will pay, I will charge, and If I can charge extra I will. Money is my only friend!"

The purpose of a business is to make money. As long as you are honest in your dealings there is nothing wrong with charging whatever you think you can get. Customers control the market by what they are willing to pay.
 
Sylvado said:
The purpose of a business is to make money. As long as you are honest in your dealings there is nothing wrong with charging whatever you think you can get. Customers control the market by what they are willing to pay.
Yes, but the point I think Dyngo is making is that some companies aren't as $$$-driven as others. That's just fact, you know? Some companies take a tidy profit and keep costs down because they know what it's like to be passionate fans of something, themselves. Other companies are run by board members who have never played a computer game in their life and just want to farm profits.
 
In another light, the same can be said another way...

Camp 1:
- You can make $500 million in profit by wringing it out of a smaller user base and charging them up the wazoo. They'll pay, because they want to, and they'll alienate those who don't want to pay. No big deal to the company, they have 4,000 customers.

Camp 2:
- You can make $500 million in profit by giving back to your players: giving them items that perhaps, another company would charge extra for, such as special events or items, but this camp does it for free. This company has a larger customer base, and thus charges less. However, this customer has 400,000 customers, and they charge a lot less, spreading the profit margin across a greater number of customers.

They key point we're making Sylvado, and folks can correct me if I am wrong... but, why be "Camp 1" with small amount of players, raping them for cash, when they can make the same amount of profit and have more players like those in "Camp 2" ? Sure, Camp 2 *could* charge what Camp 1 is, but then they might lose customers, possibly because of the price hike, thus dropping them down into the territory of Camp 1.

People will pay if they feel it is worth it. You are correct. But not everyone has a disposable income of $50+ per month for an online game. Justifiable or not, I would be willing to bet a years subscription to a popular MMO that *most* people in the world would not be paying members of "Camp 1". THAT is my personal point.
 
Well said, Jaraeth.

There are many ways to skin a cat and, especially when the end result's the same, it's really up to the attitude and culture of the company in question to decide how it wants to do it.
 
In the example given, Camp 2 would have alot -more- chances to make money, where as Camp 1 would not.

IE, Camp 2 could using something along the lines of an additional Item Store, in which the players could pay extra to get something in return. This wouldn't be tipping the scale, because its purely optional, and because of the wider player base, at least someone will make use of it. Camp 1 most likely could not implement something like that, because they are already milking the felgercarb out of their few members.

(Sorry if I missed the point, just saw that and had to run with it.)
 
Well WM, your point really just is another nail in the coffin for the current Simu model with its MUDs and why it would be quite stupid for it to be ported over to the MMORPG.

Of course Simu has to use that model with the MUDs because the userbase is already so niche, but I have this awful feeling that it looks at the MUD scenario and thinks, "By god, imagine using this model on 100,000 users! The profits will be crazy!" when, in reality, it would actually be quite disastrous.
 
Sylvado said:
The purpose of a business is to make money. As long as you are honest in your dealings there is nothing wrong with charging whatever you think you can get. Customers control the market by what they are willing to pay.
Sadly, you are too close to the reality. The "dictatorship of the majority" force the minority to live after their conditions... (I always wanted to say that)

And when companies try to make the big buck by satisfy as many as possible, with the same product, the result is usually very dull (at least when it comes to art). Some call it mainstream.
 
Although mainstream isn't really that bad compared to when a company tries to do something new, or at least tries to advertise it that way, and then the end result becomes disasterous and a big letdown.

I'm really hoping HJ will not become this.
 
I dunno, imposing WoW footage over Tetris in that Office Space commerical was clever in my opinion. They're really reaching out to a certain market with it and ya know, I bet it's working.
 
Yes they're selling me, but that doesn't matter. People should join because they hear about it from a freind not because a huge corperation is spending millions of dollars to have themself advertised on every channel possible. It brings in millions of people, many of which are not the kinds of people who make a gaming experience goo. Sure that makes money for the company so they can, in turn, spend it on enhacing the game but the DON'T enhance the game. That means that we have to play with a bunch of retards in WoW and we don't get anything in return.[/whiney]

*looks up* OMG did I do that? Oh....
 
Zink said:
Yes they're selling me, but that doesn't matter. People should join because they hear about it from a freind not because a huge corperation is spending millions of dollars to have themself advertised on every channel possible. It brings in millions of people, many of which are not the kinds of people who make a gaming experience goo. Sure that makes money for the company so they can, in turn, spend it on enhacing the game but the DON'T enhance the game. That means that we have to play with a bunch of retards in WoW and we don't get anything in return.[/whiney]

*looks up* OMG did I do that? Oh....

I think you made a good definition of how mainstream works. (or ends up in)
*grins*

imagine a big cake, and to make it appeal to as many as possible you add every flavour you can think of. Add strawberry, salt, beer, turkey, chocolate, curry, vanilla, orange, mint, cheese.. and so on.

Will it become the ultimate cake, or will it become a disaster?
Sure, you will find your favorite flavours in there, but sadly those only represent a tiny part of the cake, and still you have to live with (pay for?)everything. Even the turkey flavour...
So mainstream is the perfect way to make money, as small parts appeal to alot of people, but hardly anyone likes everything as a complete product.
This is something that happens, not only in the game industry but in cinema, music..you name it

(edit:spelling)
 
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