Compromise: Just Charge $5 For Now. Once 2.0 is Out, Then Charge $12
From the Blue Garter interview:
http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/107...-Transcription
Quote:
BG: We did an informal poll on our forums about the decision to charge for the game, and 70% of our users that voted in the poll were very against being charged a fee. However, when I brought up just as a side-question, what would they feel about paying, say, half that cost, while in this early developments stage, most were not against paying half for what they perceived as a half-finished game. But they also understand that what happens in FFXIV-I is not necessarily the same as FFXIV-II.
SE: It's interesting to hear that the player base was against it, but when offered paying half that more were for it.
BG: Yeah, to them it's still half of what they wanted, when the game was still released. So only paying half is like the beta phase/beta 2 phase. They were, "I can stand $6-$7 instead of $14."
SE: We went over many options when deciding to start the subscription system again. Maybe charging half, maybe charging less, maybe extending the free period. There's many options. The reason we decided to start the subscription system and charge the price we're charging is that, one of the things is players playing now, others players go "Why are you playing this game? It's not done." Maybe charging less for it, you get the sense, "Oh, it's still not done and you're still not getting a full product." This is our roadmap. This is what we're going to do. We're getting the players opinions and reflecting them in the game. We're also working to give players beyond even what they expect with update content, such as the realtime events that you will not be able to play anywhere else. We have to show the players that we'll be accepting money from you now, so now we have to work even harder in order to give you more than what you get for your money. But you went ahead and you had this poll and we know that you're a good group of hardcore players that have been there a long time. So we are taking this poll to heart and discuss this again and see if this is an option for us. We will then get back to the players and decide.
The perception that players are paying to play a "half-finished game" is not going to magically go away just by charging full price for it. That perception is going to go away when the game is actually in a decent "ready for retail" state.
I think the willingness for fans of the game to pay to play a beta test is much more high at a reduced price of $5 a month. $12 is just too high a threshold to charge for the product you are currently offering, and promises of a better product in the future.
While for myself personally, $12 isn't that big of a deal, it is for a lot of other people and if most of my friends quit the game, I might as well quit too since they are the main reason I play.
From a purely revenue-driven standpoint, I don't really see how most people can take this "unfinished" game seriously while it has a pricing structure similar to other "finished" MMOs out there. The customer demand for game subscriptions are relatively elastic, and in the case of relatively elastic goods, a cheaper price will generally result in more overall profits. FF14 in particular is more elastic than other games out now, due to its unfinished nature.
SE's fixed costs are going to be pretty much the same (up to a point) whether or not they have 1 subscriber on a server or 1,000, so they might as well try to get as many people playing as they can. The additional benefit of having more people playtest and offer feedback is valuable as well.
Question: If you balk at a $12 monthly fee, would you be willing to pay if it was only $5-$7 instead?
(I would have to think hard about paying $12 if all my friends quit, but I'd definitely pay $5 even if they all quit)
Additional reading:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/new...hp?story=20856
http://www.anthemion.org/file/playtime_abund.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_elasticity_of_demand
