I Told Ya (Price Reduction)

Didn't I tell ya? I did.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...Then-Charge-12

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Originally Posted by Rentahamster

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.

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http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...yopemeopw.html

http://i.imgur.com/sbgp7.jpg

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Originally Posted by Rentahamster

Didn't I tell ya? I did.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...Then-Charge-12






http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...yopemeopw.html

http://i.imgur.com/sbgp7.jpg

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that's...just for the basic service fee. character fee is seperate silly

GG.

That's not the total fee. Character fee goes on top of that, for a total of 9(8) dollars a month.

You totally told us.

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Originally Posted by PrettyPrincess

that's...just for the basic service fee. character fee is seperate silly

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Yes, I know that. I'm pretty sure the giant 12.99 -> 9.99 is pretty visible to everyone who looks.

http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl...5NA.png?_v=7pi

Price reduction is the point. The 5 bucks thing is moot. Sheese, I'm not Nostradamus.

YOU SHOULD BE

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Originally Posted by Rentahamster

Yes, I know that.

Price reduction is the point. The 5 bucks thing is moot. Sheese, I'm not Nostradamus.

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So you made a thread about you guessing correctly between two choices for a 50/50 chance of being right?

I don't believe you. You totally are Nostradamus.

No the total fee is only $6 you don't pay a fee for no service, then another just for a character. The additional $3 would be for each character you have on top of the basic account. (Which includes one character.) You have to pay for a service, don't be silly.

Renta, where is my child support?

Did someone say Nostradamus cult application center?! Where do I sign?

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Originally Posted by Katie

Renta, where is my child support?

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That's totally not my baby. Looks nothing like me.

http://i.imgur.com/A5mvts.jpg

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Originally Posted by Betelgeuzah

So you made a thread about you guessing correctly between two choices for a 50/50 chance of being right?

I don't believe you. You totally are Nostradamus.

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Idunno why but you're posts crack me up. You're really bothered?

Everything is fine now.

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Originally Posted by Katie

Idunno why but you're posts crack me up. You're really bothered?

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http://images.bluegartr.com/bucket/g...b9a106ed4c.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...attachment.jpg

no kidding, could they make it anymore complex lol, so basically it's this.

So if we pick 180 days that's 6 months about. So we get about 30 dollars. But on top of that we have to add 3 for each 30 days for an additional 18 dollars. I think what bothers me is how they try and make it look like a good dead by only showing the price per 30 day, but throwing in that you are forced to pay for each character slot just feels odd. maybe XI is the same way but it feels like the first slot should be free lol.

Though the chart should read like this
30--6.99(9.99)
90--5.99(26.97)
180-4.99(47.94)

To me it just feels deceptive to have it the way it is right now but that's just me. But honestly I did look at it say, wow 29.94 that's a nice deal, then the fine print says no wait you have to do 3 times 6 to get the actual amount after you add it to that fee to get the actual amount lol.

I'd like to get back to the discussion about the elasticity of demand for this service. For me personally, the price is fine, and I'm 75% sure I'd be okay with it, but I feel like I'm more of the exception than the rule.

From my totally non-scientific analysis, I still think it's too much to ask since it's still hard enough as it is trying to get people to play the game when it's free. I'm preparing for a huge population drop, but we'll see. Hopefully 1.20 is good enough to bring folks back.

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Originally Posted by Rentahamster

From my totally non-scientific analysis, I still think it's too much to ask since it's still hard enough as it is trying to get people to play the game when it's free. I'm preparing for a huge population drop, but we'll see. Hopefully 1.20 is good enough to bring folks back.

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Too much to ask from what perspective?

Free service is no longer sustainable. What they're doing here is breaking even for keeping the service up.

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Originally Posted by Betelgeuzah

Too much to ask from what perspective?

Free service is no longer sustainable. What they're doing here is breaking even for keeping the service up.

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That's not the point.

The point from the original thread is about the way in which total revenue can possibly be increased through a price reduction since more people will have crossed the threshold to wanting to pay.

I still think the equilibrium point for optimal revenue is still a little lower than $9.99, but hey.

Also not that when the fees go up.. its only a mere month away till 1.21 which is the Content update... we get 1.20 for a month.. then billing starts.. a month later we get 1.21.. I say in all seriousness were getting 2 patches fairly close to billing all you have to do is take a hit if 1.20 isnt to your liking? well 1.21 is only a month away.. till Jobs are here.. but if it comes early fab.. which the road map indicates it is.. Ill be playing FFXIII-2 >.< teehee

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Originally Posted by Rentahamster

That's not the point.

The point from the original thread is about the way in which total revenue can possibly be increased through a price reduction since more people will have crossed the threshold to wanting to pay.

I still think the equilibrium point for optimal revenue is still a little lower than $9.99, but hey.

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Even 9.99 means 25% more people would have to pay for the service as opposed from 12.99 fee.

Even that sounds far-fetched, much more-so when you keep lowering the fee. I think they are going to be on the losing end here to meet the customers at half-way (I guess for PR purposes). I don't think this reduction will result in 25% more subscribers than with a full price.

Actually at 75% of the normal rate they are making the most money at 50% it would take a substantial amount of additional players to equal out the numbers they would have at the 75% mark, and in the business world that is a big IF, because no matter what (even if the fee was only 1.00 dollar people would rant and rave and quit).

So statistically speaking 75% was the safest and more than likely the most profitable choice to make. :s

I threw this on the XI forum but I"ll throw it out here to. If there are people here who are still playing XI here you can play XIV for 3 dollar a month in a sense if I'm reading it properly.

http://www.playonline.com/ff11eu/top...xiv/index.html

Basically in January you'll pay 12.99 for XI, then in March/April/May it'll be 7 dollars as long as you have XIV active.

With the 90 model in hand that's 26.97, with the above in mind that's 60.96. If you just play XI as it stands now then for those 4 months you'll be paying 51.96. So ya, just some food for thought I'm sure there are some XI-ers here that might not want to pay for XIV but seeing as the difference is only 9 dollars it's not a bad discount.

$10 a month Pffftt. So we stop going to McDonalds 1 day out of the month.

Not throwing this at anyone in particular, but I'm curious as to if some of the "complainers" are merely complaining because now they have to tell their parents the game is no longer free to play when they told them at the time of purchase that it was... lawlz (its a joke, don't be mad)

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Originally Posted by Betelgeuzah

I don't think this reduction will result in 25% more subscribers than with a full price.

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That's because it's still probably too high for most people. There is a greater threshold for customer acceptability at a lower price point. You won't get the numbers you desire until you cross that threshold, and I don't think -25% will reach that threshold.

This isn't a linear relationship.

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Originally Posted by Rentahamster

That's because it's still probably too high for most people. There is a greater threshold for customer acceptability at a lower price point. You won't get the numbers you desire until you cross that threshold, and I don't think -25% will reach that threshold.

This isn't a linear relationship.

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Yeah this isn't a linear relationship, but you're saying that they would get double the subscription numbers which they would need to get if they halved the fee. I don't believe that for one second. 6 dollars versus 13 is not so big of a deal for so many people, even if it was merely a principle.

They would have more subs, definitely, but not double. Hell no.

But I can assure you the people who are saying they are not paying for this game now, if SE said the magic 50% numbers they would still say they are not paying to play an incomplete game (as they would call it). I've worked in the retail/service industry for too long not to realize this common fact: When people get free once they want free again, no if's, and's, or but's about it.

So they could take a HUGE risk and discount it @50% and potentially only get an additional 10k subs (assuming the original numbers were 100k; they are all figurative for the purpose of example/percents) in contrast to if they had it @75%. Then of course there is the 30k that would jump ship no matter what once they had to pay.

So assume we have 70k subs when the payment starts (this is excluding the +-10k on the fence players) So minus the difference from the two and you have an income of $600,000.00 @75% with 60,000 subs vs an income of only 350,000.00 @50% with 70,000 subs. Even if there was a difference of +-20k the income from the 75% would be greater than the 50%, with those figures. And that boys and girls is statistics.

Edit: I've rounded to the whole dollar for the pricing amounts for simple math reasons.

Good call Rentahamster.

I guess this means I can afford to keep my brothers character.

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Originally Posted by Betelgeuzah

Yeah this isn't a linear relationship, but you're saying that they would get double the subscription numbers which they would need to get if they halved the fee.

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I didn't give numbers that specific.

All I'm saying is that there is a some amount of revenue they will get with their current plan of 10 bucks a month, and that it's possible that they could get more revenue at a plan that is less than 10 bucks a month.

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Originally Posted by Rentahamster

I didn't give numbers that specific.

All I'm saying is that there is a some amount of revenue they will get with their current plan of 10 bucks a month, and that it's possible that they could get more revenue at a plan that is less than 10 bucks a month.

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I didn't imply that the numbers would have to be that specific. Pick a number from halved fee and full fee and my point still stands.

Your nor I really have not the sufficient knowledge required to make an informed guess either way however. Unless you are an expert in this particular field, and not just talking out of your ass with made up assumptions like I am.

They have experts working for them with much more information than we could possibly even dream of to make that call. And this is the result they came up with. I'm not exactly confident that you could do a better job than them, especially since you're not exactly in an unbiased position (as you're one of the people having to pay said the fee).

You could always do the math yourself for the pure speculation and fun...but it seems like so many people don't like math and fun to be in the same sentence. :(

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Originally Posted by OMEGA_HACK

You could always do the math yourself for the pure speculation and fun...but it seems like so many people don't like math and fun to be in the same sentence. :(

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Naw, math is totally fun. And sexy too. Just ask Winnie Cooper.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/image....L._AA300_.jpg

Ohh snap! lol at the tags for the thread too.

On a serious note, im glad about the reduction, and the fact that you get a decent discount if you go ahead and plunk down for the highest amount of time.

You told us, but wada announced it in the last live letter that it would be discounted. So, you predicted already confirmed information before the announcement. Good job!

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Originally Posted by BruceyBruceyBangBang

You told us, but wada announced it in the last live letter that it would be discounted. So, you predicted already confirmed information before the announcement. Good job!

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Check the date. This was before the live announcement.

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Originally Posted by Rentahamster

Check the date. This was before the live announcement.

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You didn't predict a discount. The community shouted for one since they would be paying for a half redeveloped game, they agreed to it in the live letter, then the pricing was announced last night which you didn't even get right either.

Booya! Crow is delicious!

Are you guys seriously gonna argue over who predicted what?

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Originally Posted by BruceyBruceyBangBang

You didn't predict a discount. The community shouted for one since they would be paying for a half redeveloped game, they agreed to it in the live letter, then the pricing was announced last night which you didn't even get right either.

Booya! Crow is delicious!

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What are you talking about? The point is the price reduction and how such a concept was terribly unfathomable to a vocal part of the community.

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Originally Posted by BruceyBruceyBangBang

then the pricing was announced last night which you didn't even get right either.

Booya! Crow is delicious!

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Originally Posted by Rentahamster

Price reduction is the point. The 5 bucks thing is moot. Sheese, I'm not Nostradamus.

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Originally Posted by TheVedis

Are you guys seriously gonna argue over who predicted what?

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I'm just havin a laugh.

All they are really doing is not making us pay the character fee. Not much of a discount if you ask me... Not that I wanted one or felt one was necessary to begin with. The slight discount for paying in longer time periods is something everyone does and SE was probably planning on doing that from the beginning anyway.

All I can say is: if this shuts up the "I want to play a terrible game but don't want to pay for it" rejects, great. I doubt it will though. They won't be happy until this game goes f2p permanently. Which, to be honest, it is probably on its way there since it was such a big flopping failure and its small community seems hell bent on further damaging the game rather than helping it to succeed.

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Originally Posted by Wynn

Which, to be honest, it is probably on its way there since it was such a big flopping failure and its small community seems hell bent on further damaging the game than helping it to succeed.

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Ah, but that's the crux of this whole debate. Who's to say that those people wish to damage the game? Is there no merit to the argument that sticking FF14 with an outdated pricing model could also be financially detrimental?

There have been games that have switched to a F2P or F2P-ish model and have seen their revenues increase.