Quote Originally Posted by SamRosen View Post
You ARE aware that your subscription fee doesn't cover developments costs forever right?
You are aware that subscription fees can indeed cover development costs without cash shops right? Just look at SE's own XI, still P2P after all these years and still consistently producing monthly updates, not just every 3-4 months like ARR. Granted a big chunk of those updates are tweaks and additions to existing content, but still, even with their sub 500k subscribers they can still stay afloat and develop new content it. As far as I'm aware Dragon Quest X, another SE MMO, also doesn't have a cash shop and is still doing well with constant updates, with a subscriber base limited to Japan only.

WoW too is still P2P and the only reason it has a cash shop is because they're owned by Blizzard and trying to make as much money as they can is what they do best, not just because their 10 million subscribers aren't enough to fund their development costs. SE aren't the first ones to try to pull a Blizzard either, and won't be the last to fail and lose more than they could have gained, until the eventual F2P switch that is.