Is our sub fee not enought

[Reaperking386]

I'm sorry, what does my Savage progress have to do with the topic at hand? You'd better find some support for your straw man before he blows over.




Whether or not the items are physically tangible or transferable is irrelevant.

Seriously... OP is just throwing her crap at you to try and find something that sticks.

[Zojha]

Whether or not the items are physically tangible or transferable is irrelevant.

In all your comparisons so far, any additional products were separable from the actual product you're buying and could be used without them. That's not the case for mog station items however. So the comparisons are flawed.

[loreleidiangelo]

I couldn't find the statement online after an admittedly cursory search, but I seem to recall somewhere that even Blizzard has stated that without revenue from their cash shop, they would have been forced to raise subscription fees to combat increased technology costs and inflated developer salaries. Customer response to that was overwhelmingly negative, so they took the "optional but costs more at the individual level" approach instead.

Basically, development costs for MMOs have gone up substantially in the past ten years and yet player willingness to spend more than $15 a month has remained very inelastic. For what it's worth, I'd rather pay a higher sub fee, but given the omnipresence of quick-and-dirty freemium games that don't require an initial investment to start up, it seems I'm in the minority.

[Ghishlain]

I couldn't find the statement online after an admittedly cursory search, but I seem to recall somewhere that even Blizzard has stated that without revenue from their cash shop, they would have been forced to raise subscription fees to combat increased technology costs and inflated developer salaries. Customer response to that was overwhelmingly negative, so they took the "optional but costs more at the individual level" approach instead.


Basically, development costs for MMOs have gone up substantially in the past ten years and yet player willingness to spend more than $15 a month has remained very inelastic. For what it's worth, I'd rather pay a higher sub fee, but given the omnipresence of quick-and-dirty freemium games that don't require an initial investment to start up, it seems I'm in the minority.

Just to tack on to this, I'd be curious to see approximately what the operating costs of XIV are. Sure someone could state $15/month X 12 months X 500,000 players = $90,000,000 revenue but if operating and developers costs amount to $88,000,000 (as an extreme example) - it's pretty much not worth it to keep developing and operating FFXIV.

[Kaurie]

I couldn't find the statement online after an admittedly cursory search, but I seem to recall somewhere that even Blizzard has stated that without revenue from their cash shop, they would have been forced to raise subscription fees to combat increased technology costs and inflated developer salaries. Customer response to that was overwhelmingly negative, so they took the "optional but costs more at the individual level" approach instead.

Basically, development costs for MMOs have gone up substantially in the past ten years and yet player willingness to spend more than $15 a month has remained very inelastic. For what it's worth, I'd rather pay a higher sub fee, but given the omnipresence of quick-and-dirty freemium games that don't require an initial investment to start up, it seems I'm in the minority.

I think it's important to note that game developers in the US make a bit (27% more in 2010) more than game developers in Japan. The rates in the USA have jumped from 79k to 83k from 2010 to 2014.

I think that Square would benefit well from something similar to the WoW Token - $20 USD to buy a month of game time that you can sell for in-game gil. People who have more money and want gil buy it, others who want to farm gil and less real life money buy it. Everyone's happy. Square Enix gets more money to boot.

Sources:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/1...rage_57590.php

[Shougun]

I think it's important to note that game developers in the US make a bit (27% more in 2010) more than game developers in Japan. The rates in the USA have jumped from 79k to 83k from 2010 to 2014.

I think that Square would benefit well from something similar to the WoW Token - $20 USD to buy a month of game time that you can sell for in-game gil. People who have more money and want gil buy it, others who want to farm gil and less real life money buy it. Everyone's happy. Square Enix gets more money to boot.

Sources:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/1...rage_57590.php

I don't think everyone would see it like that, that's RMT (just not third party RMT).

[alimdia]

I don't think everyone would see it like that, that's RMT (just not third party RMT).

So are additional retainers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If additional retainers wont go away they should add a sub token.

[Shougun]

So are additional retainers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If additional retainers wont go away they should add a sub token.

It's (retainers) a bit more indirect (not by much lol), but I understand what you're saying. I 'd also add people are not really happy with that either though lol. Besides first fixing their houses, after that I would just say they should be careful on their pricing that it begins to feel like you should be buying gil via subs. It doesn't have to ruin a market (player gil generation is a bit different than third party generation, so the purchase of gil is more of a redistribution and because people buy gil with the express purpose to spend it.. you know it will be driven into the economy and most likely on a tax, so that part isn't the worst - of course being able to buy your in game power is the meh part but yeah lol). If they're sloppy it could make things be a bit derpy (like pricing things around this new found power, or not evaluating regular players gil generation ability). The whole RMT aspect is unavoidable by introduction though. I'm not really going to be okay with it if they suggested to add it; unless, I guess if they said "we're adding instanced housing (like WildStar or other examples of everyone gets one instanced housing, a true featured one not a gimped room) and revamping the system, money from this system will help us cover and improve~! Please look forward to it"..

Basically my table flipping would be abated if they could butter me up first - give me an ice cream cone, maybe a kupo nut, which I doubt they care to do but w.e just saying what'd annoy me less is if they go spend a bunch of money making a sexy system then say "we spent a boat load, so perhaps you can spend a boat load back at us!".

Unfortunately stuff is really expensive and business investors don't want to make small profit, so spending a lot of money.. you better be making money else where to justify it - I get that. I just hope they can be very thoughtful and careful. I hope every exclusive item they add is a painful discussion lol. Although again, they should consider adding crysta (that doesn't apply to purchasing your sub, so Mog Cash I guess) which would make a lot of the Mog Shop easier on people I think (they'd still be annoyed but the reality would be if you pay your sub you could earn any item that is available in the game through that sub, and nothing else, given enough patience at least - which would mean SE still gets purchases since not everyone has that).

[Masekase_Hurricane]

Prices are getting stupid on the cash shop and SE is being very greedy. The price for an emote is now 4x the price of the cheapest one on there. Personally I don't understand players that agree with this. It is especially annoying when they have now started half assing content. I.e lets not add a new trial and just change a boss in a raid.

Same with the physical collectors;
Collectors Edition Heavensward $129
Collectors Edition Stormblood $199

Whats the next one gonna cost $270?

[JunseiKei]

Collectors Edition Heavensward $129
Collectors Edition Stormblood $199

Whats the next one gonna cost $270?

If it comes with all the stuff FFXV's Ultimate Collector's Edition came with, yes.