Didn't I tell ya? I did.

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

Quote Originally Posted by Rentahamster View Post

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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