CrimeCraft and the Difficulty of Pricing an MMO

Imagine for a moment that you run an MMO company -- and that company isn't Blizzard. How do you price your content to attract players? Do you lock in users to a monthly fee? Do you give the game away for free but charge for swanky accessories, rare weapons, or time-saving features like quick travel?

Five years after the debut of genre behemoth World of Warcraft, companies are still struggling to answer those questions.

Consider the case of CrimeCraft, the "persistent world next-gen shooter" from Vogster Entertainment. Vogster originally followed the WoW model, releasing the game as a $49.99 boxed product from Best Buy or as a $49.99 download from Steam, Direct2Drive, and Vogster's Web site. Players then ponied up $9.99 a month to retain a subscription.

Predictably, gamers balked at paying both a hefty initial asking price and a recurring fee to an upstart MMO, even after Vogster dropped the price of the game to $39.99 and included a two-month subscription with it.

So Vogster has decided to basically throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. The game will now be a hybrid of the monthly subscription and free-to-play/microtransaction pricing models. Players can spend nothing, $4.99, or $9.99 each month to enjoy the game, but the cheaper options hamper you in a variety of ways.

You could call the original price plan rigid -- and perhaps a tad expensive -- but it was easy to understand: You bought the game, paid your ten bucks each month, and enjoyed the full CrimeCraft experience. In contrast, to announce the new pricing scheme, Vogster sent the press a complex spreadsheet documenting 23 ways the Trial, Standard, and Premium memberships differ from each other.

What will prospective players make of this new "kitchen sink" approach to CrimeCraft? Will they appreciate the choice, or will the mass of information and confusing options put them off?

New MMO developers don't have much choice. The genius of World of Warcraft -- besides the whole brilliantly designed aspect of it -- is that its monthly-fee pricing scheme discourages players from trying out other MMOs.

For many gamers, the $14.99 WoW charge has become another "necessity" on their monthly credit card bill, along with cable TV and high-speed Internet. Adding another monthly MMO fee to the mix would feel like paying for cable twice -- and why would you need two cable TV subscriptions anyway?

That means companies like Vogster are left casting out lines, hoping that one particular pricing model gets gamers to bite. It's not an enviable position to be in.

How would you price an MMO to break into a marketplace dominated by WoW?

(6)

Jay Henningsen

October 12, 2009

It's not the price that makes me decide whether or not to play an MMO. The most important thing is whether or not I have fun while playing the game. Expensive or cheap, a steaming pile of crap is still a steaming pile of crap.

October 11, 2009

World of Warcraft was not the first game to charge a monthly fee to play. If your supposition that the fee discourages people from trying out other MMOs held true, we'd all still be playing Ultima Online or the original Everquest.

Travis McReynolds

Let me preface my comments by letting the world at large know that I'm not a PC gamer and therefore don't have access to any decent MMOs.
That said, I imagine you'd be able to fetch a higher monthly rate AFTER your install base has reached a certain size. People are willing to plunk down the cash for WOW because all of their friends are there.
In order to get that base, you might have to start with a much more nominal monthly fee. A couple bucks. Once established players and their friends have joined up you can up the fee. Players might complain but after spending umpteen hours leveling up they're almost certainly going to pay more. Cable companies up rates all the time, but because the public loves television, people continue to pay.
The only surefire way to launch a new MMO would be to springboard off an existing franchise. Like, I dunno, KOTOR or the DC Universe (which is SUPPOSED to come out on PS3 as well).

Brett Bates

@Travis: You're thinking something like the 12-month deal cable companies give you when you sign up -- and then they jack up the price. A disgusting business practice, but not a half-bad idea...

@Jay: I'm not saying it's impossible for other MMOs to topple WoW, but the monthly pricing plan definitely makes it more difficult.

Brian Shirk

Crazy, this is the first I've heard of CrimeCraft.

I don't know how an upstart can dethrone Blizzard, but I think it'd be wise to eliminate a lot of the repetition found in MMOs, make them more skill-based (rather than the time you put into it), and add more PVP elements that permanently affect the world.

Combined with a new pricing structure (perhaps selling the game at half normal retail price with a $6 per month subscription fee), I'd think they could at least make a dent in WoW's sales.

@Brett: See, I really don't think it's the monthly pricing plan that has anything to do with customer retention. When you buy a new MMO off of the shelf, you generally get the first month free. The barrier to entry is only the retail cost of the game, which most people are generally willing to foot if they are interested in the game in the first place.

Most new MMOs lose customers for one of three major reasons:
1) The launch was poorly implemented and they were unable to play the game while they were truly excited about it.
2) The game just isn't fun or they have issues with specific game mechanics or they just find another game more fun.
3) None of their friends are playing the new game with them.

I've tried at least half a dozen MMOs and later canceled my subscription. It was not because I was already paying for WoW, or that the game was any more or less expensive than WoW, but simply because there is no point in paying for a game that I am not going to play. I don't care if you make it 100% free. If I don't enjoy the game, you're not going to have me as a customer.