New monetization model suggestion.

[shubla]

One time purchase for MMO? Are you crazy? It doesnt work like that

[LadyApollo]

It already has been done, take a look at Guild Wars 2.
It isn't totally just like that, there are cash items and things to spend money on after you bough the game, but it isn't mandatory.

[Farn]

One time purchase for MMO? Are you crazy? It doesnt work like that

Ever heard of Guild Wars?

[TeckXKnight]

Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 run on the model that they'll release expansions every 8-12 months that players will buy. They bank on the fact that your average player plays for less than a month and even most dedicated players stop playing at around 3 months. This means that you spend $60 on the game, which covers roughly 4 months of subscription, and you use less than that with only a small percent going indefinitely. It's a model that works but it only works if you can effectively produce a full games worth of content every 8-12 months. Smaller devs/studios have no hopes of maintaining this.

The cash shop in GW2 does alleviate some of its financial burden on game sales though and I applaud it for what it is, especially with how closely it ties into the in-game economy.

[Avu]

If they implement full pay to win I'm out and I'm sure lots of other people will be with no looking back. The trading of plex like subscription is already a bit too much pay to win for me but I can't figure a way to get around that yet since there are people that can't pay at all and their friends might want to. Still don't get why it's more expensive that regular subscription.

[Farn]

...

While that might be true for Guild Wars 1, 2 is just now getting it's first expansion after 3 years. All 3 years the game has been very active and I would believe most people would have some hundreds of ours of playtime.

The Gem Store of Guild Wars 2 is really good I I would see something like it working fine in Haven and Hearth.

[dank_memes]

Users would prefer a "buy-to-play" model over a subscription-based one because it's cheaper.

Devs would prefer subscription-based model over a "buy-to-play" one because it brings them more money.

Users aren't cheap, they just believe that's what the game is worth. Devs aren't greedy, they just believe that's what their time is worth. It seems we might be stuck at an impasse where users aren't willing to pay the devs for their time :L

This is all assuming a "buy-to-play" model would become vastly preferred over the current subcription one, but most of the current feedback seems to be leading towards that.

[Audiosmurf]

Users would prefer a "buy-to-play" model over a subscription-based one because it's cheaper.

Devs would prefer subscription-based model over a "buy-to-play" one because it brings them more money.

Users aren't cheap, they just believe that's what the game is worth. Devs aren't greedy, they just believe that's what their time is worth. It seems we might be stuck at an impasse where users aren't willing to pay the devs for their time :L

This is all assuming a "buy-to-play" model would become vastly preferred over the current subcription one, but most of the current feedback seems to be leading towards that.

A one time purchase model is not viable. It would not provide enough income/incentive for ongoing development and infrastructure support.

[TeckXKnight]

Yeah, I wish everything had the gem store that GW2 has. I also wish everything had the trade market that it has. I thought GW2 got an expansion a year ago? I guess I heard wrong. I know that they've been able to afford major updates via the gem shop's profits alone so I stand by that alleviating a lot of their pressure to put out expansions.

[dank_memes]

A one time purchase model is not viable. It would not provide enough income/incentive for ongoing development and infrastructure support.

That's exactly the problem. But looking at the general backlash/controversy the change is facing, it'd also be safe to assume most users aren't okay with the idea of shelling out cash every month.

And since you can't force users to pay, well...