Possible New Payment Options?

I’ve been thinking about this for quite awhile after reading a post over at MMO Explorer regarding payment options, which was inspired by Moorguard which was inspired by Adele (we really have to get that system going that Cameron discussed last week…ok, seriously I’m done.) Anyways, I was thinking about some alternative payment options for MMO’s that would be a little more fair. While I don’t think we will ever get away from paying for the initial game for the AA/AAA titles, I think there are some ways to making payments more reasonable for more casual players or those looking for different games.

Rather than charging a flat $15 monthly rate, they could go with a $1/hour rate, capping out at $15, which means 15 hours of gameplay. Most serious gamers who really enjoy the game they are playing will play a game for at least 15 hours a month, which is about 30 minutes a day, meaning that the majority of your customers will pay the full price anyways. I think this is a pretty reasonable option, unless the game companies are “banking” on the fact that many players will play for less than 15/20 hours a month, and in that case, they are making a greater profit. That said, I think a lot more players would pop into a game for several hours a month, in which case they could gain $6 more from one player, and $8 from another player who normally would not have played that month because they were too busy to justify $15 or simply wanted try out the new patch or whatever else.

Another option I came up with is a four-tier system that’s like this:

(After some reconsideration and feedback, I think this might be a bit steep so I altered the prices a bit, but its more about the idea than the specific prices. I’ll leave the pricing to those money people, hehe)

Two-day Pass: $2.99

Week Pass: $5.99

Two-Week Pass: $8.99

Month Pass: $14.99

This gives you a bit more freedom to play within an allotted amount of time, while still being cheaper than a monthly subscription. (Removed a sentence about video game rentals that after price changes was irrelevent) If you find that you have a free weekend in the midst of a hectic month, you can pop in for those couple days and enjoy yourself and spend a fifth of the monthly fee, and again giving the company $3 that it wouldn’t have had otherwise. Same goes for the week and two week. While I think they would be used less than the two-day pass, they are still options that could be used depending on the amount of free time you have and the amount of money you are willing to pay.

Anyways, there are a couple options that I have come up with that I think should be considered more by MMO companies. There might lose a few customers willing to spend $15 who don’t get their money’s worth, but they would get a lot more who want to give it another shot or can’t justify a full months payment.

~Kanthalos