I started playing SWTOR in January 2012 because I really liked the KOTOR games and am a Star Wars fan. In general, I don't really play MMOs, but have enjoyed this one a lot.

One thing I don't understand about them, though, is why a subscription costs about $15 and, at least from what I can tell, hasn't deviated from that in a long time within the genre.

Why hasn't the cost risen with time, as most services do with inflation?

This question is ignoring whatever F2P/Hybrid trends are now apparently becoming more commonplace.

I started playing SWTOR in January 2012 because I really liked the KOTOR games and am a Star Wars fan. In general, I don't really play MMOs, but have enjoyed this one a lot.

 

One thing I don't understand about them, though, is why a subscription costs about $15 and, at least from what I can tell, hasn't deviated from that in a long time within the genre.

 

Why hasn't the cost risen with time, as most services do with inflation?

 

This question is ignoring whatever F2P/Hybrid trends are now apparently becoming more commonplace.

The cost HAS risen. When I was playing Everquest (the first one), subs were $10/month. That was fairly standard for MMOs at the time. WOW blew that out of the water with $15/mo subs.

It's business psychology. It's easier to pick a price and run with it than to try and introduce a new price.

Developers are a lot more aggressive with other monetisation systems, such as the Cartel Market and 'gambling packs' than mmo's were even four years ago. This more than subsidises the lack of inflationary rises in subscription prices.

In the case of an older game like WOW the playerbase simply wouldn't accept a price rise on an ageing product; they would move onto new pastures.

I think it's mainly that getting a "Your Subscription Price will be increasing" message from an MMO is a quick way to lose a lot of Subscribers really quick.

And by the same token, since they have to be competitive, different MMOs' subscription prices tend to level out at about the same price. If WoW is $15 and Rift is $17, that's just one more reason for people to stick with WoW instead of going to Rift, so Rift knows to set their price right around $15.

As Chinspinner said, adding in micro-transaction options instead generates a lot more revenue and doesn't drive (as many) players away.

One thing I don't understand about them, though, is why a subscription costs about $15 and, at least from what I can tell, hasn't deviated from that in a long time within the genre.

Why hasn't the cost risen with time, as most services do with inflation?

For one, the actual cost of supporting a subscriber has actually decreased. WoW upkeep - that's everything, servers, extra development, support, etc - only costs 40-50 cents a month per subscriber.

This isn't even marginal cost, it's total cost, as in "total spending divided by number of subs". Marginal cost (that is "how much more would it cost to have one more subscriber") is at most half that.

I don't know what it was a decade ago, but my guess would be at least $2, maybe $3.

So, since the company isn't faced with inflationary pressure itself, they have no pressure to raise the price. MMO sub price is decided by one factor only - elasticity. At what P will P*N be the greatest. A power company can't easily supply twice the number of houses, they don't have enough power plants, they don't have the wires, etc... but a MMO can double its sub count with almost no effort or extra cost.

$15 price tag is determined for what the market considers a 'Triple A' or premium MMO. Bioware and EA still hold this delusion that SWTOR fits in to this category. But the prices really havent moved much. Star Wars Galaxies was around $15 a month back in 2003.

The current 3 tier model adapted by Bioware is really unique and probably one of the worst out there. Most MMOs are either fully free to play and have a cash shop and NO content is locked away, or they have a subscription and cash shop for vanity items.

Wildstar has a different approach - it is also $15 a month but instead of using real money to pay, you can decide to use your actual in game gold and exchange it to buy a subscription (much like how Weekly passes work here on the GTN).

Guild Wars 2 is totally free, apart from having to buy an actual boxed copy. But there you can exchange Gems(which you buy in real cash) for in game gold and vice-versa.

Each publisher and developer have their own idea, you just have to find what suits your pocket and enjoy-ability.

$15 price tag is determined for what the market considers a 'Triple A' or premium MMO. Bioware and EA still hold this delusion that SWTOR fits in to this category. But the prices really havent moved much. Star Wars Galaxies was around $15 a month back in 2003.

 

The current 3 tier model adapted by Bioware is really unique and probably one of the worst out there. Most MMOs are either fully free to play and have a cash shop and NO content is locked away, or they have a subscription and cash shop for vanity items.

 

Wildstar has a different approach - it is also $15 a month but instead of using real money to pay, you can decide to use your actual in game gold and exchange it to buy a subscription (much like how Weekly passes work here on the GTN).

 

Guild Wars 2 is totally free, apart from having to buy an actual boxed copy. But there you can exchange Gems(which you buy in real cash) for in game gold and vice-versa.

 

Each publisher and developer have their own idea, you just have to find what suits your pocket and enjoy-ability.

I was mostly wondering why prices haven't changed instead of potentially coming across as criticizing SWTOR's subscription model/price.

With some people buying hypercrates all the time, perhaps it doesn't matter, but I'd gladly pay $25 or $30 a month if it meant we'd see an uptick in FPs/Ops, WZs, planets, etc. Maybe others would not, but if BW delivered with lots of updates, I wonder how many subscribers would actually be fine with it. My impression is most of the remaining subscription base really wants to stick with SWTOR, but a lot of folks find the pace of updates underwhleming, whether it be PVE questing, FPs/Ops, WZs, or other additions.

The answers in the thread make sense.

I was mostly wondering why prices haven't changed instead of potentially coming across as criticizing SWTOR's subscription model/price.

 

With some people buying hypercrates all the time, perhaps it doesn't matter, but I'd gladly pay $25 or $30 a month if it meant we'd see an uptick in FPs/Ops, WZs, planets, etc. Maybe others would not, but if BW delivered with lots of updates, I wonder how many subscribers would actually be fine with it. My impression is most of the remaining subscription base really wants to stick with SWTOR, but a lot of folks find the pace of updates underwhleming, whether it be PVE questing, FPs/Ops, WZs, or other additions.

 

The answers in the thread make sense.

The question in a lot of case wouldn't be "would they be willing to pay that much" though. it would be "are they able to pay that much". If I were rich? Hey, sure thing, I like the game and am having quite a bit of fun with it, so why not. But I'm not and I *can't* pay $30 (or well, whatever the euro price would be) a month. I certainly couldn't keep up doing what I've been doing for the five months I've been playing and pay my friend's sub as well.

I was mostly wondering why prices haven't changed instead of potentially coming across as criticizing SWTOR's subscription model/price.

 

With some people buying hypercrates all the time, perhaps it doesn't matter, but I'd gladly pay $25 or $30 a month if it meant we'd see an uptick in FPs/Ops, WZs, planets, etc. Maybe others would not, but if BW delivered with lots of updates, I wonder how many subscribers would actually be fine with it. My impression is most of the remaining subscription base really wants to stick with SWTOR, but a lot of folks find the pace of updates underwhleming, whether it be PVE questing, FPs/Ops, WZs, or other additions.

 

The answers in the thread make sense.

To give you more food for thought and relevant on your post regarding content.

Guild Wars - free to play, but you have to pay around $50 (not sure) for a boxed copy and it currently has fortnightly updates. So would you really pay $30 a month for something others can do for free?

When you create a themepark MMO, content is king and is the only reason why people return. Lack of content/updates = reducing subs base = the end.

I have always wondered if they charged $10 a month, how many more subs a game could get because that is a reasonable amount of money.

And regarding the Hypercrates, its just a cash grab for Bioware - thats how I see it. To raise extra revenue from subscribers and those who are free to play. I can't think of a single MMO that does this, and has a 3 tier subscription model and locks content behind a pay wall.

Probably the best example of a totally free to play game would be League of Legends. There, you can buy XP boosters etc and skins for your characters. You can earn points to unlock new characters,or buy them with real money - but players are given that choice. Which is why it has over 30 million players. Best F2P model I have seen

I have always wondered if they charged $10 a month, how many more subs a game could get because that is a reasonable amount of money.

 

And regarding the Hypercrates, its just a cash grab for Bioware - thats how I see it. To raise extra revenue from subscribers and those who are free to play. I can't think of a single MMO that does this, and has a 3 tier subscription model and locks content behind a pay wall.

I don't know I do not think 15 dollars a month is too high, 10 dollars a month might bring a few more people as subs but honestly a 5 dollar difference is not too much.

also, to hypercrates, I have bought them in the past but I never spent a dime on cc's, I saved up my monthly 525 cc's and got occasional hits through my referral link so I was able to enjoy the fruits of a hypercrate without spending a dime.

The cost HAS risen. When I was playing Everquest (the first one), subs were $10/month. That was fairly standard for MMOs at the time. WOW blew that out of the water with $15/mo subs.

 

It's business psychology. It's easier to pick a price and run with it than to try and introduce a new price.

Yeah, the norm before WoW released was $9.95. WoW released and set a price of $15, and got away with it. Many other MMOs current to the time of the WoW release quickly raised prices to $15 after they saw that Blizzard could get away with it.

Notably.... the price of $15 has been pretty much industry standard (for games offering a sub option/access) for a decade now. Since there is extreme pressure in the marketplace driving games to flexible access business models.. I don't see a base subscription price being raised anytime in the forseeable future.

To give you more food for thought and relevant on your post regarding content.

 

Guild Wars - free to play, but you have to pay around $50 (not sure) for a boxed copy and it currently has fortnightly updates. So would you really pay $30 a month for something others can do for free?

 

When you create a themepark MMO, content is king and is the only reason why people return. Lack of content/updates = reducing subs base = the end.

 

I have always wondered if they charged $10 a month, how many more subs a game could get because that is a reasonable amount of money.

 

And regarding the Hypercrates, its just a cash grab for Bioware - thats how I see it. To raise extra revenue from subscribers and those who are free to play. I can't think of a single MMO that does this, and has a 3 tier subscription model and locks content behind a pay wall.

 

Probably the best example of a totally free to play game would be League of Legends. There, you can buy XP boosters etc and skins for your characters. You can earn points to unlock new characters,or buy them with real money - but players are given that choice. Which is why it has over 30 million players. Best F2P model I have seen

Don't start with games like GW2 and LoL. They are completely different types of games. GW2 is a joke of an MMO. It has no operations and just a handful of flashpoints. It does have WvW, but how much has changed in there since launch? Extremely little. So what is all this content that the game gets? Yeh the carnival comes to town....again. It's flat and boring...totally cheap content. If that's your thing, you'll love the game but if you look through the shiney exterior there's nothing in there.

League of Legends? Seriously? That's a game of warzone maps only that constantly brings out new characters will nerfing the old ones so you are pushed to buy the new ones. That's not the same type of game. Not anywhere near.

So no wonder that different types of games have different payment models. Doh.

Don't start with games like GW2 and LoL. They are completely different types of games. GW2 is a joke of an MMO. It has no operations and just a handful of flashpoints. It does have WvW, but how much has changed in there since launch? Extremely little. So what is all this content that the game gets? Yeh the carnival comes to town....again. It's flat and boring...totally cheap content. If that's your thing, you'll love the game but if you look through the shiney exterior there's nothing in there.

 

League of Legends? Seriously? That's a game of warzone maps only that constantly brings out new characters will nerfing the old ones so you are pushed to buy the new ones. That's not the same type of game. Not anywhere near.

 

So no wonder that different types of games have different payment models. Doh.

had this topic been about games then I would look at your points but this is about subscription prices and models. Both of which are valid. Never did I say it was the same type of game, so I suggest you read everything again then return.

had this topic been about games then I would look at your points but this is about subscription prices and models. Both of which are valid. Never did I say it was the same type of game, so I suggest you read everything again then return.

People here suggest swtor is p2w and are wrong, and then suggesting LoL as a model, which is truly P2W.

had this topic been about games then I would look at your points but this is about subscription prices and models. Both of which are valid. Never did I say it was the same type of game, so I suggest you read everything again then return.

Really??! You are the one that started in on your usual SWTOR bashing and then brought up how superior these other one were.

$15 price tag is determined for what the market considers a 'Triple A' or premium MMO. Bioware and EA still hold this delusion that SWTOR fits in to this category. But the prices really havent moved much. Star Wars Galaxies was around $15 a month back in 2003.

 

The current 3 tier model adapted by Bioware is really unique and probably one of the worst out there. Most MMOs are either fully free to play and have a cash shop and NO content is locked away, or they have a subscription and cash shop for vanity items.

 

Wildstar has a different approach - it is also $15 a month but instead of using real money to pay, you can decide to use your actual in game gold and exchange it to buy a subscription (much like how Weekly passes work here on the GTN).

 

Guild Wars 2 is totally free, apart from having to buy an actual boxed copy. But there you can exchange Gems(which you buy in real cash) for in game gold and vice-versa.

 

Each publisher and developer have their own idea, you just have to find what suits your pocket and enjoy-ability.

A real shame you had to come in and ruin an interesting thread where everyone was being polite and informative.

You COULD have contributed the useful information that you put in your posts without spitting out the bile at SWTOR. The OP stated how much they enjoy this game and you slamming it at every opportunity will just make them not listen to the actually good points you make sometimes.

The two of you above need to learn to read - seriously.

People here suggest swtor is p2w and are wrong, and then suggesting LoL as a model, which is truly P2W.

Where? League of Legends is NOT pay to win...if it is, please explain because if buying a skin gives you an advantage, I want to see where.

Really??! You are the one that started in on your usual SWTOR bashing and then brought up how superior these other one were.

A real shame you had to come in and ruin an interesting thread where everyone was being polite and informative.

 

You COULD have contributed the useful information that you put in your posts without spitting out the bile at SWTOR. The OP stated how much they enjoy this game and you slamming it at every opportunity will just make them not listen to the actually good points you make sometimes.

Again, go back to what I said earlier. I will repeat it just to make it easier for people like you. He said that you can't compare LoL and SWTOR because they are two different GAMES.

I said, as you quoted, yes but we are talking about different SUBSCRIPTION MODELS and comparing SWTORs to LoLs.

Simple enough now? And my post WAS polite, I just get annoyed when people jump in without reading or understanding what was said and then responding with bull.