Many people who know friends or relatives who play online computer games will be very aware of the likes of World of Warcraft, a game that requires dedication, time, and persistence to progress far. This game in particular requires the user to fork out a specific fixed amount for each month they play the game, providing the creators of the game Blizzard Entertainment a considerable amount of revenue, considering their 8 million+ registered users. However, what people may not be aware of are the free-to-play games out there that also create revenue.

Hang on a second - I thought you said they were free?

Yes, they are free to sign up and to play ongoing, however there are elements in these games that drive very successful revenue models, now becoming more prevalent within the online computer gaming industry. While World of Warcraft operates on a monthly subscription, many free entry games employ paid elements within their gaming experience, in order to generate revenue. An example is highlighted below:

One Simple Example: The Online Item Shop

Traditionally, in a RPG, a character is equipped with items found as loot from monsters within the game. When a player requires a particular weapon or power-up for their in game character, there are two ways to get it. One way is to hunt a monster hours on end in the hope that a rare item drops purely by chance. Another way is to simply pay a nominal fee (say UD $5) in the real world to dispatch that same item to your character.

So What? What’s the Significance?

Take into consideration the large user base within an MMORPG, and you have yourself an easy revenue stream - particularly when you a company can create different items and set prices according to it’s demand. Combine this with iterative game expansions, and the ability to create items on the fly and pricing. Also, this model helps promote a higher average spend from players which is unlimited. A fixed pric subscription based RPG will only be able to capture a static $30 or so dollars a month, where as hardcore gamers who want to collect item sets and the like has the ability to pay as much as they want. This emulates old pricing models used with mobile phones where users used to be charges per call/message sent: a classic tale of demand of a service driving revenue.

Looking Forward

It takes a lot of guts to implement a pricing model such as the one above, as it requires constant upkeep and maintenance to make sure that a particular item does not upset the economies in the game. The same way a cheap mercedes benz may tarnish the very luxury image of the more expensive A and S class Benz series. This model has been proven to be largely successful in adoption within the south-east asian markets, and are only just reaching the shores of Australasia Pacific down under. Only time will tell if this model has the same affect as its Asian counter-parts.

If you would like to read more about free to play, check out the following blog: FreeToPlay.biz

—————-
Now playing: AIR - Sex Born Poison
via FoxyTunes

Popularity: 67% [?]

Comments