DCU Online Subscription Fee
According to Sony Online Entertainment’s Scott Gulbransen, there will be a $14.99 monthly subscription fee for the game. Considering this game is only online, that means if you want to play it you'll have to shell out $180 a year (give or take a few cents) to play. To me, that's ridiculous, and I'll tell you why. Let me just dust off my soapbox real quick.
The new trend in MMOs is make the game free but charge for in game transactions. This has been hugely successful for companies like Turbine, who have recently made Dungeons and Dragons Online free. The thing I love about this model is that it allows you to still pay the game without being stopped by a subscription fee. In this case, your character is really as strong as you're willing to spend on him/her. Basically, no commitment.
With the recently announced subscription fee for DCU Online, SOE has effectively taken what would have been a great experience and sullied it by the potential for profit. Will players pay the fee? Of course. Who doesn't want to create a superhero that becomes Batman's sidekick for a stint. It seems to me though that the fee will limit your potential audience that much more, especially since MMOs aren't quite proven on consoles.
Why couldn't SOE and DC keep the game subscription free and charge gamers for superhero/villain customization? To me that would seem like an immensely profitable model (because, let's face it, they're not making this game so much for the fans as they are for the dollar). Once you've created your character you could visit a superhero/supervillain "store" of sorts and outfit your character. A cape costs $1. Black boots cost $1. A badass rod to channel your electric power costs you $3. Things like that. Sure, neither situation is ideal to gamers, but the reality is that DC/SOE plan on capitalizing on this game in one way or another. It just sucks they're choosing the option that requires a monthly punch to your bank account.
Well chief...I hate to disagree with you but I am in the camp that feels the complete opposite on one condition. The subscription based model needs to be used to push out updates and expansions regularly to keep the game lively.
ReplyDeleteI hate the micro-transaction model as a gamer. "Buy this game, but you will only be truly powerful or be able to use the last 30% of the customization if you pay $2.50 ten different times."
Like you said at the end, neither situation is ideal. I mean honestly, game companies should all be non-profits and we should just get games for free while they find funding elsewhere! As long as they release content to support the monthly fee...more power to them. If they don't the game will fail, such is life.
This is how I look at it. If you play this game instead of going out one night a month (I don't care what you were going to do) you've made back your money. You don't have to give away your life to play a game, but one less movie, one less trip to the bar, hell one less trip to Wendy's and you've paid for your month. I prefer that to "I wish I had that cape, it looked cool...2 bucks, oh...a rod that would make me more powerful...3 bucks...OH...a BETTER rod...3 MORE bucks...ugh.
I also hate the micro-transaction model as a gamer, but I've realized that the publisher is making their money somehow. Personally, I'd much rather be able to play the game at all with no subscription fee and miss out on the cape and rod than to not play it all because of the subscription fee.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be so concerned if this were PC only, but the fact that it's also on PS3 means you have two different audiences in a sense: PC and consolers. Consolers aren't keen on subscriptions for their console games, and if Sony plans on charging for PSN down the road you're asking gamers to pay two subscription fees: one for PSN and one to play DCU Online.
they have already established that with the Playstation Plus network though. with that you dont have to pay to play online but would still be stuck with the 15 bucks a month
ReplyDeleteIt's a game at the end of the day and I'll be f**ked if I'm gonna pay $180 a year just to play a game.
ReplyDeleteIf they wanna sell updates then fair play, go ahead but if I spend $50 on a game that's all I want to spend.
Let's eb honest, it's not like they NEED the cash for christ sake.
I already have to pay $60 plus tax just for the damn game itself, why do i have to pay an additional $15 a month? if thats the case, then every update and every expansion should be absolutely free!!! call me crazy!
ReplyDelete"The subscription based model needs to be used to push out updates and expansions regularly to keep the game lively."
ReplyDeleteThis isn't always the case. World of Warcraft for example demands a monthly fee, and you pay another 30-ish bucks for every expansion. Sure you have the small updates every now and then, but in no way could those ever justify the huge sum of 180$/year.
Besides, comic book fans are already giving money for the comics of their favourite DC characters as well.
it's the downfall of an MMO fee's keep the servers and updates flowing and they still make you pay 10-30 bucks for an expansion which promises better things and it's still the same old. As an ex FF11 player of 6 years trust me when i say this MMO's of this depth will more than likely always have a fee attached. The bottom line is wether you choose to pay or not, in the end they'll still make their money wether you as a consumer choose to pay or not. and thus the circle of MMO life continues
ReplyDeleteI've been with City of Heroes for a couple years now. I don't mind the fifteen a month with all the free content they provide. Though I'll be damned if I pay for every single little tiny item for a character. That'll be the day I toss the tights in the trash and walk away for good.
ReplyDeleteAs much as i hate to, and i REALLY hate to...
ReplyDeleteI'm going to say theirs one game that I've played that does a micro-transaction system (SORT OF)right..and that would be wizard 101, WIZARD FREAKING 101... here is what they did, the ALMOST did it right...you could still buy items for your character but it was limited to mounts and aesthetic items and such, no unbalanced combat ect. But here is where they really excelled! They offered a subscription version of the game that unlocked all areas and you paid a certain amount per month, OR you could buy game currency and only unlock areas or items you wanted any time...no super items to make the game unfair and difficult just to move forward you would buy this currency and pay this small price, and thats not at all hard to do and there's no commitment! I would love to see this in more games seeing as wizard 101 is a kiddie game and not at all fun for me, anyone else agree?