P2P was a good option in times long time ago where players would stick with MMO for a long time. Right now the mentality is to jump from one MMO to another as soon as people reach max level and do some end game.

So there is no way that any MMO will be able to survive in the future on only subscriptions alone. B2P, Freemiums, F2P are all good options. And all game developers will have to have it ready to go even if initially they will start with P2P.

Originally posted by Sevenstar61

P2P was a good option in times long time ago where players would stick with MMO for a long time. Right now the mentality is to jump from one MMO to another as soon as people reach max level and do some end game.

So there is no way that any MMO will be able to survive in the future on only subscriptions alone. B2P, Freemiums, F2P are all good options. And all game developers will have to have it ready to go even if initially they will start with P2P.

Pretty much. Sure games back in the day (released 1997-2004) could stay P2P for years or even up to a decade, or longer. There wasn't as much competition, and a few of them were able to establish a "Legacy" and release anywhere from half a dozen to over a dozen mini/major expansions. I've pointed this out time and time again. Look at all the MMORPGs released from 2006 till now.

Only about 6-7 of those released in that time period still operate under a strictly P2P business model. All the others (in that same time period) have either shut down or gone F2P with severe server merges. There are about 600 online games out there right now. Also take notice that the majority of the games released post 2005 pretty much either tried to copy previous games with maybe adding 1 new thing to the MMO table. And of those 6, the only one doing "decent" is RIFT. That’s it.

That isn't enough these days with so many options given to the players. The Elders doesn't look like they are going to release anything that is different than from what we already have. Maybe. The risk of going P2P is that usually mass exodus ensues within 3-6 months. Then companies go into panic mode and take their sweet time before they do the "dreaded" server merge. By the time they do, it usually means a reduction of 80%-90% of their initial servers... with the eventual announcement of F2P... or worst case scenario P2W down the line.

Let’s look at recent or upcoming games with some sort of hype or major hype:

Guild Wars 2: B2P

TERA: High risk of going F2P (it isn’t a question of if but when with their recent announcement)

The Secret World: High risk of going F2P (it isn’t a question of if but when with their recent announcement)

Phantasy Star Online 2: While the initial stages had a possibility of going P2P, SEGA ultimately decided to go F2P.

Blade & Soul: Open to which model they will be using. They acknowledged that all of their titles have either closed down or have gone F2P with severe server merges in the West (article posted this year from Massively). There is a chance they may follow suite with Guild Wars 2 model.

ArcheAge: One of the few titles that may go B2P or P2P.

World of Darkness: CCP might use the B2P or P2P model.

FFXIV 2.0: Even Yoshida said in an interview this year that he would welcome it and is currently looking into the F2P model. 2 questions were centralized around the F2P model.

EXTREMELY SHORT VERSION: Of those games listed I could see World of Darkness and ArcheAge going P2P. FFXIV is heavily dependent on how 2.0 is going to be received. But besides those 2… from now till 2014… I really can’t see any other MMORPG using the P2P business model for the long-term, without having the high risk of having the mass exodus ensue.

Originally posted by roo67

Originally posted by Caldrin

No should be sub based... and no cash shop..

 

So I guess your prepared for the almost inevitable free to play conversion within a year or two and the cash shop that goes with it then ? Very few modern games can charge a sub and have any kind of success .

So.

They charge a sub fee.  Then if the game does not do as well as needed, they will make a change to cash shop and free to play.  In the meantime, they will make enough money to pay their employees and make an expansion.  The game is going to sell based off it's name.  And ultimately, very few MMO's stay sub based these days.  So what is the big deal?

You act as if it's such a horrible thing.  

Darkfall continues to charge a sub, with a dead playerbase and a game that is so riddled with bugs that they have had to literally scrap the game and create a new one.  If they can do it off of what little they made, I'm sure TESO will do just fine.

I voted yes since it will more than likely already have a cash shop in place. It seems cash shops are here to stay.

Originally posted by wonderwise
"Games are better because we pay subs" I lol at this mentality these day.

"Free games are Free" I lol at this mentality these days.

It should be sub, but if you create a mod which takes care of some of their bugs you get credit for a couple months.

I'm saying this because they can't release a working game without third party mods to fix it- get it?  Though I think their games are really good when heavily modded.

B2P with cashshop like any EA game, so I can avoid it.

Originally posted by TalulaRose
No, too many freeloaders in the genre.

^^ THIS!

It amazes me how anti-sub people are these days.  $15 a month is dirt cheap in terms of entertainment.  F2P always comes with cash shop item gouging tacked on, and I have no idea how people find that attractive.

Originally posted by ShakyMo
Pure sub, no box price, no expansion boxes,no cash shop

Eve has the best pay model.

Unless they changed something, I had to buy the game in addition to the sub.  It wasn't much, maybe $10 or $20, but it wasn't free either.

Originally posted by asmkm22

It amazes me how anti-sub people are these days.  $15 a month is dirt cheap in terms of entertainment.  F2P always comes with cash shop item gouging tacked on, and I have no idea how people find that attractive.

Read the sig.