Why are we charged for expansions?

[paperfire]

Our $15 subscription fee is paid so that the WoW devs develop new content for us. However currently, all the WoW devs are working on MoP, which we are expected to pay for. If you are subscribing to WoW right now, all of that money is being used to develop content that we are going to have to pay for. Why should a game with a subscription fee charge for expansions when subscription fees should pay for content development?

[SuperN]

I hate to say it but that is an excellent question.

[BobAwesome]

Running servers and paying for customer service isn't cheap.

[Generationwhy]

Our $15 subscription fee is paid so that the WoW devs develop new content for us. However currently, all the WoW devs are working on MoP, which we are expected to pay for. If you are subscribing to WoW right now, all of that money is being used to develop content that we are going to have to pay for. Why should a game with a subscription fee charge for expansions when subscription fees should pay for content development?

The same reason you are charged for most things...people will pay it.

[Sylaria]

Because..they need money?

Money makes the world go round, I have no clue why people here seem to think Blizzard runs on "Gumdrops and rainbows ^-^"

It's a COMPANY. Companies want MONEY. It is as simple as that.

Everquest had a 15$ fee, You had to pay for each expansion. -Shrugs-

[Biged781]

There are operational costs that go beyond development. Anyway, it really comes down to their decision. They could give away expansions.... but apparently they think that's a bad idea, so you pay for them. You really have no idea how much money it takes to run a game like WoW month after month (neither do I), so I'm not sure how you can conclude that they don't need to charge for xpacs.

[Sastank]

They are a business. It's one way they turn a profit...
Please, go run a video game company and DON'T charge for your merchandise. Let's see how well you do and how many people you can afford to employ.

[vesseblah]

Because Blizzard has done the math that shows this model gives them the biggest profit. You could just as well ask why you have to pay for a new car and then on top of that insurance, maintenance and gas too.

They aren't running WoW for charity but to make money, just like any other business.

[Amnestay]

It's a business, not a charity.

[Deleted]

well the difference in size of what they normally have to maintain and release for our subscription fees (a new raid and a questing hub) and something like an entirely new expansion can't really be compared. Ofc there is gonna be some additional costs

[Jakexe]

We pay subscription's for servers, tech support etc and for the FREE server updates, you know, those bunch of dungeons/raids you get for FREE ex. the monthlys. Expansions cost a lot of money to make, the developers pour a lot more resources to make those hence they deserve a little boost in profits.

[Bupert]

You don't pay each month for new content, you pay to play. New content is added to keep you coming back and to keep the game from getting stale.

[Adam Jensen]

Because Blizzard is a business.

[Mezzolith]

There are plenty of free-to-play MMOs that you can play.

I'd rather pay for occasional expansions rather than be nickle-and-dimed by an in game store to get anywhere in the game. Those little purchases add up quick.

[Deleted]

You get content in between expansions plus support and patching. Also, you don't play it solely on your machine, you play it on Blizzard's servers which cost money to acquire and maintain, so you basically pay a fee to "rent" their servers and you buy the expansions to access new content.

[Chaltione]

You buying the game is paid to the company. The company invests its money into developers and designers to create new content. The money spent on the expansion regains said investment.

You are in effect paying for the expansion to pay for work already done, the developers are working on content that the company will get paid for at release.

The subscription is for the service of maintaining the online world. (this includes hardware, connection, game masters, and all sorts of manual services)

[Deleted]

The OP has a point. We Pay 15/month so they keep developing content. We are now stuck with DS for a long time now and we don't get any content in the mean time. So why do they charge us EXTRA for that one compilation of content?

They can release the expansion over patches.

F.E.

Patch 5.0: MoP event and other class/ui changes etc.
x weeks
Patch 5.1: Zone a & b unlocked; you can start to level + pet battles + new race/class
x weeks
Patch 5.2: Zone c & d unlocked; more levels. throw some dailies in there for a special mount + rep for factions which can be useful when hit max level.
x weeks
Patch 5.3: zone e & f unlocked; you can now reach the max level and you unlock your special mount + some raids + the tillers dailies.
x weeks
Patch 5.4: Raid content + dungeons
x weeks
patch 5.5: end raid + dungeons

ta da!

no need to pay for an expansion.


Or They can make a small 'voucher' which they can sell for 9.99 euros to unlock the continent + pandaren and monk and give you a pet along with it.
As for CE; you'd get the above + OST + Guide for the whole Continent + extra's.

just my thoughts

[Thelxi]

Because a few million people around the world are throwing fistfuls of money at their business, screaming with pleads for them to accept it and ask for more. Then when Blizzard decides 90% of that money is profit, while fueling 10% into development of new content, the people thank and worship them.

That is why you pay for every expansion on top of everything else!

for example:

You get content in between expansions plus support and patching. Also, you don't play it solely on your machine, you play it on Blizzard's servers which cost money to acquire and maintain, so you basically pay a fee to "rent" their servers and you buy the expansions to access new content.

or

We pay subscription's for servers, tech support etc and for the FREE server updates, you know, those bunch of dungeons/raids you get for FREE ex. the monthlys. Expansions cost a lot of money to make, the developers pour a lot more resources to make those hence they deserve a little boost in profits.

or

Running servers and paying for customer service isn't cheap.

or

you don't have to buy expansions >.> the money they get from expansions helps them pay the bills and provide more content etc. it's not like the people who work at blizzard are millionaires :P

It also helps them put on events like blizzcon

[Kathranis]

Because it funds the creation of more stuff for the game.

Also, because it's simply the industry-wide standard. Expansions are a staple of the PC gaming market.

Blizzard puts a crapload of content into each expansion, and then released a crapload of additional content patches for free after the launch.

It's a good deal. There are MMORPGs which don't have content packs at all and instead sell new $40 expansions every year, with far less content than WoW's.


If you want to play a game for free, there are a lot of F2P games out there. I think you'll immediately recognize the difference in quality between a game that has a steady stream of income versus a game that has to rely on a cash shop to turn a profit.

[Huehuecoyotl]

Our $15 subscription fee is paid so that the WoW devs develop new content for us. However currently, all the WoW devs are working on MoP, which we are expected to pay for. If you are subscribing to WoW right now, all of that money is being used to develop content that we are going to have to pay for. Why should a game with a subscription fee charge for expansions when subscription fees should pay for content development?

shush, you will bring the Blizzard PR department out, telling you that "Blizzard is a company, they need to make money". "servers are expensive". "if you dont like it GTFO". but yes, you are absolutely right. the $15 a month should be what you are paying to continue to play the game. expansions should be things that Blizzard bring out to keep you playing the game (and keep you paying the $15 a month). but they realised they could charge people twice for the same thing, and get away with it.

then they got even more greedy, and realised they could charge people three times. so they created the Blizzard store and started charging for mounts, pets and so on.

putting all that to one side, the reason they do it is because they get away with it. because there are still people who are not only happy to be ripped off, they are positively encouraging it (at least they are if you believe some of the posters on here). until their customers start expecting more for their subs, they will carry on being treated poorly by Blizzard.