Why are we charged for expansions?

[Kanegasi]

Our $15 subscription fee is paid so that the WoW devs develop new content for us.

A lot of people get this wrong. That $15 you pay each month is server fees and general license to use Blizzard's stuff. The expansion cost is what pays for the content.

[Byuiso]

The cost to host the servers- last I seen is less than 5,000$ a month. Server up-time is no expensive, though being Blizzard is a massive company they have to be able to fund other developing games, and pay developers to create these games.

[WarpKnight]

What gave you the idea Blizz was a not for profit charity? They're a business, not a foundation dedicated to keeping people entertained.

[Halicia]

A lot of people get this wrong. That $15 you pay each month is server fees and general license to use Blizzard's stuff. The expansion cost is what pays for the content.

Trion begs to differ.

But yeah, Blizzard is their own company. They can nickel and dime their players to death, if they choose to, but if Blizzard wants to remain the dominant force in the MMO industry, they'll have to make some painful choices to their 'cost structure' or competitors may not kill them outright, but they will slowly shave off sections of its playerbase.

[Shadzta]

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

Blizzard spends under 3% of their earnings from SUBSCRIPTIONS ALONE! on running servers and server maintainence etc...
15x10million = 150 million
150,000 dollars a day on servers x30 for 30 days a month. 4.5 million....so 4.5 million out of 150 million a month = 4.5m / 150m 0.03 x100 to make a percentage = 3% dead on. Thats not including race changes / faction changes etc etc. Yea they are raking in revenue dude...

[Hexotic]

there is more staff to pay when developing an expansion vs developing a patch.

[peedei]

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

Yes it is.

---------- Post added 2012-04-29 at 07:32 AM ----------

Simply put. Because we will pay for it.

Damn straight.

---------- Post added 2012-04-29 at 07:34 AM ----------

Except that the subscription alone costs $180 a year.

A year of gameplay + about 2 content patches is still better value for money than 3 console games unfortunately :<

---------- Post added 2012-04-29 at 07:35 AM ----------

because they can.

This too. Also because the community has very low standards as far demand and customer rights go.

[Pancaspe]

Why are we charged for gas?
Why do we pay taxes?
Why do we have to pay to see a Professional Baseball game?
Why do we have to pay to go to the top of the Empire State Building?
Why do we have to pay to take a Taxi?
Why do we have to pay to fly?
Why do we have to pay for underwear?

[Jahosaphat]

Think about it from their perspective... If you create something and people are willing to pay X amount of money for your product, what incentive do you have to give it away for free?

[hellosaltygoodness]

they're going to charge you for it because you're going to pay for it.

[Deleted]

blizz pay over 100.000 $ a day to keep servers up... then there money for the GM and all that... the money blizz earns from subs isn't as high as some people think

[Keristrasza]

Because they need to pay bills as well? You don't know where that money is going, so to assume that the subs is enough to pay for updates in content, you also have to add in paychecks, bills such as power and heating, upgrades to their systems and more. -.- It's not THAT big of a deal, buy it or you don't. You aren't forced to buy it, you just won't get to play with everyone else. I would rather pay for it than have them give it away, by adding a price it places a sort of flood gate on who would join this game. Community is bad enough without adding 100% more morons because the game suddenly was VERY accessible.

[Deleted]

The cost to host the servers- last I seen is less than 5,000$ a month. Server up-time is no expensive, though being Blizzard is a massive company they have to be able to fund other developing games, and pay developers to create these games.

That's the kind of of crap wikipedia kids like to put out and act as experts, lol. I did cover this in page 2 but unfortunately none of the internet doctors cared to reply since they don't know jack about what they're talking so they just mindlessly repeat whatever totalbiscuit or some dude said on the forums/youtube.

EDIT: Aside from all the datacenter expenses I listed on my page 2 post there's also the salaries that must be paid all throughout the company. Somehow people always forget the salaries, and then they criticize it as "evil capitalism". The irony... It's palpable.

We could also get started on dividends, licensing, distribution and see all the wikipedia folks scramble shouting "what the internetz is an 'ooking' dividend!?"

[Deleted]

I don't know why they don't just provide the expansions for free but charge more for the subscription. Maybe there is something good about the burst of revenue generated from the sale of an expansion.

[Christan]

lets give a few real life options for the "we pay a subscription which pays for the content, but we get charged for the expansion"
"i paid for the car, yet i still have to pay for gasoiline, also i have to pay for repairs" greedy car companies! i paid for the car so they should do a $300 repair for free
or if you do not like that anology

"i rent this house, i pay monthly rent, i want to repaint the walls, but i have to pay for that also" ohh yes the owners of the house should pay to repaint your walls to keep you happy (blizz should give free expansions because we pay monthly)

ohh and house owners?

i own this house, ofc i have to pay to paint the walls, but i also have to pay the gov't property taxes and homeowners insurance"

i could go on and on... you really should be happy with not having to pay extra for content patches, it is like some people coming in saying they will clean your carpets for free once(content patches) so you will come back and pay for future services(expansion) it makes no sense in the real world, but blizz does do content patches for free.

[Frizzlewits]

perhaps wrath will become free, like bc has become free

[xanzul]

Fact is they shouldnt charge any money for expansions because they gain more than enough from subscriptions to pay for servers,employers, future wow content etc, but they will charge 40 $ for it because its gona mean more profit for them and majority of ppl are wiling to pay that price.

You know what? It is none of your god damn business how much money any company makes. Want to control it? STOP BUYING THEIR PRODUCTS.

[Spellsword]

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

Actually it is.

Blizzard cares about money, that's all. They are a business, not a gaming company.

Lol @ renobs comparing RL to a game.. a game should not have a monthly fee, sorry. I have no problem paying for insurance on my car in real life though.

[xanzul]

Trion begs to differ.

But yeah, Blizzard is their own company. They can nickel and dime their players to death, if they choose to, but if Blizzard wants to remain the dominant force in the MMO industry, they'll have to make some painful choices to their 'cost structure' or competitors may not kill them outright, but they will slowly shave off sections of its playerbase.

Blizzard's business model seems to be working for them given even after 7 years they are still able to maintain double the subscriber base of all their competitors. If consumers truly had an issue with Blizzard's prices wouldn't they be going to other mmos? And yes herp derp 2 million subscribers and all that but Blizzard could lose another 5 million and still be perfectly fine.

---------- Post added 2012-04-29 at 05:02 AM ----------

I don't know why they don't just provide the expansions for free but charge more for the subscription. Maybe there is something good about the burst of revenue generated from the sale of an expansion.

It is amusing how oblivious people are to simple economics.[COLOR="red"]

[Pull My Finger]

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?

I could tell you things about pricing and economy that would totally turn your world upside down. We don't want that, do we.