Can Anet pull this off?

[Shadzta]

I do believe at one point, WoW servers were costing Blizzard almost $140,000 per day to maintain. Not cheap at all.

kk so lets break this down 10.8million subs as of their quarter 4 2011 presentation thingy that came out not so long ago...so lets just say 10 million. easier number
15x10million = 150 million...thats as of latest blizzard posting not including the 12+ million of previous years etc. so lets say you were right about the 140000 a day....over what 100+ servers....lets have a look at a 30 day time period of server cost. 140000x30=4.2 million. a month...so in a month of making 150 million the cost of servers being 4.2...lets look at that as a percentage. 4.2/150 = 2.8%...

2.8% of the SUBSCRIPTIONS ALONE go towards cost of running servers. Now in a world where companies rightfully shouldnt pay for bug fixes for their product and yet those free to play models are still very popular, moba's are a fine example League of Legends etc. Its jack shit worth of money to them. And now lets have a look at say 8 months of no new content no more tier shit etc...eg 4.3 til expansion pack. 150mill a month. 150x8=1200million over 8 months of no more tier content etc. Do you comprehend now? Trust us, its nothing to what your assuming.

Now lets look at free to play models. F2P models use microtransactions to produce some income that outside of the original purchase funds them enough. Guild wars 1 which despite popular belief was very popular and still retains decent numbers today. My personal opinion is i didn't really like Guild Wars 1. But clearly there are those that did. They did major content "patches" that we are familiar with in WoW as expansion packs. Which is what it should be without subs. Now lets take a look at another Free to play model that doesnt even require you to buy the game at all. League of Legends...they bring out a new champion every 2 weeks. Which usually has some balancing changes to that patch as well. Their ENTIRE revenue comes from microtransactions that do not make your character anymore powerful than others...you can;t buy special runes with money...it is purely cosmetic or quality of life stuff ( things like more rune pages ). More so you don't NEED to pay for them at all. No one is forcing you. Yet now its one of the most popular moba's out. It can certainly be done.

TL;DR - 2.8% a month is the percentage of cost you are suggesting...its nothing.

---------- Post added 2012-02-19 at 03:30 AM ----------

I'd be shocked to see this. I have a feeling those number will be MUCH higher.

Not even counting that it's the most highly anticipated game in at least the last few years.
No subscription fee also means every kid with parents/aunts/uncles etc can ask for it for a present. It's the same reason Xbox's and PS3's are popular, especially with the younger crowd; a kid can ask for one for christmas. That's something they can't do for gaming rigs. It's as simple as that.

---------- Post added 2012-02-19 at 02:07 PM ----------

Blizzard make enough money from WoW to fund Diablo 3 development, Titan development, what little development WoW still receives and still makes hundreds of millions of dollars.

I think Anet will be fine.

And for the record; server costs (for WoW) are so minimal that in their EOFY reporting that it is shown, literally, as a footnote. Server costs don't even make it in to the main reporting.

The truly great thing about this game will be the fact that if the content is great which so far there isn't a single thing about it that doesnt scream amazing and unique. With no sub fee, you aren't being punished for trying it out...It will reel a lot more in than tradition sub based MMO's from word of mouth etc...after the game has been out for say a month or 2 word will spread its free once you buy it. I can see the numbers expanding exponentially.

[GeordieMagpie]

Let's take this example.

We have 10 people in the room.

To play game A, you need to pay 1 dollar per week and pay 2 dollars to get it.

To buy GAME B you need 2 dollars.

Game A might eventually get more money because you need to keep paying, but more overall people from those ten will buy B, not to mention GW has alot of expacs, hell the reason it's F2P is one of the main reasons Im getting it, besides the fact it looks awesome.

[BatteredSausage]

probably not no, because gamers demand more out of a game then in the past, and i doubt anet can deliver this holy grail that alot of people seem to think it will be.

[Razeo]

Let's take this example.

We have 10 people in the room.

To play game A, you need to pay 1 dollar per week and pay 2 dollars to get it.

To buy GAME B you need 2 dollars.

Game A might eventually get more money because you need to keep paying, but more overall people from those ten will buy B, not to mention GW has alot of expacs, hell the reason it's F2P is one of the main reasons Im getting it, besides the fact it looks awesome.

Just a correction though, GW and GW2 is B2P not F2P

Anyway I <3 your avatar, awesome game!

[StationaryHawk]

Let's take this example.

We have 10 people in the room.

To play game A, you need to pay 1 dollar per week and pay 2 dollars to get it.

To buy GAME B you need 2 dollars.

Game A might eventually get more money because you need to keep paying, but more overall people from those ten will buy B, not to mention GW has alot of expacs, hell the reason it's F2P is one of the main reasons Im getting it, besides the fact it looks awesome.

Understandable, but you have to take into account the quality of game A and B in order for it to be comparable.

Not that GW2 will have any trouble with having a very high quality. It's going to work perfectly fine being B2P.

[Eggoman]

GW 1 was good enough to make a sequel. Yes they can pull it off because they already did and it will be even better because there are probably ~1 million people tired of the standard MMO games waiting for something new and different to come out.

[Malthurius]

probably not no, because gamers demand more out of a game then in the past, and i doubt anet can deliver this holy grail that alot of people seem to think it will be.

Whether the game is great or not is irrelevant to this discussion. It's about whether a b2p model can work, which it can and has been proven to.

[BatteredSausage]

Whether the game is great or not is irrelevant to this discussion. It's about whether a b2p model can work, which it can and has been proven to.

Right so i know you gw fans dont like negative feedback in your little sub forum but tough shit,
question = Can Anet pull this off?
my answer = probably not.
Would it of made a difference if i said game/servers/b2p etc etc?

whats not relevent to the thread?
If you dont want to see negative responses or other peoples opinions, stop looking through forums.

[Malthurius]

Right so i know you gw fans dont like negative feedback in your little sub forum but tough shit,
question = Can Anet pull this off?
my answer = probably not.

whats not relevent to the thread?

I knew you'd reply to me quickly.

Read what you quoted, I told you exactly what was irrelevant. Read the OP. Guild Wars 2 might be absolute shit, doesn't change the fact the the answer to the question is "yes".

[BatteredSausage]

I knew you'd reply to me quickly.

Read what you quoted, I told you exactly what was irrelevant. Read the OP. Guild Wars 2 might be absolute shit, doesn't change the fact the the answer to the question is "yes".

Touche.
So this thread is basically a rhetorical question thread, if so why bother making it on a forum...where people voice there opinions.
Go bother someone else.

[Holyshnikies]

Yes they can pull it off. Its not 1996. Technology and internet has changed a lot

I've never played Guild Wars before. Ive been playing WoW since 2007. Tried Rift for a little bit during the summer. Never played it since.

But GW2... I actually think this one might be a " wow killer ". And I've never said that before. lol.

[Malthurius]

Touche.
So this thread is basically a rhetorical question thread, if so why bother making it on a forum...where people voice there opinions.
Go bother someone else.

It wasn't a rhetorical question. It was a question based on lack of knowledge (IE, can you have a successful MMO without a sub fee), and the answer to that question is: Yes.

The OP has already acknowledged the answer, and a lot of the posts here have already been repeated, but that's just the nature of forums.

Sorry, I was just taking advantage of a post I felt was trying to get a rise out of people. I am kind of bored.

[Lumocolor]

I like the GW2 model myself. I don't know much about the game itself and i don't know if i'll even check it out, but i like companies who have confidence in what they are producing and believe that it is quality enough that people will buy it. It means they actually have to listen to what people want and would be willing to pay for instead of doing whatever they want and still get $15 if it's a subpar product.

[skrump]

Guild wars had a pretty substantial playerbase that will most likely migrate to guild wars2, I am not one to claim omg it's a wow killer, but considering the business model combined with just how awesome the Gw franchise is I can see it taking a massive bite out of wow's playerbase once gw2 is released.

[Mkalafut]

probably not no, because gamers demand more out of a game then in the past, and i doubt anet can deliver this holy grail that alot of people seem to think it will be.

Well we'll see who has the last laugh. You probably haven't done much research on the game to say something like that or you just plain don't like it. Either way it's fine. Naysayers will naysay which is fine. The topic is about the buy to play model, not the game play mechanics. And on topic, yes they will pull it off. By the way myself and thousands of other people still play GW1.. It's a very active game with tons of people still playing it, participating in events, etc. And it's buy to play. So if they can keep a game alive for as long as WoW has been out without charging a monthly fee, obviously yes they can pull it off.

[Kickbuttmario]

I do believe at one point, WoW servers were costing Blizzard almost $140,000 per day to maintain. Not cheap at all.

Actually, the costs for running the servers are no where near $140,000 a day. It is around $120,000 a month to maintain.

The costs of running the servers are very small, thus the expenses aren't much a problem.

[BlairPhoenix]

Touche.
So this thread is basically a rhetorical question thread, if so why bother making it on a forum...where people voice there opinions.
Go bother someone else.

The point of making a thread around a 'rhetorical question' is to get people's opinions...It helps when you're giving the opinion on the subject that the OP is asking about though. Seriously, since you seem so well versed in how forums are you think you'd know that reading the original posts of thread is the least you should do before actually posting in said thread.

[Itikadi]

i think based on the wild success of GW 1 and what appears to be the even larger success of GW2 i do believe they will pull it off with flying colors, and enough pay content to make sure they stay afloat comfortable for some time.

[Rife]

It will reel a lot more in than tradition sub based MMO's from word of mouth etc...

This goes along with what I was trying to say.

One cannot compare GW2 launch sales numbers to any other (dare I say it) current MMO. 1 Million for SW:TOR is nice but GW2 will be an entirely new ballgame.

But MMOs in general are a small slice of the video game market.

Good point. I think that GW2 is going to have a much larger potential market than a conventional MMO though. No subscription fee brings in many gamers who refuse to pay for a game past buying the box and people who simply cannot afford it. Removal of the 'gear treadmill' will also open up the games appeal to people who don't have hundreds of hours to plough into a game to stay up to date. I also wouldn't underestimate the huge market pull that a truly competitive esport can bring in. Players will be able to play on a truly even playing field with regard to gear without needing to grind out weeks of matches to get geared. Finally, removal of the hardcore raiding schedule will bring even more players in. Those guys who like the game but don't like the raiding or don't have the time etc. The smaller groups should encourage friends to play together rather than joining guilds for the sole purpose of participating in endgame content.

I think the word of mouth buzz that will accompany this will be huge. There are simply too many drawbacks to other MMO's to easily talk your friends into trying an MMO like WoW. "Hey dude, come play WoW, buy the game, get a subscription, level to X so you can quest/raid with me, then keep playing so you can keep up and lets hope it's fun. Try not to level faster/slower than me or play much when I'm not around etc". There is simply too many hoops to jump through.
Wheras GW2 would be something along the lines of "Hey dude, come play GW2, buy the game, log in and I'll come quest with you, we can do PvP if you want too, or hit up that dynamic event. You can play whenever and do whatever and no matter what we can still play the same things together. Even if you don't have much time now or have a sporadic schedule that's fine too because you won't be at a disadvantage or anything for not raiding 9/12 hours a week, but you might miss out on some of this badass gear I have."

A truly casual-friendly MMO that doesn't benefit one kind of player at the expense of the other kind (hardcore vs casual).

/tangent end

[Fencers]

^ Oh yea. Totally.