[gameprogrammer] RES: Indy MMOG - How much to charge?

Hi,

I'm reading a book about being an indies and survive and the writer is owner
of Samu Games. Maybe his fees could apply to you. Anyway, the link is
http://www.samugames.com/artifact/pricingandterms.htm

I hope I can help! Good luck!
Dirso

-----Mensagem original-----
De: gameprogrammer-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:gameprogrammer-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] Em nome de Kevin Jenkins
Enviada em: sábado, 28 de abril de 2007 17:04
Para: gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Assunto: [gameprogrammer] Indy MMOG - How much to charge?

With my Indy MMOG coming near it's time to decide how much to charge. 
  I'd like to ask the list advice on what is good price from both the 
perspective of the developer and as the owner.

For background, my MMOG is a action-based space shooter.  It's based 
on short-play sessions that are fun, and your interactions with other 
people in a competitive context.  While there are levels and items, 
they are a minor side part of the game.  It is not like a traditional 
MMOG where the point it is explore a huge world and collect stuff. 
It's closer to Planetside in that regard, though on a much smaller scale.

The MMOG value in the game comes from that the server zones can have 
up to 500 players - not something you will see on a standard match of 
Battlefield 2142.  Also, there are persistent rankings, characters, 
and zone events.  The kind of stuff you get from hosted games.

So I'm faced with the question of how much to charge.

One argument is that I should charge something near what other online 
games charge.  This argument goes that people value their time more 
than the usual rate $15 a month - the market is quality sensitive over 
time sensitive.  Charging $5 instead of $15 only loses $10.

The other argument is that I should charge much less.  The argument 
goes that since my game is simpler and cost less to make, it should 
according cost less.  People who are price sensitive will play and 
having more people play is better than less since community also in 
itself draws players.

A few differences:

I'm not charging for the game itself.  Other MMOGs charge $50 for the 
first month and $15 for every month thereafter.  I am simply charging 
$X per month.

Credit card transaction fees for me are very high.  If I were to 
charge $5 a month, the transaction fees are about 5% of my total revenue.

I need to scale slowly because I don't have the capacity to support 
more than 10,000 players at launch.

Right now I'm considering the following

$15 a month - I want to start high to grow slowly, and I'm still 
cheaper as other games are $50 for the first month.

$7 a month - I should charge proportional to the development costs. 
This will help me compete in a crowded market.

$20 for 3 months only - This minimizes credit card fees, and is still 
affordable to the average person.

$8 for one month, $20 for 3 months, $35 for 6 months - Minimizes 
credit card fees, allows players to pick what they can afford.

So as gamers on this list as well as developer, what do you think I 
should start out charging?

Thanks.

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