Polychromatic Thematis

I’ve been waiting for some major MMO to try this shift.  There are already more free-2-play MMO’s than you can shake a stick at, but the vast majority where all built that way from the beginning, using a specific strategy that’s already been proven for the most part.

DDO is the first MMO that I’m aware of that has shifted from the traditional western design of $15/month to F2P. And reports thus far are that it’s a resounding success, at least initially.

Ars Technica : http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/10/ddo-free-to-play.ars

The AT article mentions that the game is F2P, and there aren’t any restrictions really.  You can reach max level, trade, get good gear. Expanded content and special items can be bought with Turbine Points, which you can also earn in game instead of paying cash for.  Turbine is reporting that there has been a huge influx of players, and while of course not all of them are voluntarily dishing out money, those that are, on average are actually spending MORE than $15 a month.

This brings an interesting point up, which actually parallels to LAN centers in one respect.  If you dictate that your MMO costs $15 a month, then you will not receive more than $15/month/player.  You have effectively capped your own potential income, given a limited audience size.  In the same way, if a LAN center has an all-day pass that is to low priced, everyone will grab it, and you will never get more than (daypass x stations = $) in revenue.  However if you remove the potential cap by letting people spend what they want, then they will often surprise you.  Some will pay less, others will pay more.  Assuming you’re doing everything else right, you may very well end up with a lot more than you had before, and you didn’t really have to do anything except expand the customer’s choices.