Complicated payment structures: a bad idea?

[Ellie Jane]

I am not necessarily planning a commercial game at this stage, but I am looking at options for if my game picks up massively and needs funds to sustain it.

If I ever did it commercially, I would want to use a "pay what you like" model, like Humble Bundle (but the starting price would be £0).

I would also want to provide the option for more ardent fans to pay more and get something in return - and as the game has monthly hosting fees a subscription might provide that constant revenue needed.

So I thought perhaps something like this:

- The game is pay as you like, £0+, suggested price £20.

- You can subscribe £2.50 a month. This gets you a title, early access to some content releases, a private discussion board, and a club house (no game breaking bonuses though, so no pay to win)

- For every £2.50 you pay in the pay as you like bit, you'll get a month's subscription too

- Pay £20 and you'll get a year, pay £50 and you'll get a lifetime subscription

But then some people like physical content. So there might be a boxed game for £25 (that includes the annual subscription), and a boxed collector's edition for £75 (that includes the lifetime subscription). Boxed game would be a box, a disc, and thin style manual. Basically a physical game. Collector's ed would have gimmicks such as a wax stamped certificate, and other merchandise.

Is that too many things going on, or could it work? Am I just overcomplicating things?

Once again I'm not necessarily planning a commercial game, but if a few hundred people started suddenly joining I would have to out of necessity.

 

[Warpmind]

I'm just wondering how a subscription system would work for an RPG Maker game... Can't see the applicability of a subscription model to a single downloadable game. An online game, yes, but RPG Maker is hardly the most suitable engine for that.
For that matter, your prices seem highly optimistic for the scope you're suggesting; twenty pounds seem closer to what one would expect for an AAA game a little while after release, not a, well, non-AAA game some time after release.

The physical copy idea has merit, though; you might want to consider the alternative to a disc - a small USB stick with the game logo on it.

 

[Matseb2611]

Yeah, I also don't see much point in the monthly subscription idea. That stuff is usually only done by MMOs, but there's no reason really to do that for a single player indie game.

I also agree with Warpmind about the prices. You kind of have to make them match your competitors. There are a lot of indie and RM games out there for much less than £20, so you'll have a hard time enticing potential players with that sort of price tag, because they would simply go for a cheaper game that looks just as promising. This goes double if this is your first game and you're still an unknown developer in the gaming community.

 

[Parallax Panda]

I think it could work because it is, kind of, similar to how crowdfunding works. That is, you let your true fans pay for development and expenses, but at the same time this is the weakness of your strategy. If you have a loyal following who is willing to pay you can get funded, else you will give the game away for free. Some of those people might never have bought your game anyway if it were not free, so it does not matter. But others might have, and that is a hypothetical loss in sales.

It's difficult for me to say what is the best strategy would be for you and your game(s?). But if you are going to give people the option of not paying for it, be prepared that the vast majority of people won't. You will need that die hard fanbase, or you need to sweeten the deal to make those hypothetical buyers open their wallets even though they don't have to.
You had a few things listed and those might work, I don't know. How are you going to distrubute your game by the way? Through your own website in a play online format? Are you only trying to make enough money to substain the cost of having it online? In that case you might consider paypal donations or something similar.

I have actually thought a lot about very similar market strategies myself since it is very hard to actually get paid for RPG maker made games in the traditional way. I have yet to find a perfect solution though.

 

[Wavelength]

I think you're fine with that... although I'm not sure how much physical media costs to produce, I don't think small batches come cheap.  So unless you're literally making the boxes and such yourself, you might want to wait until you're in the tens of thousands of copies sold to start going physical.

I like the idea of giving a few months subscription for people who pay GBP2.50+, too - it's a nice hook to get them to keep up their subscription if they're enjoying it.

 

[Mouser]

You talked about hosting costs, so I'm assuming this game is online in some way. 

Take a look at other games out there and what they are _successfully_ charging money for. I think I can count the number of pure subscription based games on one hand at this point. $20 (US) is what I just paid for Skyrim with all expansions unlocked. There are tons of GREAT games in the $10 and under club. Any game available on Big Fish Games ('casual' titles like HOPA's, time management, and some point and click adventures) can be had for under $4 (excluding Collector's Editions which can be had for $8).

So what is selling?

In. Game. Swag.

Charge them for a colorful hat, or a pretty pony to ride, or weapon upgrades (temporary, of course, for 'balance' reasons - like the easy fatalities in Mortal Combat X). Stuff that really doesn't mess with the mechanics of the game, but lets people look at their screen and feel good about themselves and the money they've spent.

Keeping the 'base' game free and single-charging to unlock expansions also seems to work. Keep the prices nice and low though. 1 GBP may even be too high, but I don't know what Brits are used to dropping as pocket change and what all the finance charges for handling involved would be. Of course, if you come up with a plastic toy line that lets you 'pop' objects into your game somehow you've just made your own printing press <.<

 

[Shaz]

Amy Pond is making an online multiplayer game. She just didn't state it in her first post


I really don't have much experience with this sort of stuff, but I can tell you that if you set the minimum as $0, most people will pay $0.


I would consider a free "glimpse" into what the game is like - give them access to a small area, a couple of quests. If they want more, that's when they have to start paying - even if you set it at a flat $5 for open access and then start building up the tiers for extra content/abilities/privileges.


Sorry I'm not much help.

 

[Helladen]

Players like cosmetic items, give them the game for free just charge them to look cool. Everyone wins.

 

[Nightshade]

Players like cosmetic items, give them the game for free just charge them to look cool. Everyone wins.

yeah your get money and more players to play your game. the number one turn off with online games is timed items. that annoys so many people. maple story notorious for that. make all cash items perm at a fair price your good to go.

making your money grab pure cosmetic is also a BIG WIN for you. players LOVE THAT. having only to pay for looks everyone will be welling to do that.

 

[taarna23]

I think as long as you don't lock any standard gameplay or progression behind a paywall, you would probably be fine. People pay all the time for cosmetic changes (character appearance, gender, race, faction affiliation, player housing, spell graphics colours/style) and even boosts (XP, money/item/rare item drop rates) all the time. The only exception to the first part might be an addition of enough content to be considered an expansion.

 

[Ignus Studios]

Honestly, I feel like it would be a pain in the ass to manage. Like I'm not sure if this payment method melds well with RPG maker, though if you got that handled and its an online game than I don't see why not. Like Shaz said, most people will just pay 0$. Having a subscription model for maybe something like a 'Subscribers shop' where they can get cool cosmetic items would work. I've played games that done that and it actually got me to put some money down. 

 

[txtk]

If it's an online multiplayer game I strongly suggest a simple system: Players can play the game free of charge. If they wants to be stronger, goodies, weapons etc. they can buy the goodies. I think it's much better that way. That's also a proven way. Most Western and almost every (99%) online games in the Vietnamese/Chinese market using this system.

 

[Warpmind]

If Free to Play is on the table, I recommend watching this:




In fact, I recommend spending a while watching Extra Credits' videos on the subjects of publishing and monetization.