I wouldn't be all that shocked by a subscription to play a game. I don't think they'd ever come out and say, this "you must pay us for anticheat." That would open them to legal liability, as cheaters are going nowhere yet you are paying to not have them.
It would be much simpler to make some spiel about "we charge monthly to provide you a great service we can't do with a free model, better servers, more monitoring for cheaters, blah, blah, blah."
I don't know how many players that would run off though. They make so much money off their skins and P2W things, should they not just focus on getting an additional $20 a month from players by selling them more garbage?
We don't give them money. I always use Call of Duty as an example because it's something I know and it was not fueled by microtransactions. Not only do they out-sell previous titles, for example Modern Warfare 2 in 2022 broke all of their records, but then from reports I've seen they make $5 million per day from all the bullshit they sell. I believe it too, I played it a few months ago with my cousin on a "free weekend." My observation, 75% of players at minimum have a current-release cosmetic skin, which costs $20-$30.
Roblox is publicly traded, in the last 12 months their revenue was $3.16 billion. I have no idea how they don't make money. Talk to any < 13 year old kid and see how many Roblox gift cards they have gotten for birthday presents. It's a TON.
Then you come to someone like me, it pains me to pay $70 for a new game. I actually don't think I ever have. I rarely pirate, I take advantage of sales. Let's assume there's an annual release game that launches working and complete and I value having enough to spend $70 on every year. They have to sell 45 million copies annually to match that Roblox money. It's just not going to happen.
Edit to add for context: Nintendo games often fit that last model. As an example, Zelda Breath of the Wild has sold over 30 million copies. Being one of if not the most sold games on Switch. They would have to do that every year, and still come out behind.
I wouldn't be all that shocked by a subscription to play a game. I don't think they'd ever come out and say, this "you must pay us for anticheat." That would open them to legal liability, as cheaters are going nowhere yet you are paying to not have them.
It would be much simpler to make some spiel about "we charge monthly to provide you a great service we can't do with a free model, better servers, more monitoring for cheaters, blah, blah, blah."
I don't know how many players that would run off though. They make so much money off their skins and P2W things, should they not just focus on getting an additional $20 a month from players by selling them more garbage?
We don't give them money. I always use Call of Duty as an example because it's something I know and it was not fueled by microtransactions. Not only do they out-sell previous titles, for example Modern Warfare 2 in 2022 broke all of their records, but then from reports I've seen they make $5 million per day from all the bullshit they sell. I believe it too, I played it a few months ago with my cousin on a "free weekend." My observation, 75% of players at minimum have a current-release cosmetic skin, which costs $20-$30.
Roblox is publicly traded, in the last 12 months their revenue was $3.16 billion. I have no idea how they don't make money. Talk to any < 13 year old kid and see how many Roblox gift cards they have gotten for birthday presents. It's a TON.
Then you come to someone like me, it pains me to pay $70 for a new game. I actually don't think I ever have. I rarely pirate, I take advantage of sales. Let's assume there's an annual release game that launches working and complete and I value having enough to spend $70 on every year. They have to sell 45 million copies annually to match that Roblox money. It's just not going to happen.
Edit to add for context: Nintendo games often fit that last model. As an example, Zelda Breath of the Wild has sold over 30 million copies. Being one of if not the most sold games on Switch. They would have to do that every year, and still come out behind.