Pan'Theon: Rise' of th'e Fal'Len - #1 Thread in MMO

tad10

Elisha Dushku
5,534
601
Not when you factor in the costs:
- ongoing development
- customer service [incl billing, fraud, in-game, bans etc]
- hosting
- operations
- facilities
- payment processing
- free months
- KS prepurchases
- marketing
- middleware royalties
- etc

That sub revenue is eaten fast. I plugged some rough estimates in a spreadsheet, and IMO, even @ 50K subs, it's a long, risky ROI for investors. MMOs are hard to fund and the pay to play model isn't highly regarded at the moment.
That's at 15 right? What about 20/mth?
 

Aeiouy_sl

shitlord
217
0
This thread is getting beyond ridiculous lol.. Why is it every time things start looking up, it's dragged back down with speculation and hypotheticals? Stay on topic people! Lol.. Anyway predictions on combat doc?
huge mindfart
Not when you factor in the costs:
- ongoing development
- customer service [incl billing, fraud, in-game, bans etc]
- hosting
- operations
- facilities
- payment processing
- free months
- KS prepurchases
- marketing
- middleware royalties
- etc

That sub revenue is eaten fast. I plugged some rough estimates in a spreadsheet, and IMO, even @ 50K subs, it's a long, risky ROI for investors. MMOs are hard to fund and the pay to play model isn't highly regarded at the moment.
I have not used a spreadsheet but cheap and dirty overhead makes it fairly well off a revenues of 8 million dollars a year. Short of curt schilling mismanagement I don't see how they don't return a healthy profit on the high end but I am just eyeballing the costs. Their biggest cost is probably payroll and benefits at 25%-30%. The other stuff would not eat up that much. The free month would actually be a chunk but likely booked at cost. Just off the top my my head I could see 17%-25% at the high end. One thing with ks is you don't have any loan servicing:

Obviously they could over spend on space and support costs but I am assuming standard expenditures. Also not sure a hardcore niche needs to advertise as much.
 

Convo

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
8,792
664
doesn't look like video netted a single backer.. lol wtf?

Qwerty, I know you're lurking.. Please record your conversation with Brad, when you grab that $900 slot!
 

Lemmiwinks_sl

shitlord
533
6
Terrible argument.

You were in your starting zone in EQ for the first 8 levels... MAYBE. That's what? 7-9 hours gameplay? Out of how many hundreds of hours to max level?
Are you really arguing the stance that you'd rather have 1-2 racial cities as opposed to say 5 or 6?
 

Convo

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
8,792
664
I didn't get the chance to watch the video yet, but I tried to catch a little bit.. It sounds like they are going to do some race districts? I heard the China Town reference from Brad..

Eh, honestly, on a budget, I'm ok with it.
 

Zefah

<Gold Donor>
2,516
8,207
doesn't look like video netted a single backer.. lol wtf?

Qwerty, I know you're lurking.. Please record your conversation with Brad, when you grab that $900 slot!
Not a lot of people not already interested in the game are going to listen to almost an hour long interview on YouTube.
 

Quaid

Trump's Staff
11,859
8,265
Are you really arguing the stance that you'd rather have 1-2 racial cities as opposed to say 5 or 6?
That's right.

Obviously if development money & resources were infinite, and player subscription numbers were guaranteed to never go down, I'd have to reassess my position.
 

Big Flex

Fitness Fascist
4,314
3,166
I didn't get the chance to watch the video yet, but I tried to catch a little bit.. It sounds like they are going to do some race districts? I heard the China Town reference from Brad..

Eh, honestly, on a budget, I'm ok with it.
as long as trolls live in rhe aformenrioned garbage dump, like some third world shit hole. im ok with that.

<garbage pail kids>
 

Convo

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
8,792
664
as long as trolls live in rhe aformenrioned garbage dump, like some third world shit hole. im ok with that.

<garbage pail kids>
Ha, they really should do that stuff up.. Make the gnome district have smaller doorways, troll district, dirty, with large doorways, etc.. I'm sure they can manage plenty of conflict with various NPCs too. Might turn out to be fun, if they do it right.. PvP would essentially have gang territories if they allow PvP in the major cities.
 

BoozeCube

The Wokest
<Prior Amod>
54,539
324,131
Oh by the day did anyone contact Sam the man Deathwalker? I bet he would 40 box some donations to Brad and Co., dudes a legend highest sustained DPS ever.
 

arallu

Golden Knight of the Realm
536
47
Ha, they really should do that stuff up.. Make the gnome district have smaller doorways, troll district, dirty, with large doorways, etc.. I'm sure they can manage plenty of conflict with various NPCs too. Might turn out to be fun, if they do it right.. PvP would essentially have gang territories if they allow PvP in the major cities.
lol "Bitch 'dis MAH corner".
Also, only 45 alpha slots left @ $45.
 

Mr Creed

Too old for this shit
2,394
287
My biggest concern is that it gets funded, my money is gone, and EQnext surpasses my expectations, is the new MMORPGeezus, and is too awesome to leave for Pantheon.
I dunno, I'd be happy with that result too, regardless of my pledge. I mean you have MMORPGeezus, you wouldnt care about milk you spilt 3 years ago.
 

arallu

Golden Knight of the Realm
536
47
From KS comments:
Just to echo Graye here, we're hearing you on the cross-server stuff. That's the kind of thing that is a long ways out yet, so, as prefaced in that interview, it's not at all set in stone. We do understand the importance of community and reputation, so believe me when I say this will be examined a LOT more closely before it would ever be put into the game.
--Ben.
Commence with the 'i told you so', or the 'i knew they listened' comments.
 

Convo

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
8,792
664
From KS comments:


Commence with the 'i told you so', or the 'i knew they listened' comments.
At this point, there is a no win situation on this forum lol.. Depending on what side of the argument you're on.. Some will say it's good they are listening, others will say it's more proof they don't have a plan in place.. In this particular case, I think they were out of touch with the people and didn't put enough thought into it. Forever the optimist.. they will hopefully get better and learn from these things. Have any of them been out in the open like this In years?
 

Lysis

N00b
102
0
That's at 15 right? What about 20/mth?
According to my very very rough 2 minute estimates, with a monthly sub fee of $20, at 20K there is about 1.6M left per year to repay investors, at 50K there is about 6.7M. $370K/1.5M for game sales @ $60 minus estimated pre-orders, free months, and transaction fees. Lifetime subs not considered.

I didn't really put a lot of work into this. I have no idea what facilities cost per workstation in San Diego. I'm guessing I underestimated that. CS is $75/hr @ 30 mins per sub.

Personally, I think $15/month is unrealistic in the era of Steam sales and seemingly thousands of ftp options. An industry spooked by the pay to play model probably isn't going to bite on a business model based on a $20/month sub fee. Especially with baggage considered.