The Elder Scrolls Online

[MartyG]

They're supporting further development through box cost, premium subscriptions in the form of Elder Scrolls Online Plus, the character vanity Crown Store and optional DLC purchase for those players without ESO+.

[wakka]

FTP has the exact same problem built in. Only a tiny percentage actually pay money worth a damn but across massive user numbers that can amount to huge sums of cash... for a very tiny pool of games. It has the exact same problem as the subscription model in that the people who are willing to pay aren't likely to pay across many games. But as Marty pointed out, this simply isn't free to play.

Good point, and I didn't take into account the box cost of the game. Perhaps I'm talking out of my bottom but I do think that you have the ability to target a broader range of people with a non-subscriber model though.

That's mostly because I think you'll turn off a large percentage of people immediately with a sub model. You'll turn off some people with a non-sub model too, because they think (perhaps rightly) that the experience will be inferior, but I reckon that number would be much smaller.

[Dogg Thang]

You would definitely get a far larger userbase which I guess can increase your chances. I just think the FTP model can hit a financial ceiling just as quickly as a subscription model. That said, the fact that people make the choice to pay for the game itself here changes it a lot and I don't know which way that goes. Will they be more committed to the game having paid for it and so be more willing to pay for extras after that? Or more likely to resent the idea of paying even more and stick to what they have? If I had to guess, I'd probably say the former is more likely but I don't know. I bet someone knows as a bunch of premium games have added bitty DLC and stuff that's very FTPish in the last few years. Are there figures on those anywhere?

[Tobal]

I don't it was subscription prices that killed it, instead (nearly)very mmo after wow playing like wow with increasing levels of themepark rides for casuals and skewed towards solo play and quick fixes rather than community. Combine that and developers not spending within there means for a normal sub rate like 250k to 500k for hit.

[Digfox]

This thread aged well

Anyway a few days ago The Elder Scrolls Online teased a fourth expansion that is going to Skyrim. Due to be announced in January.

This game for me has become my guilty pleasure of this generation. A rough diamond but I've easily had as much fun as with any mainline Elder Scrolls. So loving the ongoing support.

Even if nothing else the cinematic which teases Skyrim at the end, is pretty impressive.