Asherons Call: Putting a Price on MMORPG Players

RPGDot have posted an interesting article on the financial viability of MMORPGs - exactly how many players does it take to class a game like Asheron's Call a success, and how many to break even?

[i]Publishers put a value on each gamer. That value is the price they pay to play the game. In terms of single-player games, that value is the exact price of the box. A single player will never be worth more than that price, and perhaps that of an eventual expansion. In the case of MMORPGs, it's quite more complicated. A single player is worth the price of the box, plus the monthly fee he will be charged to gain access to the game. Usually it's around $10.00 USD, more or less. 30,000 players paying an average of $10 a month makes for a lot of money. But not enough.

[/i]With the large number of MMORPGs either in development or on the market today, and the massive investment required to support games this genre, closures and failures may well be inevitable. From all indications, Asheron's Call will be around for a while - but how will future games fare?

>>> Read More - Ekim's Gamer View: Putting a Price on MMORPG Players