Tobold's Blog
Friday, July 25, 2008
 
I want a WoW lifetime subscription!

As syncaine from Hardcore Casual so correctly remarks, some people are avoiding the Wrath of the Lich King beta because they fear if they play the beta, they will have seen most of the content before the expansion is even out. My WotLK beta is up and running, but as I said I plan to use the beta to play the deathknight I might not want to play in the release version. But I completely share the fears that the total amount of content in Wrath of the Lich King will not be sufficient to last until Blizzard manages to bring out the third expansion.

And with WAR and other interesting games looming at the horizon, I foresee me playing World of Warcraft on and off. New expansion or large content patch comes out, I play for a couple of months, then take a break for a couple of months to play something else. I pretty much already did that with The Burning Crusade.

The only problem in that mode is having to cancel and reactivate your account all the time. How annoying! What I'd really need is a World of Warcraft lifetime subscription for $200, which would allow me to play WoW whenever I want, without having to bother with my subscription status. Wouldn't that be a good idea? Even for Blizzard it might be a good plan. WotLK is probably going to come out this year, with the bulk of the sales being in 2008. But as they probably won't be able to make another expansion before 2010, their earnings in 2009 will be lower than usual, and investors don't like that. So why not launch a lifetime subscription option in 2009, and thus carry forward future earnings. After all, WoW is 4 years old now, and you can't really say with certainty that all the 10 million players are going to be playing this for more than $200 worth of monthly fees. Better grab the money now, while the game is still hot.

If you are paying for WoW right now, would you be buying a lifetime subscription for $200 early next year?
Comments:
I've played from release and have paid for 13 months of subs altogether. (I play for 1 or 2 months then deactivate, and reactivate when the 'need' hits me again)

But, I would pay $200 for a lifetime sub in a second if Blizz released it as an option.
 
Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes.
 
I pay for the 6-month sub, so for me $200 represents approx. 18 months of WoW. Maybe if they offered it now, or offered it with Wrath but subsidized (buy a lifetime Sub and get Wrath for free) then I might consider it.
 
I wonder what lifetime subs do the the MMO lifecycle? That is a lot of money up front, but when you look at MMOs like EverQuest, still out there bringing home the monthly subs for the hard core fans, it has to look like a bad deal for Blizz. Lots of cash up front, then, at some point, just the hard core lifers left making up most of the pool.
 
I'd pay that. I don't play WoW anymore, but if I didn't have to keep unsubscribing every time of got tired of the grind I would definitely take it up again.
 
I would certainly buy a lifetime subscription for $200. I'm guessing Blizzard would probably profit from my subscription in the end but at least I would have the option of playing when I want without worrying about my money ticking away.
 
I'd buy that, as long as they didn't stiff us with the exchange rates.
 
why would Blizzard do this and lose money?
 
Why should a lifetime subscription be the option in this case?

I think a better option would be to pay for the time played instead.

E.g. pay $1 for 4 hours of play. Buy a pool of hours for $15-$20 which you can use if you get the urge for a bit and when you are hooked again and perhaps play a lot of hours, switch to monthly subscription again.
 
I would buy it (right now) but i dont think Blizzard will do this. The timing is just off. A company should offer lifetime subs either very early (q-mark)or very late (dog) in the product lifecycle. So either as a way of buying marketshare and generating a quick sizeable cash flow, or squeezing the last drop of milk from your once healthy but now slowly dieing cash cow.

Right now however there is plenty of milk left.
 
Bit too late for that now. I might have a few years back...
 
I'm with Morph
 
Why unsub/re-sub when you can just sign up with a game card? $30, 2 months to play, sign up again if you feel like it or don't. That's how I'm playing and it seems to work. Plus it guarantees I can play when I have the money for it and if I don't I'm not billed for something I can't afford at the time.

But yeah, the idea of a $200 lifetime membership is pretty cool, though I doubt Blizz would ever go for something like that.
 
Yes,in a heart beat.
 
Yes. Easily yes. But im skeptical of what Blizzard would agree to. I think they'd rather soak up as much money as possible.
 
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