A couple of days ago, mmorpg.com managing editor John Wood moderated a panel discussion which tackled the hotly-contested topic “What is the future of online gaming? Free-to-play or Item Mall (micro-transactions)?” at the recently concluded GDC 2008 expo.

John’s guests included:

• Jack Emmert from Cryptic Studios
• Matt Miller from NCsoft
• Ray Muzyka from Bioware
• Min Kim from Nexon
• Rob Pardo from Blizzard

It’s interesting to note what each executive has to say about the distinction between each business model and how it will affect our hobby and the industry.

I took it upon myself to summarize the discussions for your reading pleasure.

Details after the break

From actual copy by Mr. Wood 

Jack Emmert (Cryptic Studios) – “declared that microtransactions were nonsense. He went on to say that we pay a number of our bills in the form of subscription, cable, internet, cell phone, etc. Emmert went even further bringing up World of Warcraft as an example. Without actually mentioning the name of the game, Jack held up “the world’s biggest MMO” as an example of a very successful, subscription based game.”

Matt Miller from NCsoft – said that “it’s easier to deal with the money people when you can go to them with a monthly cost that can be multiplied easily by a projected number of players to equal an even number of profit. Personally, I think that’s played a bigger role in keeping the subscription model alive as long as it has been.”

Ray Muzyka from Bioware – said that it depends “on your audience and the game that you are making. In the end, what he said can be boiled down to this: Some games and audiences facilitate microtransactions, while others are going to be better off with a subscription. In the end, you have to do what’s best for your game and your players.”

Rob Pardo from Blizzard – the business model isn’t the aspect that will make or break a game. While he made a case for a number of different forms of microtransaction (server changes, character name changes and the like), Rob also said that the subscription model wasn’t going anywhere.

Min Kim from Nexon – made the point that microtransactions have grown significantly, and that they have grown with what Kim called the “non-core” gamers. He noted that their audience tended to be younger. He even at one point, in response to a comment from Jack, asked “When is the last time you spoke to a 17 year old?” Kim also went on to make a comparison between microtransactions in other aspects of life and how much they are catching on in the North American market. He noted that he had spent a large amount of money in the last year (I forget the exact amount) downloading songs. He also said that he would not have been as likely to spend that much if he were buying CDs.

To summarize, here are my personal thoughts on the matter

• Microtransaction (Item Mall business model) is the model we prefer here in Asia. Not everyone has the capacity to pay but they will pay for stuff that they think has value.
• Becuase of the related economics (bigger income for entertainment in the West) and the normal acceptance of credit cards and the credit system, Westeners are more acceptable to the subscription model. That’s why WoW is huge there and in Europe (but is fast catching up in highly developed countries in Asia such as Korea and Singapore)
• The key driver for monetizing the game is the game itself (content) and how the community is managed. Give them a REASON TO PLAY and keep them happy, the REASON TO PAY will come naturally
• The industry is leaning towards F2P. Most subscription games have come and gone and the only ones to withstand the test of time are AAA titles such as WoW and Everquest.

via MMORPG.COM