Free Games Profitable?

This post is based on a older GigaOM video Free-to-play MMOs Profitable- on January 31. For those that do not know, MMOS are massively multiplayer online games that have hundreds, thousands, or even millions of players. The traditional business model for MMOs were simple. Buy the game. Pay a monthly subscription to play. While there is nothing wrong with this mindset, MMO players typically are more “hardcore”, or into gaming, than your typical Wii player. These gamers are not going to pick up a new MMO just because a company releases one. New PC games generally cost around fifty dollars; add that to a fifteen to twenty dollar monthly subscription fee and it is understandable why so few MMOs are popular.

This brings us to the new business model for MMO gaming. Now, many retail-quality MMOs are being offered as a free download without any monthly subscription service. Revenue now comes from items such as clothing, weapons, enhancements, land etc...that players buy for their characters. This concept was developed in South Korea and has now been brought to the USA by K2.network.net. This company has made millions by simply selling these customization items. The biggest drawback to the Free-to-play model is that launching an MMO can be very expensive. Also, the free game model is somewhat slower profit wise than the traditional pay to play mode. It takes some time for gamers to get caught up in the game so to speak Obviously, there is great potential for long term benefits, as the creators can always add new customizations The best way to look at the new model is a service model. If the producers provide a good game and good service to back it up, then players will naturally buy the little customizations and add-ons. The traditional model comes with more-less everything the player will ever have in one package, so the initial investment may be higher, but the long term benefits quickly diminish as players get bored.

HD-DVD Vs. Blu Ray Compared to Betamax Vs. VHS

This blog will sum up Buzz-Out Laud's past few episode segments that have followed the format war. The HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray war is finally coming to a close. Blu-Ray is being supported by most major retailers while HD-DVD is either being dropped or, as in Best-Buy's case, simply not being recommended. Several times, this format war has been compared to the Betamax-VHS format war in the 70s. What everyone fails to mention is that Betamax was owned by Sony, so with all the comparisons being drawn, I find it ironic that no one has mentioned that Sony is the winner(as of now) this time around. Still, comparisons could easily be drawn between the two format wars. Like HD-DVDS and Blu-Ray discs, both Sony's Betamax and JVC's VHS offered similar video resolutions and sound. The Betamax, like HD-DVDS had a few different features that set it apart from the VHS, the most notable probably being HIFI sound. Eventually VHS gained the HIFI sound ability however, which could be compared to Blu-Ray's update to gain the special features that HD-DVD offered. Also worth comparing would be the Betamax runtime compared to the HD-DVD storage capacity, both were the biggest criticisms of the two formats(both were smaller compared to their competitor's products), which is why the respective technologies failed.
With HD-DVD gone, Blu-Ray may find new opponents(mentioned in Buzz-Out Loud 662) such as High Def movies on demand, downloadable High-def movies and the like. Also worth mentioning are the up-converting DVD players. These players play standard definition movies up-scaled to higher resolutions. While this does not make standard DVDs play in high definition, it does offer a better picture than a normal DVD player would. These up-converting players run much cheaper than Blu-Ray disc players, with the up-converting players starting around $50.00 and Blu-Rays around $300.00. Obviously the Blu-Ray format will be around for a while now, but the death of HD-DVDs does not mean that there will not be any competition for it. One last note, if the consumer does not have a high definition television, then high definition format movies, or even upscaling dvd players will look exactly the same as a standard DVD.

Buzz Out Loud 654

Maximus, a software distributing company based in Taiwan, is responsible for the production of over 90% of all pirated Microsoft technology. Huang Jer-sheng is the owner of Maximus and the mastermind behind this pirate-based company. He was arrested in 2004 and sentenced to four years in prison for the counterfeit software. Considering the fact that the company was responsible for nearly all of Microsoft's pirated software, most would agree that the sentencing was quite lenient.
Unlike downloading software illegally where it would be quite obvious what the consumer was getting him or herself into, these products were virtually indistinguishable from their legitimate counterparts. Every detail of the packaging was reproduced professionally, all the way down to the holographic stickers. Of course, many consumers still know the difference between burned copies and professionally pressed discs. Maximus, however, worked with several illegal CD reproduction plants to make their finished product identical to Microsoft's. Thus, the consumer would have no way of knowing which product is the "real" one.
As stated on Buzz Out Loud, it is good to finally see companies going after the large pirating operations rather than threatening individuals, who may have downloaded a few dollars worth of music. Hopefully, other companies will follow Microsoft's example both for their benefit and ours. After all, Microsoft would have never stopped the production of over 90% of their software by going after random individuals; take note RIAA!