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A lifetime subscription to Azeroth
Tobold has a good post up about lifetime subscriptions to MMORPGs that got me wondering: why hasn't Blizzard ever offered a lifetime subscription to WoW?The obvious answer, of course, is that they think they can make more money by not doing so. In order for a lifetime subscription to be profitable, the player that buys it has to either stop playing before the subscription would have ended, or not be a major drain on the system after their subscription becomes "free." It's a gamble on both sides.Now, Tobold's reasons for liking his LoTRO lifetime subscription and not jumping on a Hellgate London subscription aren't really applicable to WoW-- HgL is going to be completely different, with no subscription fee required for some players. But would you invest in a lifetime subscription for Blizzard's game? There's little chance they'll offer one now (usually a lifetime subscription is offered at the start of a game's life), but you never know-- if reception to WotLK isn't great, maybe they'll offer it right before the expansion to try and nab players that would quit right afterwards otherwise. By Hellgate's prices, a lifetime subscription to WoW would be $225. Let's go a step further and say that because WoW is so popular, Blizzard would charge $250 for a lifetime subscription to the game, approximately the same price as a year and change paid monthly. Would you take that deal?
GameTap now $9.95/month; GameTap TV announced
PC subscription gaming service GameTap has dropped its monthly fee from $14.95 to $9.95 and announced a GameTap TV expansion that will offer "a new broadband video streaming network" for games- and non-games-related programming.The GameTap TV feature will include separate channels dedicated to music videos, network game previews, GT TV-exclusive content, and "even an animation channel set to go live this spring that will feature an original series of animated shorts."We don't know where Space Ghost fits into all these broadband network plans, but we're sure that it can't be good. The cost-cutting measure by the TBS-owned venture are important in light of all the digital-download announcements made by the big console manufacturers recently, but it's hard to tell whether the $5 drop in monthly fees will greatly increase the number of current PC subscribers. Anyone gonna jump in on this?See also: What is GameTap? [Official page where the inset image was found] GameTap to offer previews, trailers GameTap: Turner's games-on-demand site is live
