why is it p2p

[IchyGFX]

I was a former Final Fantasy online member about 3 years ago.Due to my father runnin out of money i had to quit.But i still dont know why its p2p.my father has enough money but he wont let me play it anymore because of fear of bankrupt.:cry:

[Xaoko]

Wow... with such a tight money situation, it wouldn't be a good idea to play the game at all!

Anyway, the reason why it's p2p is that the money earned from our monthly givings keeps the servers up and running, and funds the developement of the game (updates and expansions), and maybe the money even goes towards events, like the fanfest!

I hope that helped answer your question ^^

[Bishop]

Servers require maintinence. GMs need to get paid (I don't know why, cuz they dont do anything), and then there's development on future expansions and various in game stuff such as new areas, features, etc.

[Omni]

2 words: bandwidth and power.

bandwidth isnt cheap, cheaper for them probably since they most likely buy it in bulk.
power to run their datacenter isnt cheap either. its a lot more expensive than bandwidth actually.

like bishop said, the fees are used to keep these things running and also, to make money. its not as if the game stops once you buy it, they are continually releasing content every few months.

[Icemage]

It's estimated that the "typical" MMORPG breaks even at around 25,000-30,000 users, which means you're looking at an average per-month cost to maintain the game servers and keep employees paid of somewhere around $375,000-$450,000 per month.

That's why MMORPGs are pay-to-play.


Icemage

[Bishop]

It's estimated that the "typical" MMORPG breaks even at around 25,000-30,000 users

ffxi has over 1m players... So even at 12 dollars a month, not including mules, they're making 11.6m a month? Thats assuming 1 million players and subtracting expenses. How much was their annual revenue? Because if we're going by those numbers, ffxi yields almost 140m a year for SE.

[framerate]

ffxi has over 1m players... So even at 12 dollars a month, not including mules, they're making 11.6m a month? Thats assuming 1 million players and subtracting expenses. How much was their annual revenue? Because if we're going by those numbers, ffxi yields almost 140m a year for SE.

Well the bigger the player base the more servers/bandwidth/GM staff/ power costs they have... :)

[Mhurron]

ffxi has over 1m playersNever seen any estimates go over 700k.

[neighbortaru]

Never seen any estimates go over 700k.and that's being very optimistic. there's probably somewhere around 500k subscribers

[Bishop]

I'm fairly certain on playonline news, SE was boasting about how they reached over 1m players.

[neighbortaru]

characters. it was characters.

the recent census only says it's around 500k
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/guide/development/census/06/index.html

[Mhurron]

characters. it was characters.Yep, last announcement they made regarding flesh and blood players was 500k.

[ikkleste]

ffxi has over 1m players... So even at 12 dollars a month, not including mules, they're making 11.6m a month? Thats assuming 1 million players and subtracting expenses. How much was their annual revenue? Because if we're going by those numbers, ffxi yields almost 140m a year for SE.
pretty sure the last vanadiel census pegged it at about 500k, the figures on MMO chart agree too.

[Macht]

Yes, FFXI playerbase reached around 550k is the closer number they stated. They however are well over 1million content IDs registered.

FFXI's breaking even point was actually 200k playerbase. It almost looked like it wasn't going to make it because by the time they needed 200k players they only had 150k players. Though analysis of what those 150k were doing showed that they were taking advantage of more of the features and all that cost more they actually made up for the missing 50k playerbase.

Once it came into the use and around after Christmas it reached a 500k playerbase, around Chains of Promethia's release Content ID had reached 1million. So even though SE didn't quite get the responce they were expecting they got more players willing to dish out more money for the features, something no other MMORPG could really boast about.

The trend they were showing on a previous Census was that even though playerbase isn't were they wanted the players enjoying all the extra content more then made up for it. On top of that also pointing out that even newly registered after a short time also took advantage of the extra content which made the money gained even faster.

[IchyGFX]

well we are doin much better with money now my dad and family started there own buisness so they hope they all get alot of money by the end of the year and ty for your help.

[bungiefan]

I was a former Final Fantasy online member about 3 years ago.Due to my father runnin out of money i had to quit.But i still dont know why its p2p.my father has enough money but he wont let me play it anymore because of fear of bankrupt.:cry:

Why have your parents pay for it? You can use cash to get a prepaid VISA or MasterCard and pay the fee yourself. Of course, that assumes you have an income of some sort, but if you're of legitimate age to be allowed to play the game, you should have some sort of income. I've been paying for most of my own non-essentials since I was 14, with my VISA CheckCard linked to my bank account. I've been paying for FFXI with that card since it came out when I was 19. I only got a real credit card last year, and I avoid using it except for small transactions to show activity and build a credit rating. I only keep as much money linked to my CheckCard as I'm planning to spend, and a little extra just in case, so I can't go bankrupt from it if someone tries to forge a charge onto the card, and at least I won't lose much money that way.

[Anheuser]

it's a pretty high-quality gme. even if they could make an official foruma nd make money off of advertising or something, why would they? when every other high-class MMO is making millions off of subscriptions? $13mo is cheaper than any other MMO i've played.

[evilmegaman]

well we are doin much better with money now my dad and family started there own buisness so they hope they all get alot of money by the end of the year and ty for your help.

wtf?? one day after saying you were in a tight money situation, You say you are doing much better??


I wish I could recover that easily :P

[Murphie]

This whole thread was over a month ago, until Bungiefan decided to ressurect a bunch of long dead topics to add his two cents.

You know, regardless of whether the question had already been answered, or the person even still posted here, etc.

[bungiefan]

Side effect of me browsing new posts since my last login, which was the tenth of June or so, before last night. After browsing a couple dozen topics, I lost track of how old they all were. I was away from home and without a lot of time to use forums for about two months.

[Murphie]

That's fair. But that's where reading comes in. First, if the questions have already been answered, it's rarely necessary to add anything. Plus, every post has a date and time stamp, so you always know when the last post in the thread was.^^

[evilmegaman]

That's fair. But that's where reading comes in. First, if the questions have already been answered, it's rarely necessary to add anything. Plus, every post has a date and time stamp, so you always know when the last post in the thread was.^^




I just really wanted to post my thoughts. Luckily bungiefan let me do so. I am very grateful :)