The Vigil developed MMO won’t have ”just one business model,” but will employ ”other monetisation mechanisms” and the team has been ”very thoughtful about how” to do it.
This could mean the western markets see a more traditional subscription charge, while Asian markets get a free-to-play model with plenty of micro transactions.
Most MMOs have tended to adopt the free-to-play philosophy eventually here in the west, as the majority that do see a spike in popularity and profit; Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, Champions Online and more.
”The markets are different around the world for the business models with which you can ship an MMO,” said THQ CEO Brian Farrell during an earnings call. ”So what we’ve done is make the business model within Dark Millennium Online flexible so we can use different business models in different territories and exploit the game on a worldwide basis.”
”We will have not just one business model, like subscriptions. There will be other monetisation mechanisms in the game… The team there is being very thoughtful about how we maximise monetisation in this game.” CFO Paul Pucino reveals it is THQ’s grandest financial project to date with a minimum of $50 million pumped into it. It’s due out in 2013.
