Chapter 1072: Considerations on the Payment Model (First Update)
Why adopt this payment method? Clearly, Chen Mo had given it deep thought.
For players, the fairest payment models are the buy-to-play and time-based subscription models. For a game like *World of Warcraft*, which requires a massive time investment, continuous content updates, and extensive player collaboration to fully enjoy, a buy-to-play model is actually quite disadvantageous.
Moreover, it relatively raises the barrier to entry. In Chen Mo’s previous life, a game like *The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* sold only about 4 million copies globally in its first month. In the parallel world, while Chen Mo’s reputation might boost sales, the VR version’s high price tag means that, after weighing the pros and cons, sales wouldn’t be significantly higher either.
The number of players who prefer buy-to-play single-player games is still relatively small. If *World of Warcraft* only had five or six million players at launch, Chen Mo would certainly be dissatisfied.
Come on, by then, the Matrix Game Pod would already have 20 million users. Shouldn’t every single one of them be playing *World of Warcraft*?
Some might say, “If you want more players, why not go the free-to-play route? Just charge for skins like in *League of Legends*?”
But the problem is that *World of Warcraft*’s model is fundamentally different from *League of Legends*.
In *World of Warcraft*, there aren’t that many heroes. Most players focus on just one or two characters—one main and one alt, and that’s it. Even if someone likes to master all classes, it’s impossible to fully gear every single character to endgame.
What about selling full cosmetic outfits? Special transmogrification sets? Paid mounts and pets from the in-game shop?
All of that could be done, but it wouldn’t fit the game’s nature.
Mounts and pets—*World of Warcraft* in Chen Mo’s previous life had them too—but they clearly couldn’t serve as the main revenue source. They wouldn’t be enough to cover the game’s enormous operational costs.
As for full cosmetic outfits... In *League of Legends*, many players buy dozens or even hundreds of skins. Would they buy dozens or hundreds of outfits in *World of Warcraft*?
Of course, there are always whales, but since most players primarily play one or two characters, they’d probably only like one or two outfits at most. It’s unlikely they’d buy endlessly.
Some domestic games have made a killing with their cosmetic systems, but that approach doesn’t align with *World of Warcraft*’s design philosophy. It’s hard to just copy it.
Besides, in a game like *World of Warcraft*, equipment is worn on the player’s character, and the stronger it is, the better it looks. For example, the Paladin T2 and T6 sets, Warlock T6 set, Priest T3 set, Warrior T3 set, and so on—these are the ultimate gear for that patch. They already look incredibly cool. If you add a cash shop selling flashy outfits, it would actually dilute the value of these iconic sets.
So, the time-based subscription model is the most suitable.
But there’s another issue: the subscription fee is 60 yuan per month. Is that too expensive?
In the parallel world, the average price of a single-player game is around 100 to 200 yuan. A monthly subscription of 60 yuan means that playing for two months costs more than a single-player game. If you play for a year, that’s 720 yuan. For many players, this is a significant expense.
However, Chen Mo’s *World of Warcraft* is a VR game. The Matrix Game Pod itself costs 20,000 yuan, and the game’s production quality is top-tier. In this context, a 60 yuan monthly fee is actually quite reasonable.
Moreover, Chen Mo has already solved the biggest problem for *World of Warcraft* players: time.
In the Matrix Game Pod, players can play for 8 hours while only spending 1 hour in real time. This means that even office workers and students can easily find time to play. The game’s content is designed to be completed within this time frame, so players don’t need to worry about falling behind.
As for the issue of “gold farmers” and “botting studios”...
In a game like *World of Warcraft*, it’s actually very difficult to completely distinguish between “hardworking casual players” and “gold farming studios.” As long as these people play within the game’s rules, farming gold to make money, contributing tax revenue to the game, and enriching the in-game market environment, they’re making a contribution.
As for multi-accounting, script mining, and the like...
Don’t overthink it. For Chen Mo, even the cheats in *PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds* were wiped out. Why would he worry about such petty tricks?
Those who think about using scripts to AFK farm should first figure out whether they can even stuff a script into the Matrix Game Pod to achieve unmanned operation.
In the end, for *World of Warcraft*, the key issue to solve is still time.
If players don’t have time to play, no matter how much you try to open up payment gates, add paid cosmetics, or even sell power, it will only damage the game’s reputation, and the results won’t be good anyway.
As long as the time issue is resolved, simply relying on a subscription model will make this game a massive success.
And now, the time issue has been solved by the system’s black technology. So for Chen Mo, the timing to launch *World of Warcraft* has finally fully matured.