One of the things that’s always intrigued me about games like Trove and RuneScape is their willingness to experiment with different kinds of sub models. Most AAA MMORPGs that have a sub go for the stock $15-per-month fee standardized back in the early aughts. A month is a nice clean chunk of time, but it’s just as arbitrary as anything else, and in a world with lots of MMOs to play, sometimes I just want to dabble for a week or two rather than commit to an entire month in the currency of time or money.
Trove enables that urge: It offers a 15-day, $8 sub, which feels like less of commitment psychologically. The game also cleverly hands out as in-game rewards smaller sub passes in the 1- to 3-day range to give people a tiny taste of the sub perks — another thing I’ve never seen in a AAA title.
Personally, I think offering short-term options like this is a really good idea for a free-to-play title, to the point that I am not sure why other games don’t follow suit. What’s the downside here? What do you think of half-size MMO subs?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
