Throughout the history of MMO gaming, there have really only been a handful of huge successes that have stood the test of time. ESO could definitely be one of them.

What do those titles have in common? One thing - their business model. They were either buy to play OR pay to play. Not both. This leaves the customer feeling as though they are getting their money's worth. In pay to play games, for example $15 a month is not much money at all. Most subscribers even have no issue dropping $40 on expansions as they come out every year or two. Personally I think this is the best business model for these games and the developer continues to have an influx of money from their subscribers. To do some quick math, that is $15,000,000.00 per month per million subs. That's nothing to sneer at.

To use an easy example of this - WoW. First ESO is nothing like WoW. Elder scrolls is in fact far better. WoW really isnt even that great of a game,repetitive quests, almost no voice acting, the world isnt nearly as immersive as Tamriel, the playable races are quite run-of-the-mill - I could go on. Yet it has stood the test of time. This is, in fact its 10th year of making countless millions each month from subscriptions alone. This is in great part because the millions of subscribers feel that simply paying $15 for each month they want to play is quite reasonable and affordable.

Now lets look at the other end of this. - games that expected customers to buy AND sub to play ($60 to buy then pay a $15 monthly sub). Almost every single game that tried to use this business model was a complete failure and were free to play within a year, regardless of popularity. Many of these titles were GREAT games, it was their business models that killed them.

- SWTOR for example would likely have been wildly successful had the devs picked a better business model. As it was, most of their customers became quickly jaded - feeling like the devs got them coming and going. Within weeks the internet was abuzz with articles, posts, and blogs about how robbed these people felt. This is just one of literally hundreds of suitable examples. I chose this over others because it, like ESO, is from a well known dev, had well established and loved lore before development began, and a huge fan base already waiting for them. Please, Bethesda, don't leave your fans with the same bad taste in our mouths that they did. In the end, after all, it's the players, not the devs who make games into successes or failures.

Please understand, I only post this because I want to see ESO become the huge success that it is poised to be. I am a huge fan of the Elder Scrolls series and have been playing it since i first discovered Morrowind many years ago. Taking it to this level is breathtaking for fans like myself. I am hoping that you read this, check these facts out for yourselves, and take this into consideration during your payment model discussions. As a fan of one of gaming's greatest successes, I really and truly don't want to see it die as the result of the same poor business decisions that have killed so many other good titles.

Payment model threads aren't allowed right now. This thread will be locked.

Until there is more official information available, we aren't allowing payment system discussions. When the sub was announced, they said there would be discounts and other methods of payments. Since there hasn't been anything more released, there isn't much that can be discussed. You have to buy the game, one month is included with the purchase, and one month without discounts runs $15 [or $14.99]. Whether multiple months can be purchased and what the price is, no one knows yet.