$360 a year too high?

[Dirk]

Hi everyone.

I'm very new to Aces High being a former Warbirds player. A friend of mine told me about Aces High and I downloaded the application to give it a whirl.

I haven't tried the free two weeks yet because of one thing. This game costs $360 a year. $360. That is a LOT of money to play online.  My ASDL line doesn't cost $360 a year.  I can't justify the subscription because I know I won't be playing it enough.

Does HTC have any plans to offer a play per day or 1/2/3 week passes?  I mean, come on. Windows 98 doesn't cost $360 a year to use.

What would I pay? I would pay per play, pay for X hours, or pay per week.  

I saw a message about someone else complaining about this. $30 a month may not seem a whole lot, but over a year, I don't think so.

Think about it. Would you pay $360 for Quake? Rainbow6? Flight Simulator 2000?

Guys, am I being unreasonable?  Should High Tech Creations make available flexible subscriptions? Is it that good of a game to justify $360 a year?

Dirk

[ 08-06-2001: Message edited by: Dirk J. Keloski ]

[AKSWulfe]

Former WarBirds player? Were you there during the hourly charges? WarBirds had to go flat rate because of Aces High.

I smell something....
-SW

[funkedup]

Prepare to get flamed.  
I think the 2 or 3 week passes are a good idea.

[AKSWulfe]

Funked, how much is the highest iEN plan. Premium or whatever.. isn't it like 24.95$/month?

I must be missing something.
-SW

[Mickey1992]

It costs about as much as cable, and I get more use/enjoyment out of AH.

It's only a buck a day, foo.  
 

[DeeZCamp]

maybe HTC could sell aces in a boxed version, for say around 40-50 bucks, then more people = more money for HTC which means they could reduce monthly cost yes?

Of course aces would still be updated as it is now, and the orginal cost of creating, marketing the product on whole to the regular store shopper would be costly at first, but the change (if marketed well) will bring in 100 fold amount of x dollars....

Bring it to the store and it will be purchased... Hype it up and it will be purchased...

I think HTC could have it in the stores as well as online. All the money brought in could reduce teh pay per month cost to maybe around 10$ a month? maybe less?

[sling322]

Originally posted by Dirk J. Keloski:

Think about it. Would you pay $360 for Quake? Rainbow6? Flight Simulator 2000?

Of course I wouldnt....but then again, Quake, Rainbow6 and FlightSim2000 dont offer me the chance to fly a well developed flight sim against others over an internet connection.
 

Guys, am I being unreasonable?  Should High Tech Creations make available flexible subscriptions? Is it that good of a game to justify $360 a year?

Dirk

[ 08-06-2001: Message edited by: Dirk J. Keloski ]

It all depends on how you value your entertainment dollar.  I usually fly more than 30 hours a month, so for me it breaks down to less than $1 per hour.  At the very minimum, its less than $1 a day for most folks (except those of us in TX who have to pay tax on our purchase).  I think that I get enough entertainment and fun value out of it for $1 a day.

[ 08-06-2001: Message edited by: sling322 ]

[Eagler]

Originally posted by Dirk J. Keloski:

Think about it. Would you pay $360 for Quake? Rainbow6? Flight Simulator 2000?
[ 08-06-2001: Message edited by: Dirk J. Keloski ]

Nope, Nope and Nope

to play AH, one lousy dollar a day.. HECK YA!

before AH, I paid over $100 a month (once or twice) at $2 an hour for Warbirds which wasn't worth it but was my 1st on line flight sim experience. Then I found FA. I was paying $10 a month for Fighter Ace after they dropped it from $20 a month for less than a tenth the enjoyment I get from AH.

Break it down by the hour and tell me where you can entertain yourself for less. And the $30 a month is a good dweeb filter...

You get what you pay for...if it isn't worth it to you, there's always WB3 or WW2online  

[AKSWulfe]

Originally posted by DeeZCamp:
maybe HTC could sell aces in a boxed version, for say around 40-50 bucks, then more people = more money for HTC which means they could reduce monthly cost yes?

Of course aces would still be updated as it is now, and the orginal cost of creating, marketing the product on whole to the regular store shopper would be costly at first, but the change (if marketed well) will bring in 100 fold amount of x dollars....

Bring it to the store and it will be purchased... Hype it up and it will be purchased...

Unfortunately it isn't that easy. Only HTC knows the exact numbers of what they are pulling in and paying out, so it's best to let them make the business decisions. I'm sure they already thought of the boxed idea, but at roughly $4/CD to make and give them just a simply CD case with CD art, that might be too far out of their currect income to do.


 

Originally posted by DeeZCamp:
I think HTC could have it in the stores as well as online. All the money brought in could reduce teh pay per month cost to maybe around 10$ a month? maybe less?

I only seperated this one comment from the rest because I wanted to comment on the "10$/mo maybe less" part.

You have to factor in bandwidth, server space, server upgrades, server maintenance (both in house and at the ISP), and other small nuances that are required costs to make a server run. 10$ would be the minimum anyone can go right now. (Microsoft can afford the $9.95/unlimited for 'The Zone' because they are practically a monopoly in the PC software business).
-SW

[Westy MOL]

"I can't justify the subscription because I know I won't be playing it enough."

 I can understand that.

 For me however $360/year works out to be a $1.00/day. That is a lot less than a couple of coffees/sodas each day, take out lunch a few times a week or several Friday and Saturday nights each month spent at the movies/local pub.

 However I do hope HTC finds some means to offer different plans for low usage players some day, soon.

 Westy

[miko2d]

Originally posted by Dirk J. Keloski:
Should High Tech Creations make available flexible subscriptions? Is it that good of a game to justify $360 a year?

 Right now thay have the simplest system customer accounting system that requires no oversight or management. They most likely outsource bill collection to some accounting company for a small sum because it is so simple.

 Introducing any other system will cause them to create software monitoring/measuring access, set up and manage a database with that information, spend time handling user complaints and problems (any software that exists always causes some problems), etc.

 Having only 6 people on staff means that hiring another person is a major step for the company.

 I assume you are not working yet, Dirk. Once you start, $1 a day will not seem a significant amount to you compared to teh enjoyment you get. By that time flight sims and PC technology will be better too.
 You will value the time you spend at much higher rate, so quality of the game will be much more important then a nominal price.
 Average age of players in this game is well over 30.

 There are other sims that give you full or limited access at $10 a month. You could try them for now. They may arguably not be as good as AH, but plenty of people play and even prefer them.

 I am (plesantly) surprised at how moderate the responce is to your post - not a single flame. Many players here used to spend over $200 a month when WB was $2/hour. Some even remember Genie at $6/hour.

 For now I do not recommend for you to try AH. You do not have much money and probably have to study in order to get a high-paying job. AH may prove so addictive as to be threat to both your finances and time. Wait a few years.  

 miko

[Fatty]

1 less lapdance a month.

[AKDejaVu]

Wulfie once spent $360 for a single night with fatty's mom.  To date, he's the only one that has done that and come away the next morning still a virgin.

In comparison.. is $360 a YEAR for Aces High all that much to pay?

AKDejaVu

[SirLoin]

$360 is about the cost of a new GForce 3,which I would need to play WW2OL.As long as I don't have to upgrade my PC,AH is a bargain..<P3-450 TNT2 256 meg>  

[Creamo]

When $360 is alot to anyone, they should be working overtime or getting a education to better their income/career, not playing games.

AH is dirt cheap. Coffee is more expensive per day.