Baraka_Guru

I would say that most monetizations aren't likely to be money grabs. In this day and age of doing business, especially as far as digital content (i.e. gaming) is concerned, most marketers, designers, executives, etc., know that in order to charge money for something, you must give something of value.

Back in the day, when rpgs were barely online at all, if someone predicted that we'd happily pay $50 for a game and then a $15 monthly subscription fee to play it, in addition to another $50 here and there for "sequels" (expansions), just about everyone would have freaked out ("No fucking way!"). That is, unless you explained to them what that game entails. If back in 1990, if someone explained to you just what WoW is today and what's involved in playing it—every aspect of it—it would likely have blown your fucking mind—even with just the graphics, let alone the size of the world and how it operates: "Dude, it'll be like playing a cartoon!"

WoW is the perfect example because of its success, of course. And the business models coming down the pipeline are hypersensitive to the WoW model. Because it works. Really fucking well.

That said, future models will look at providing products, services, and experiences based on "what people are willing to pay for." It's not going to be a case of "So! How can we get these chumps to pay for what they're already getting for free?" Activision would have to be really, really stupid to go along that line.

Think about it: What are you actually getting for $15 every month? What does that pay for? What will that amount pay for in the future? It's not 100% profit.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot