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RuneScape Membership Price Increases
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Author:  Arceus [ January 23rd, 2015, 10:59 am ]
Post subject:  RuneScape Membership Price Increases
So new membership prices from 1 March 2015 are out. Only new members or players whose subscription has lapsed for more than 14 days will pay the increased costs.

Quote:
In November, we announced that we would be increasing the price of membership for new members and those who've been unsubscribed for more than 14 days.

Today, we can confirm that this will come into effect on the 1st of March 2015. You can find the new pricing below:

Image

The price of Bonds will also increase:

Image

Once the price rises, each Bond will be redeemable for 14 days of membership, 195 RuneCoins or 15 Treasure Hunter Keys. The price rise will not affect the RuneCoin cost of Solomon’s Store items.

Don't forget - as long as you're a member and don't lapse out for more than 14 days, you're eligible to keep your current rate of membership. Subscribe now to secure access to all of RuneScape's members' content at current prices.

For best value, check out what the Premier Club has to offer. Get RuneScape membership for up to a year, at a reduced price with loads of exclusive in-game gifts and benefits - available until 3rd February.

As always, we're committed to giving you the very best value for your membership. Even at the new full price, RuneScape is highly competitive with other MMOs, and we've got great plans for the rest of 2015.

Watch out for Mod Mark's Behind the Scenes - February post on the 30th of January for details of what's coming up next month, and visit RuneLabs to make your favourite content idea a reality.
Author:  Adbot [ January 23rd, 2015, 10:59 am ]
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Author:  Shane [ January 23rd, 2015, 6:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
Can we have options for:
- I am grandfathered in to an old subscription price. (my option)
- The price increase is fine.

It's unfair to assume people will "grumble grumble" subscribe. I can pretty much guarantee most of RSBandB will fit into either of these two options.
Author:  Arceus [ January 23rd, 2015, 7:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
Sure I'll add those or you can edit it if you want :P. I was just curious more for people who might drop a subscription and think about picking it up later, say during the summer, but that's a fair point.
Author:  Magicking610 [ January 23rd, 2015, 8:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
You gotta do what you gotta do. Price increases happen, it's a side effect of inflation; nothing you can do there. It is a little bit of a jump, but $10 a month still isn't a bad price. If they go any higher though, they're going to be competing against World of Warcraft, and that might present some issues. Shouldn't be an issue for a few years though.
Author:  Sunset Fish [ January 23rd, 2015, 10:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
I was reading the Runescape forums. It made me angry that almost every comment was people *****. "I'm quitting" blah blah.
Jagex is a business.. business needs to make profits.

I'm not pro or anti Jagex, I understand the need for price increase. But unfortunately, I can't help think that the massive failure of the Transformer's game has a weeeee bit to do with this.
I never asked for that game.

I'm still paying the 8 a month. But even World of Warcraft (when I played) was still 15 a month, plus you had to buy the game. Plus expansions.
So I feel the game is still worth 10. Even if that's not my current price.

But when I do lose my subscription and get kicked into the new price tag. It will be harder to maintain membership from then on out as I don't make a lot of money,
clearly neither does Jagex.

I will say though, the price hike, will make it much harder to attract new members, which, I feel they already struggle with doing.


But at the end of the day. If the price increase is needed to make sure that the game will still be around for a few more years. Then I'm all for it.
(but at this point... I think Gielinor seeing the year 2020 is a stretch.
Author:  Wheres Jay [ January 23rd, 2015, 11:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
Not sure how much times have changed, but $10/month seems so much for RuneScape, especially a RuneScape with microtransactions. But I mean if it's something you play everyday then it's probably still okay value.

It's funny because I don't know if he still says it, but I remember Shane saying a bunch of times to just skip lunch once a month to afford it. If you're a big spender that might still work but I guess some people will have to skip supper too now.

It's also funny because I used to look at the five-and-some a month as really cheap. My income now is 132x what it was then, where as the price has only doubled. Yet I still look at it now and think that it is pretty expensive. Money is weird.
Author:  Adbot [ January 23rd, 2015, 11:22 pm ]
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Author:  Davo [ January 23rd, 2015, 11:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
I've been a subscriber since February 2004. It definitely doesn't affect me, but I'm sort of surprised to see it reach almost $10. However, for it to not even increase $5 over a span of 11 years is pretty impressive. Aside from inflation, I wonder if micro transactions haven't been performing as well as expected.

I wonder if people are going to horde bonds now or if the in game price will even rise?
Author:  Imperial [ January 24th, 2015, 8:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
I'm grandfathered into the current price but even if I wasn't it wouldn't bother me, and I'd still pay. This game has hardly increased in price over the span of its lifetime. However if they start hitting $15 in the future (I don't see this happening for a while) there might be some issues.
Author:  trekkie [ January 24th, 2015, 12:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
Don't really like the increase, but i'm no longer granfathered into the $5 a month anymore. I'll just pay a year and be done with it.
Author:  Earth [ January 24th, 2015, 4:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
Still paying $5/month :D
Author:  Ironass [ January 26th, 2015, 4:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
We have been paying $10 a month in Australia for years. Price hike doesn't bother me; it is actually surprising to me that it has taken this long. Tell me one thing you buy that has stayed the same price for 5 years. Newspapers, bread, milk, petrol, everything increases over time; it's called inflation. If you want to save a few dollars, buy a yearly membership. Besides, even at $11.49, it's still less than one coffee a week for me.
Author:  Jasonmrc [ January 26th, 2015, 2:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
Personally I don't see how it's justified.

Originally it was $5, then in 2008 it was upped to $5.95. In 2012 it was raised to $7.95. And now in 2015 it is $9.49. That's nearly double the price in 9 years. This might not be surprising, if subscriptions were their only income, which we all know is not the case. They receive money from both treasure hunter and Solomon's store, microtransactions. A subscription increase should not be needed with microtransactions. I know of a game that has maintained the same subscription price for 5 years that also has microtransactions, and they don't advertise their microtransactions anywhere near as much as Runescape and their subscriptions when bought for a year are essentially $5 a month.
At the current rate we'll see another price increase around 2017, and it will likely be $11 - $12 then. And I'm sure the microtransactions will be being pushed even more.

If they are facing financial issues, why not look at the other side of the coin? Costs. Right now as I sit here I see over 140 worlds, most of them at less than 25% capacity. For a "Massively Multiplayer" game, the players sure are spread awfully thin. Jagex could safely close at least 25% of their servers, likely up to 50% of them and still maintain enough to support all their active players. Having 800-1200 players on each world would actually be a benefit to the community. It might be a bit annoying when slayering or mining, but then Jagex could adjust respawn values to what they actually should be(which on that note, both monsters and resources should respawn dynamically based on the quantity of players in the area, not on the world). Closing worlds would likely lower costs enough to negate the need for a price increase as well as bringing the community together(physically). Us and them should remember that one reason we have so many worlds is due to the bots and RWTs that were previously in the game. With those gone(at least for the most part) there is no need to maintain the extra worlds and the associated costs.

Also of note is Bonds. Previously they were $5, now they are $5.95, a 20% increase. Cost per bond membership month was $11.42, now it is $13.60. People who pay via Bonds are getting into the WoW price range. Granted, people do not buy bonds to cash in for membership, they sell them for cash via Jagex sanctioned gold selling and then the buyer cashes them in for membership, 2.285 bonds per month.

A flaw in the logic with this price increase is that it only affects new subscribers or those who lapse. What does this mean? Your current income will not increase and it makes membership more daunting for new players. $10 is mentally a lot more than $8. As was previously stated by Sunset, this increase makes it harder to draw new players, a task which they already struggle at.

With that said, I am still in the $5 price, partially because it costs to much to unsubscribe. If I were to unsubscribe for even one month during a time when I was really busy it would spike my cost for the rest of my RS career. $60 per year compared to $113.88 means I can be idle for over 40% of the year and still be more cost efficient than a new subscriber that plays daily.

In the end? I won't quit. I won't unsubscribe. But it's very unlikely I'll ever have a member alt(something I would like to do). It's silly for people with active subscriptions to quit over this because they are not affected. Those who lapse a few days... I could understand possibly quitting over it depending on their situation. New players are less likely to subscribe and F2Ps that subscribe every few months or use bonds are in the same boat.

Below is a list of comparative pricing for other games in the industry:
Game, one month price, best month price
Elder Scrolls Online - $14.99, $13.99(90 days at a time @ $13.99 per 30 days)
World of Warcraft - $14.99, $12.99(6 months at a time @ $12.99 per month)
EverQuest - $14.99, $9.99(1 year at a time @ $9.99 per month, this cost is effectively reduced to $4.99 due to the 500 special currency given per month with subscription)
Lord of the Rings Online - $14.99, $8.33(1 year @ $8.33 per month, this is effectively reduced to $3.33 due to the 500 special currency given per month with subscription)
Runescape - $9.95, $7.20(1 year gold premier)

Note: Although Runescape appears to still win, they actually fall into third place right under WoW if purchased at optimal pricing due to the fact that with EQ and LOTRO's currency worth their prices become much more cost efficient. If Jagex threw in 100 RuneCoins per month for members, it would make them more competitive.
Author:  Mr Bistro [ January 26th, 2015, 8:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
My opinion is best described with my video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dmaPU1voMw&feature=youtu.be

In the end though, I feel that this prices is way to high for new players to come into the game.
Author:  Shane [ January 26th, 2015, 9:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
Mr Bistro wrote:
In the end though, I feel that this prices is way to high for new players to come into the game.


I think I may have mentioned this on the last podcast but if I didn't: there's a big psychological difference between $10, $9.49, and $7.50. That's what it comes down to with regards to threshold marketing prices. It may ultimately turn some people off but current subscribers don't need to worry. Like RuneScape, don't let your membership lapse. Regardless of what we all think Jagex knows their numbers. The last set of public returns do show a company that is making a decent amount of profit so they are by no means struggling. Hiring and retaining developers (probably the most expensive job title at Jagex) isn't cheap. Ultimately, the money brought in has to be used to plan for the future and who ever said doing business in an ever changing game development market is cheap?

RS is still worth that much to me. As a result I'm waiting until another Solomon's item that I am interested in appears this year and I'll purchase a Rune Coin pack as a way of showing my appreciation to Jagex albeit in a small way.

PS: Anyone know what youngsters spend on school lunch these days? I used to be able to say with certainty that you could skip lunch one day a month and pay for RS. Do people spend $9 a day on lunch at school?
Author:  Pyrnassius [ January 27th, 2015, 4:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RuneScape Membership Price Increases
Jasonmrc wrote:
Personally I don't see how it's justified.

Below is a list of comparative pricing for other games in the industry:
Game, one month price, best month price
Elder Scrolls Online - $14.99, $13.99(90 days at a time @ $13.99 per 30 days)
World of Warcraft - $14.99, $12.99(6 months at a time @ $12.99 per month)
EverQuest - $14.99, $9.99(1 year at a time @ $9.99 per month, this cost is effectively reduced to $4.99 due to the 500 special currency given per month with subscription)
Lord of the Rings Online - $14.99, $8.33(1 year @ $8.33 per month, this is effectively reduced to $3.33 due to the 500 special currency given per month with subscription)
Runescape - $9.95, $7.20(1 year gold premier)

Note: Although Runescape appears to still win, they actually fall into third place right under WoW if purchased at optimal pricing due to the fact that with EQ and LOTRO's currency worth their prices become much more cost efficient. If Jagex threw in 100 RuneCoins per month for members, it would make them more competitive.


How many of these games are really pay to win though? At least on RS, I know I can play the entirety of the game and max out in a reasonable time without having to spend any extra money other than the monthly membership. Personally, I have never tried any of the games you mentioned, but I do hear how you need to spend money to buy the best weaponss and armour and the like.
9 years ago, I paid $1.95 for a cup of coffee. Now it is $4.50; that is more than double in that time. A Big Mac meal at McDonalds was was $4.95, now its $8.95. This game gives me unlimited entertainment for $2.50 a week. I personally have no problem with that. Look at it this way; 35 cents a day and you can spend as long as you want doing it... not too bad a deal for me.
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