Why Steam is Awesome, and How You Can Make Live Free

[Alby_da_Wolf]

Mr Puggsly said:

Alby_da_Wolf said:

MS thinks it could extend its "pay for everything" dream to the whole world, but in countries with lower average income and less consumerism than anglo-saxon ones, people are less willing to accept it, particularly if they'd use only features that are free on other platforms. And XBox360 strength in the different regions quite reflects this.

1) In low income countries people generally have PCs because they can pirate games easily. Atleast that's what I'm led to believe by an article I read about a Chinese developer.

2) However, if MS and Sony want to charge for online play in these countries they should use the WoW pay method in China. Wow players in China pay to play by the hour. I believe its just a few pennies an hour and its been quite successful.

1) Low income countries, partially yes, but China is different, as the biggest reason is that its laws still ban consoles. In mid income countries, not poor, but less rich than USA, console gaming exists and it's strong, but there usually Ninty and Sony overwhelme MS.

2) Totally agree. Paying for costly services like maintaining huge persistent massively multiplayer worlds or other premium services is usually considered acceptable by most. Despite what MS would wish, people perceive the difference from paying for things that are usually free. Paying for use, if the fee is modest, helps acceptance amongst people not playing too often, while a flat rate may be better for heavy gamers. Flexibility is of the essence, and it's a well known quality of Chinese businesspeople. MS OTOH has this old flaw of its of trying to force its business model on people by its sheer power.