Question on mmo maintenance costs

worrallj · May 2020

I know exact cost figures are generally considered trade secrets, but I'm wondering about how much it costs, per player, to keep the lights on in a typical mmo. Does anyone have a realistic idea based on their IRL job (or a current zos employee)?

Also if ESO might fall above or below the norm based on the megaserver structure and the kinds of things this game does?

Iskiab · May 2020

Operating costs are low. A lot of MMOs continue with very low player counts for a long time, like under 100k subs. I assume at that point they’re still profitable too because they’re still going.

That’s keeping the lights on, development costs more and as a MMO dwindles new content starts coming in very slowly.

worrallj · May 2020

My back of the envelope calculation:

Edit: I did bad math. Fixed, hopefully.

I've read that salaries are the largest component. Let's assume round numbers. Wikipedia says zos has 250 employees. Since they've got a couple other games going let's assume 100 work on ESO. Assume 120k/year salary= 10k per month, times 100 is 1 million. Let's be generous and assume that's 1/3 of the budget. So 3 million in operating costs. Wikipedia says ESO averages between 1 and 3 million active users every month. That's 1 to 3 dollars per player per month.

Did I do that math right? And still a subscription of 15$ per month is not enough for them to stop subjecting me to manipulative game designs trying to funnel me into the crown store? Genuinely think I might have missed something here so looking forward to a more experienced perspective.

Second edit: the employee count is from 2012. So probably higher now. Maybe multiply costs by 3? So that would mean 3 to 9 dollars per player per month. Still well below the sub cost. I think it's safe to say subs are paying their way and should be treated a bit better.