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Jazuela · 08-07-2009, 06:58 PM

Erm, Delerak, that premium is -per month.- But it isn't 10x 400. Remember many players have -several- accounts, and buy and sell characters for cash, which is also a good sideline (these characters can sell upward to several hundred dollars, and game-items can sell for several hundred..and game coins I think are something like $20 per million and people buy several million at a time).

So it's profitable for the -customer- to have several accounts. I know (because I've been to their headquarters) that they have had over 10,000 individual paid accounts at one point. I'm guessing those numbers have gone down somewhat since the heyday, but then went back up again, once it became obvious that buying/selling characters for cash was a lucrative business. One guy did this for a living. Just buying and selling Gemstone items. There were articles written about him in gaming magazines and on the internet. I don't remember his name. He made this kind of thing famous even to non-mudders.

I -also- know that Gemstone isn't their only game.

I -also- know that they have that Hero's Journey graphics engine that they sell licenses for to big gaming companies.

So Simutronics isn't making all their money on Gemstone, although it is their flagship and their most popular (and therefore profitable) game.

Figure maybe, 7000 individual accounts total, on average (people cancel, people add new accounts..it balances out eventually). Remember a -lot- of people who don't play anymore, have -not- cancelled their accounts. They have simply sold them to other players who continue paying for them.

So: 7000 x 30 (the middle between the standard rate of $20 and the premium rate of $40) = 210,000 PER MONTH just on Gemstone.

Multiply that by 12 months and you've got $2,520,000 (2 million, five hundred twenty thousand dollars) annual revenue just from Gemstone alone.

Then add the other 2 games they have (maybe three?) - which has maybe only a few hundred accounts total that aren't already hooked up to the Gemstone premium (which gives them access to those other games).

Then add the licensing fee for Hero's Journey, whatever that is (independant game companies have been complaining that they can't afford the fee so it's gotta be pretty up there).

Their overhead is minimal, comparatively, because while they own that building outside the downtown St. Louis area, most of the people who work for them are volunteers working out of their homes, and get only a very small stipend based on profits (unless that's changed, but really they never got much more than $20 a month plus free subscription to the games).

In short Delerak, don't assume that just because it's a game no one ever votes for on TMS, doesn't mean that they're not raking in the millions. They always were, and they still are. And their customers are profiting from it as well. They just never -had- to put themselves on TMS, because they've always had more players than anyone other than all the combined IRE games. They really don't have any competition, so they have no need to urge their players to vote.

I think it's a sucky game and wouldn't even play it for free again, let alone pay for the privilege. But I acknowledge that Simutronics had a business model that's kept them going pretty damned well for the past 20 years.

08-07-2009, 06:58 PM	#22
Jazuela Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: New England Posts: 849	Re: Barriers to commercial MUDs Erm, Delerak, that premium is -per month.- But it isn't 10x 400. Remember many players have -several- accounts, and buy and sell characters for cash, which is also a good sideline (these characters can sell upward to several hundred dollars, and game-items can sell for several hundred..and game coins I think are something like $20 per million and people buy several million at a time). So it's profitable for the -customer- to have several accounts. I know (because I've been to their headquarters) that they have had over 10,000 individual paid accounts at one point. I'm guessing those numbers have gone down somewhat since the heyday, but then went back up again, once it became obvious that buying/selling characters for cash was a lucrative business. One guy did this for a living. Just buying and selling Gemstone items. There were articles written about him in gaming magazines and on the internet. I don't remember his name. He made this kind of thing famous even to non-mudders. I -also- know that Gemstone isn't their only game. I -also- know that they have that Hero's Journey graphics engine that they sell licenses for to big gaming companies. So Simutronics isn't making all their money on Gemstone, although it is their flagship and their most popular (and therefore profitable) game. Figure maybe, 7000 individual accounts total, on average (people cancel, people add new accounts..it balances out eventually). Remember a -lot- of people who don't play anymore, have -not- cancelled their accounts. They have simply sold them to other players who continue paying for them. So: 7000 x 30 (the middle between the standard rate of $20 and the premium rate of $40) = 210,000 PER MONTH just on Gemstone. Multiply that by 12 months and you've got $2,520,000 (2 million, five hundred twenty thousand dollars) annual revenue just from Gemstone alone. Then add the other 2 games they have (maybe three?) - which has maybe only a few hundred accounts total that aren't already hooked up to the Gemstone premium (which gives them access to those other games). Then add the licensing fee for Hero's Journey, whatever that is (independant game companies have been complaining that they can't afford the fee so it's gotta be pretty up there). Their overhead is minimal, comparatively, because while they own that building outside the downtown St. Louis area, most of the people who work for them are volunteers working out of their homes, and get only a very small stipend based on profits (unless that's changed, but really they never got much more than $20 a month plus free subscription to the games). In short Delerak, don't assume that just because it's a game no one ever votes for on TMS, doesn't mean that they're not raking in the millions. They always were, and they still are. And their customers are profiting from it as well. They just never -had- to put themselves on TMS, because they've always had more players than anyone other than all the combined IRE games. They really don't have any competition, so they have no need to urge their players to vote. I think it's a sucky game and wouldn't even play it for free again, let alone pay for the privilege. But I acknowledge that Simutronics had a business model that's kept them going pretty damned well for the past 20 years.