1. Game Ownership Distribution and Exchange Summary
Word Of Warcraft (WOW)
Developer:
Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher:
Blizzard Entertainment
Which Formats:
PC
Dose the Publisher own the
developer:
They are the same company
Who owns the format:
PC open format,
How much dose it cost to
release a game on this format:
Its free because its PC open
format, but WOW spend over
50 million pounds a year to
maintain the servers.
Is the game based on another
licensed product:
No, but they are making a film
on the game.
How dose the products get to the
consumer and how dose the company
make money from it? The game gets to
you by the consumer has to physically go
and buy the disk then you play the game
through your computer. The company
make money from the product by the
monthly subscription cost to play the
game, the different map packs, and
different accessories you can buy.
How do you get hold of the game? you
buy a disk that has the game on it, there
are updates, you need to buy the updates
if you wish to update and upgrade.
Do you get the whole game or do you
have to pay more for the full content?
They sell the game in chunks, they bring
out updates and new maps which you
have to buy separately.
Do you pay upfront for the game or pay in
other ways?
You have to buy the game disk from game
retailers over a till, and when you have the
game, you can buy new maps and
accessories, but you also have to pay a
monthly subscription fee to play the game.
This is a very risky way to sell
the game for the company,
charging people to buy the
game, and then change them
again on top of that a monthly
charge to play the game, This is
very costly for the consumer so
the company have to make sure
they build up a massive user
base or nobody would go and
buy an expensive game and
then pay a charge on top of that
to play the game.
Ed Bray ! UNIT01 AO5

2. Game Ownership Distribution and Exchange Summary
Parrallel Kingdom Developer:
PerBlue
Publisher:
PerBlue
Which Formats:
Android, iOS
Dose the Publisher own the
developer:
They are the same company
Who owns the format:
Android, iOS,
How much dose it cost to
release a game on this format:
According to the article below, a
survey of 96 mobile app
developers showed the average
cost to develop an app was
$6,453
http://techcrunch.com/
2010/05/16/iphone-app-
sales-exposed/
Is the game based on another
licensed product:
No
How dose the products get to the
consumer and how dose the company
make money from it?
The product gets to the consumer by
the consumer might see it on the top
40 charts for apps on the app store, if
they are interested they download the
app, free of charge, it downloads
straight away. The company makes
money by relying on in-app
purchases, they hope that people will
want to buy more ‘food’ to play the
game more.
How do you get hold of the game?
You have to go onto the App store and
download the game. Then you play it
through your phone or tablet.
Do you get the whole game or do you
have to pay more for the full content?
You get the whole game for free, they
make money through in-app
purchases.
Do you pay upfront for the game or
pay in other ways?
no, The game is completely free, but if
you want to get more ‘Food’ then you
have to buy it, you buy it through the
app, you pay first then you get the
“Food” straight away.
This is a good way to sell the
game in the view of the
consumer, the consumer thinks
a free app, great. downloads it
and plays it, then if they like the
game and want to play it more,
they will need to buy some
more ‘food’ which it for sale as
an in app purchase. This is a bit
risky for the company, they
need to make sure people like
the game enough to want to
keep playing and then buy the
‘food’. Having the game free is
good idea, they can build up a
massive user base, get the app
on the app store top charts,
then more people will see the
app, download it, and then they
might go and buy some more
‘food’.
Ed Bray ! UNIT01 AO5

3. Game Ownership Distribution and Exchange Summary
Guild Wars 2 Developer:
ArenaNet
Publisher:
NCSoft
Which Formats:
Mac and PC
Dose the Publisher own the
developer:
ArenaNet are a subsidiary of
NCSoft
Who owns the format:
PC and the Mac are open
formats
How much dose it cost to
release a game on this format:
No license cost - just the
development costs - which are
always ongoing for an
MMORPG
Is the game based on another
licensed product:
No - Guild Wars is a universe
and brand created by the
publishers.
The game was available at
launch as a physical disc and
download.
The price of the game at the
first point of exchange is
enough to cover the
development costs (estimated
100 million) as long as the sales
hit 1 million +.
After that profits are made on
the in-app-purchases of gems
and equipment from the Black
Lion trading.
3 million copies have been sold
as of 2013 and the peak usage
was 400,000 gamers at one
time.
There are no subscription costs
just profits from IAPs.
The split distribution satisfies
much of the market that still
buys discs (87% of UK games
revenue is boxed games) but
also suits the hardcore PC
market that use services such
as Steam and like to have
downloadable content.
The business model relies on
establishing a large user base
to enable the game to make
profits. The publishers could
take this risk however as Guild
Wars is part of a franchise and
they were certain that there was
already a user base
established.
This is an effective business
model for existing franchises as
the lack of subscription will no
seem a burden to existing fans
or be a barrier for those gamers
who wanted to get involved in a
MMORPG for the first time.
Ed Bray ! UNIT01 AO5