A new page, Financial Model/Description, has been added to my Business Sim notebook for My Idea Outlet. The contents can be found below.
I like the idea of my business sim concept embracing a free-to-play model. For this to work, I would need to ensure that revenue exceeds expenses. This means that I would need to look at both ways to generate revenue while reducing expenses.
As I have already mentioned, Rollercoaster Tycoon is one of the biggest influences on this concept. The first two games in that series were excellent low-budget games. This helped establish that gameplay isn't very expensive. The primary reason that a lot of games have big budgets is to maximize the technical side of things. If we made a game like this and put gameplay above graphics and realism, we could keep the costs down. Even so, this is an ambitious concept. There is no way I could keep costs down as low as Rollercoaster Tycoon.
For revenue, I have several ideas. A simple tool for making money could be advertising. This could come in many forms such as displaying an ad before playing or encouraging gamers to add a few billboards.
Premium accounts provide another possibility. People could pay for an ad-free experience. They could be provided with opportunities to play in a more advanced interface, such as using a 3-D graphics engine while free-to-play could be an isometric 2-D web interface. They could also be given early access to new features. Although some people won't want to hear this, I am open to paid members receiving a little extra in-game currency.
Similar to the premium accounts, there could be an account type for businesses and organizations. The terms of service could be set up in a way that only individuals are allowed to play for free. Accounts for businesses could be similar (or maybe the same) as a premium account.
Various hooks could be developed in the game for the purpose of additional revenue. For example, an online retailer could set up stores in the game. For either a cut of their revenue or an advertising fee, gamers would then be able to buy products through that store. This could also be used as an advertising tool where certain in-game businesses can be created to promote certain goods and services.
For these ideas, I want to make sure that nobody is forced to advertise within their cities or to promote a business that they don't support. I will go into further detail later. I have one last idea that I want to look at.
This could be viewed as a different type of hook. More traditional games could be developed that tap into this business sim. For example, a racing game could take place on the streets of a city that you have built. There are reasons that I consider content creation as a secondary feature. The games could be developed within the same company, or it could be some form of licensing arrangement. Revenue could be attached to game sales, or it could be attached to fees for data transfer. In the case of the latter, benefits can be attached to premium accounts.
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