NOV. 4, 2009 • Blizzard has finally jumped into micro-transactions tied to its market leading World of Warcraft. The publisher introduced two special companion pets that can be purchased for $10 each. Previously, special pets were available for attendance to events such as Blizzcon, incentives for subscription, or tied to branded playing card games.
Impact: The problem with the $15 a month all-you-can-eat subscription business model that drivers World of Warcraft and most other major MMOGs, is that they miss out on the revenue from the user base that is willing to pay much more than $15 a month. Surprisingly there are a great deal of consumers that are extremely willing to buy extra items. This is expected to be a major secondary source of revenue for the MMOG market going forward.
