Question: For much of the past decade, online-gaming companies spent millions of dollar developing and releasing massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. Many of these companies implemented a "subscription model," whereby gamers pay set monthly fees (prices) to play. Prior to 2012, this subscription model had been extremely profitable. But today that is in jeopardy. Revenues from subscription-model MMO games are expected to drop to $6.6 billion, following lower monthly fees and fewer subscribers which of the answer choices best explains these occurrences in the subscription-model MMO games market?
A. Online-gaming com have invested around $300 million in their companies since 2012. The reason for this large sum is that online-gaming companies expect decreasing future prices of subscription-model MMO games.
B. Because of increases in computing power, thousands of players are able to compete and cooperate with each other simultaneously from locations around the globe. This critical mass of gamers creates a for games based on the subscription model.
C. More online gaming companies are moving to a "free-to-play model". where online games are now offered by the companies for free. The free-to-play model and the subscription model are substitutes in consumption.
D. Some online-gaming companies are hiring more marketing employees to promote their subscription-model MMO games. Despite the higher input costs, the companies expect greater gaming utilization by introducing features and characters based on data that gamers suggest.