170 players UK based, 150 European, and 420 Overseas
This is why it's possible. That's an incredibly small
number of players for a game based on the most popular
fantasy world ever created.
There aren't any competitors -- Tolkien estates is
currently in court with Sierra for failing to develop
a MMORPG of LOR, as contracted -- and PBM is a good
choice for gamers with periodic attention available.
Everquest, Asherons, and Ultima each get more than
100,000 subscribers a month, and though they attract a
pool much larger than ME would, it suggests that we
could be more popular than we are.
As an old-time ME player (before email submissions
were even an option) returning now, I know how hard it
was to FIND the game, or even discover if it was still
active. Few people in the target audience have heard
of it.
So if GSI might sell for �200K, it would take ten
years to cover the expense, figuring on a generous �1
profit/turn twice a month for a thousand players --
making that a reasonable sale price for GSI. But if we
could get a measly 10,000 players, we could pay it off
in a year, minus some associated cost of growth.
I doubt this is a money-making venture for players and
I doubt we could -- or necessarily want to -- grow
tenfold in a year. But GSI does lousy advertising, and
it might be possible to get a couple of larger
investors actually willing to make a good thing of a
good thing.
Dan
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