Extra Credits - Free to Play Is Currently Broken - How High Costs Drive Players Away

Many games have moved further and further from allowing a $5 or 10$ purchase to create a satisfying experience. Instead, focusing on creating a dominant experience for players willing to drop hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in a month. This lack of play for anybody not willing or not able to pony up that kind of cash, in turn means the non-whale sections of the playerbase are getting turned away from these games.

LITERALLY maplestory.