Board Thread:Online Discussion/@comment-5247041-20130821093041/@comment-7153552-20131007161304

Good point, Useless (I love shortening your name, lol), Skyrim's initial budget was in the rang of 14 million US. That's not counting the expansions and patches. As for the making profit on a mainstream MMO, that number depends both on business model and number of players. If you have 100 players paying $15 a month you won't make as much as if you have 1000 players paying $5 a month, and you won't make near as much as if you have 5000 players paying only cash shop fees for things like extra character slots, makeovers, new hair styles, cosmetic pets and clothing, nominal XP boosters, clothing dye packs and the like. GW2 turns a profit on the latter without problem. They also don't pander to ever whim of the loudest forum posters (something WoW should have learned in the Wrath expansion), so they still have their playstyle intact.

To say that a company needs a subscription to turn a profit is a little short-sighted, in my opinion. To say that it can do so without one has several variables involved in it.