><i>The Pro Subscription, which can be purchased for $3.99 per month, billed annually, includes all of the premium subscription features as well as:<p>The ability to start your own game server, specify a server location, determine the game mode and invite who you want to join you; [among other primarily social perks]</i> [Premium is 1/2 the cost]<p>Ouch. $50/year for the <i>capability</i> to run my own server? Count me out.<p>Freemium is not a bad model. Users like it. It's <i>not</i> an excuse to charge <i>more</i>, however.
"With the Pro Subscription, you can invite three friends with Standard level memberships to play with you in any Premium level map"
That's really good. It means that four friends could divvy up the cost of the suscription, and one of them could always invite whoever is available to the premium maps. As long as they always want to play toghether, wich is common among friends playing the same game, this seems like it would be quite easy, and even cheaper than the Premium Suscription.