Some misconceptions have come up a few times recently in email and I want to clear them up a bit.
Running game servers is immensely profitable.
We do not actually make a profit. Most other GSPs actually lose money and have significant debt. This relates to the next myth.
Game servers are cheap and easy to run.
Good bandwidth is surprisingly expensive, and game servers use a ton of it. Hardware (and power and cabinet space) are also expensive, and to have servers that run flawlessly, machines need to stay very lightly loaded and be highly well-managed and well-tweaked. Customer support encompasses a huge array of different issues and takes significant time and energy to do right.
Other providers, especially new ones, can give you the same thing that NFO does at a lower price.
New providers have lower prices because they don't yet understand how much game servers cost to run well, and they universally have to raise their prices after some period of time, reduce quality, or simply go out of business. Existing providers with very lower prices are simply in a different quality class than we are -- there is a trade-off involved.
NFO and other large GSPs are soulless corporate behemoths.
We're one of the largest GSPs, and we probably have less yearly revenue than your nearest fast food restaurant. When you email us, the owners are the ones who answer. We are far from soulless and care about every customer -- every new signup and every cancellation.
The market for game servers is huge and getting bigger.
GSPs can generally only run servers for PC games, and the PC gaming market is shrinking, not expanding, so the market for game servers is similarly shrinking.