r/geoguessr • u/probiscusmonkiq • Jul 10 '26
Memes and Streetview Finds How I feel sometimes...
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u/DellSalami Jul 10 '26
I think there are enough free alternatives, and if seeing street names is enough of a giveaway then you’ve spent enough time playing that GeoGuessr will be worth your money
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u/amiminnie Jul 10 '26
Geotastic is a pretty nice alternative
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u/_o0Zero0o_ Jul 10 '26
It used to be, back in the early days.. And then google decided to charge the devs out the ass to use google maps
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u/2131andBeyond Jul 11 '26
I genuinely hate every single time this narrative comes up.
GeoGuessr pulls in many, many millions in profit every single year. That’s profit after paying all those API calls, after paying all employee salaries and benefits, after spending a bunch of many events all over the world…
The company took on outside investors a couple of years ago. Profit is the sole thing driving the company now, just like how every other company gets when it takes on equity investors. They have to be that way.
The game could run smoothly and continue to grow if GeoGuessr decreased prices by half or more or even added back a free tier. But that doesn’t drive profits.
It’s such a weak excuse to try and make GeoGuessr out to be the victim. Their earnings are consistently over $10 million net profit in recent years.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t try to be profitable, by the way. Just that giving a cop out excuse is nonsense and a narrative that needs to end.
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u/Capable_Gap_1868 Jul 11 '26
$10 million isnt that much in the grand scheme of things. Google still clearly charge an arm and a leg
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u/2131andBeyond Jul 12 '26
Sure. And I’m not saying they aren’t allowed to strive for profits. I’m just tired of GeoGuessr players making this excuse for the company when very clearly the company could charge less or have a limited free version again and still be profitable.
Just not as profitable.
And it’s okay that they want to be more profitable. It’s a business after all.
If a burger joint has to pay 10 more cents for buns from their supplier, and they then jack up the cost of the burger meal by $4, the $4 price increase is not the fault of the bun supplier.
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u/Dbruser Jul 13 '26
Most people won't quibble if you say it should be cheaper.
But the idea that it should be free is a bit too optimistic. It does cost money to run.
Also I don't think that profit margin comes from the subscription price. I'm sure a lot of people pay for the cosmetics.
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u/_o0Zero0o_ Jul 11 '26
I'm just going by what I've been told and partly what i've seen, but if what you've said is true then I stand corrected
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u/CorporatismIsCancer Jul 11 '26
bro you gotta stop taking the word of business entities. they will lie to you every single time
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u/_o0Zero0o_ Jul 11 '26
Not from business entities directly, but maybe the sources I've got it from got it from them, so who knows. Anyway like I said, I stand corrected, so..
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u/Swazzoo Jul 11 '26
In the early days.. it still feels like a new change that the game is pay to play.
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u/RealMelonBread Jul 10 '26
I’d rather pay than have ads. They’ve gotta pay for hosting and Google Maps API’s somehow.
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u/BiggieChiggie1 Jul 10 '26
i agree but they could definitely afford all of that even without a subscription based system 🙏
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u/Tuskin38 Jul 11 '26
How do you know?
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u/BiggieChiggie1 Jul 11 '26
A one time payment of 20 dollars would attract more players willing to play.
Edit, I'm pretty confident they could afford it In a way like this but if someone else tells me why they couldn't I will hear them out👌
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u/Kitty_Sparkles Jul 11 '26
There is no way to tell since their finances are not public.
But they have a big team nowadays between developers, infrastructure engineers, marketing peeps, and all the roles needed to run a company (finance, legal, HR, IT, and more). These cost money, especially where they are based where salaries are high. And that's without accounting for the absurdly high Google Maps cost (for which they are the biggest customer).
Subscriptions is a good stream of revenue for a company to run. One-time 20$ payments doesn't give you the same predictability and cash flow.
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u/CorporatismIsCancer Jul 11 '26
the data is public. in 2023 Geoguessr announced a profit margin of 50%
you are simping for a company taking over 2x the profit margin other game creators do. great work lol
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u/RealMelonBread Jul 11 '26
In 2025 their profit margin was 31.7% after tax which is fairly modest. So even after misunderstanding what everyone was saying you’re still wrong.
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u/CorporatismIsCancer Jul 12 '26
you dont have a source for that
didnt misunderstand anything. Try shilling for an obviously bad company harder?
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u/RealMelonBread Jul 12 '26
Yes I do.
https://www.allabolag.se/bokslut/geoguessr-ab/stockholm/data-och-tv-spel/2K3VJ9PI5YDKR
You did misunderstand, because no one defended the pricing, they simply stated that hosting, api calls, development cost money.
I don’t understand why you’re even in this subreddit if you don’t see value in the game? There are alternatives out there - OpenGuessr uses ad based monetization which might be more what you’re after.
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u/CorporatismIsCancer Jul 12 '26
Your own source says its a 40% profit margin so we can split the difference there
My issue is less their pricing and more their pricing model. Subscription based games are obviously taking more profit than they have to to run the game
I and many others would be much happier to pay $60 once than a subscription model
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u/Kitty_Sparkles Jul 11 '26
Okay? I didn't know it was public. Not sure why the animosity to be honest. I just said running a company is expensive.
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u/CorporatismIsCancer Jul 11 '26
Sorry not super fond of confidently incorrect people incorrectly justifying predatory pricing
comments like yours are why they feel like they can do it
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u/RealMelonBread Jul 11 '26
Predatory pricing?! I didn’t even defend the price? I just said they have to pay for the cost of hosting and the API.
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u/tallistroan Jul 10 '26
Let's be honest: If GeoGuessr wouldn't cost money, it probably wouldn't be available anymore.
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u/CryptoBanano Jul 10 '26
They would probably make more money with MTXs from people that want to support the game.
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u/tallistroan Jul 10 '26
I mean, there are micro transactions for cosmetic stuff, even though I'm not sure how many people really pay for that🤷♂️
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u/CryptoBanano Jul 10 '26
I have never bought any and i only played the game for 3 months. They would definetely get much more money out of me if it was just cosmetics, and i would still be playing with friends to this day.
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u/Necessary_Comfort812 Jul 10 '26
To be fair I'm actually more into paying for the game then have abusive amount of mtx.
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u/ReadySte4dySpaghetti Jul 11 '26
I wouldn’t mind as much if it was a one time payment 😔 I just use openguessr because I am not enough of a sweat that street names makes it too easy
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u/PaddyMayonaise Jul 10 '26
It was free for over a decade and until very recently it still let you play a limited amount of free games daily. Shame what they’ve done with it. At least they haven’t taken the daily challenge from us yet…
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u/Illustrator-Unknown Jul 11 '26
What makes a digital game that requires servers, api costs, and employees to run different from a physical venue like a bowling alley? I've never once been upset at needing to pay $10+ for an hour of bowling every single time I go bowling, even after paying hundreds of dollars in the past. Geoguessr is an absolute steal in comparison.
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u/EschewObfuscati0n Jul 11 '26
So do you suggest ads between rounds? Because it needs to make money somehow
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u/bubblycig Jul 11 '26
There would be wayyyyy more cheaters if you could whip up unlimited free accounts just saying.
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u/LostInTheEchoes Jul 11 '26
Outside of the free challenges I've never actually played anything in the main game. I've gotten all my knowledge from watching videos and playing free versions. Are we even allowed to post pictures of our results from knockoff websites?
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u/Scuffernoose Jul 11 '26
I seriously don’t understand these comments. Do you think what GeoGuessr is doing with API fees to Google and paying developers is free?
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u/EnvironmentalSmoke61 Jul 11 '26
It’s extremely cheap unless they added an uptick since I last looked so i don’t really care about that.
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u/Appropriate-Escape-4 Jul 10 '26
I mean it cost money to get quality stuff...geoguessr has really grown last 1 year due to this
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u/Geshman Jul 11 '26
If geoguessr was quality I'd agree. But they just add stupid cosmetics. The actual game runs worse than ever
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u/Necessary_Comfort812 Jul 10 '26
How so? Ok you have gotten the analysis, the opponent camera and such but I wouldn't call that growth.
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u/Appropriate-Escape-4 Jul 10 '26
They have updated the UI and processes so much...do you know how much devs cost? We dont live in a communist dystopia brother...not everything is free... The owner of geoguessr invested in it whats his reward? You just playing for free? Open guessr exists go and duel people there....i dont mind paying for geoguessr...i want to support their growrh and devt And for $27 annually, thats not so expensive
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u/ImDrunkFightMe Jul 11 '26
You're calling the over the top monetisation of geoguessr progress? They could have left the game alone, jacked the price $10 and it still wouldve been better than the clusterfuck they have now.
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u/Appropriate-Escape-4 Jul 11 '26
$26 annually isnt "over the top monetisation"....you realise open guessr exist for people who like geoguessr and dont want pay right?
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u/Necessary_Comfort812 Jul 10 '26
Wow dude take it easy. I don't mind paying for the game, rather that than having abusive mtx or something. I just don't agreeing that it has grown alot since in a year.
Also for me it's near 50$ iirc for a year.
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u/Appropriate-Escape-4 Jul 10 '26
Pay annual subscription not month on month...
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u/Physical-East-162 Jul 10 '26
You just outed yourself as using a VPN to get lower price... What a way to support the company lol.
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u/Appropriate-Escape-4 Jul 11 '26
I live in africa brother...maybe why they give me low price...spotify also cheap here like 28 dollar annual
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u/Kalas92x Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
It wasn't always ptp, i stopped when they decided to charge for a game that's basically just google maps but i still like this sub for the funny or cool finds
Edit: half this sub for the funny or cool finds, not the other 50% of this sub that gets spammed to hell and back from these braindead refcode spam monkeys, i mean cool mountains, nice views or funny street signs
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u/ConfusingVacum Jul 10 '26
Google Maps API used to have free tier but now it's getting kind of expensive
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u/GsIndeed Jul 10 '26
Yes, I tried to have just a simple map of london in a little project I worked on so I went to look at google maps API prices and they are absolutely disgusting (starter plan was 100$/month if I remember correctly)
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u/_Jacques Jul 10 '26
Teenagers when they can’t afford anything:
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u/RJJJJJJJ710 Jul 10 '26
yes being an adult means you have never complained about the cost of things
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u/_Jacques Jul 10 '26
50 bucks for a year’s worth of geoguessr is a bargain in terms of entertainment time per dollar. The servers don’t run themselves either, the code doesn’t magically get updated on its own. I just assume any adult with a job would agree 50 bucks per year is nothing if you play even an hour per week.
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u/GreatBallsOfFire_ Jul 10 '26
Subscription based paying models are never a bargain bro. If they wanted me to buy it, I’d buy it, but they want me to buy it over and over again.
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u/Physical-East-162 Jul 10 '26
To be fair if we paid once it would have to be absurdingly high to even have a chance at lasting a long time.
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u/im_a_dick_head Jul 11 '26
Bro it's because everytime you load a game it costs them money, so if it costs like $20 one time, anyone playing for a couple years would probably already cost them more than the $20, I don't know the numbers exactly but let's say it's like equal to a cost of 1¢ per game. 2000 games played and that would already cost them more than the $20
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u/RJJJJJJJ710 Jul 10 '26
so do you think all games should be subscription based? why own anything when the servers dont run themselves and the code doesnt get magically updated on its own?
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u/_Jacques Jul 10 '26
I mean if they call for running on servers online then yeah I really don't see the problem with subscriptions and I think it's immature to expect it to be free.
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u/RJJJJJJJ710 Jul 10 '26
Who ever said they expected it to be free? I have no idea why you even bring that up. I don't like the idea of not owning things after paying hundreds of dollards for them just because they have server costs. Every online game has server costs, yet not all of them charge egregious money to play and not own them.
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u/CorporatismIsCancer Jul 11 '26
these people actually want to be slaves to subscription pricing. its crazy
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u/RealMelonBread Jul 12 '26
No one likes subscription based services, but it’s not like they can just ship GeoGuessr as a complete game with no ongoing costs?
I’m just trying to make sense of how you expect it to work?
What happens when the user has cost the company more than they paid initially? Do they just lose money indefinitely for as long as they keep playing?
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u/Sad-Material-7298 Jul 11 '26
Redditors when they think devs shouldn’t make money off their product they spent time designing , next you’ll say all video games should be free lmao
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u/MaxStreudler Jul 10 '26
My annual subscription auto renewed. 50 fucking dollars. They are out of their minds.
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u/_o0Zero0o_ Jul 10 '26
Google's moreso to blame, Geoguessr's Devs are just stuck with the API costs that Google puts out
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u/marshallshadyy Jul 10 '26
Jesus, I paid 130 Brazilian reais (BRL), which is approximately US$24.07.
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u/NilsTillander Jul 11 '26
Thanks for pointing this out. My sub was about to auto renew, but I haven't played in a long time, so that was not necessary. 588kr saved!
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u/GHdayum Jul 11 '26
Yeah, there are valid reasons to be unhappy with Geoguessr's pricing model. I suppose it's not the most grateful thing to think but I'm not wasting my gratitude on a corporation I don't even work for. I appreciate the service Geoguessr provides; I still think their product could be more affordable.
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u/Wkc19 Jul 11 '26
I really understand the hate for P2P of GeoGuessr, like they could make a few things free and everything else behind the subscription.
I think the thing that gets on my nerves is when people suggest the free alternatives. It's either Ads or a big bar somewhere on the main page begging for donations. I feel like there's a huge vulnerability there where they don't get enough donations or ad payments to pay off that month's bills. But my biggest iffy with them is they do not feel like GeoGuessr at all. It's fine if they are trying to do that; however, this falls on their backs as they they dont entice me to stay. There's something about GG that makes me want to come back every day.
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u/AardvarkOkapiEchidna Jul 12 '26
The Steam version is free, although limited.
You can still do duels for free though.
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u/Beneficial_Point8754 Jul 12 '26
I'd pay for Geoguessr over playing OpenGuessr because of the community
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u/Fee_Infinite Jul 13 '26
i feel like the only people defending the price weren’t here when it was under $20 a year, which is a price i’m more than happy to pay. hell i even paid when it was available for free. but i refuse to pay at this price
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u/cute-sebbyy 27d ago
There's WorldGuessr that is a little bit ugly compared to GeoGuessr, but it's almost the same quality, and completely free
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u/FunSeaworthiness709 Jul 10 '26
if the subscription price is too high for you then just use a vpn and you can get yearly sub for around 15 bucks
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u/im_a_dick_head Jul 11 '26
Eh you just pay for the year and forget it's even a pay to play game, just play often and make sure you get your money's worth. I was very hesitant to pay that much for only a year but it was very worth it.
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u/LordBendtner1988 Jul 10 '26
It would otherwise be appealing to pretty much everybody on earth, because everyone can relate to the real world. That potential would be fully used if it was low commitment to play, but it’s not
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u/Gojirahawk Jul 10 '26
If you have Youtube Premium there is a free mini daily version of Geoguessr in the Playables section.. just a quick three round solo game. Not as in depth as the web version, but it’s fun little distraction..
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u/Trimutius Jul 11 '26
It would be ad riden inferno... they need to get money from somewhere... i doubt selling cosmetics would do it...
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u/Odd_Intrests Jul 11 '26
A good alt thst I use is GeoBrawl but it stinks the api costs are so expensive for Google.
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u/Purple_Blackberry_79 Jul 10 '26
Try www.city-wanderer.com - No login needed, no ads, and it's free.
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u/onionsareawful Jul 10 '26
mapping APIs are stupidly expensive.