The Wall Street Journal published a great article regarding how game developers have been sucessfully applying new monotizaiton strategies. Most of these strategies show that relatively few dedicated fans are needed to support an entire studio. Examples of these studios cited in the article include Flashbang and Three Rings.

Towards the end of the article, an excellent point is raised: "Depending on the genre or how the game actually plays, pursuing ideas like microtransactions or subscription models may not make sense."

What I draw from this is the importance of considering a monotization strategy from the initial development stage. Assuming that a developer is designing a game with the intention of turning a profit, the initial development plans should answer the question "How will I make money from developing this game?" And if that answer includes a a subscription or microtransaction model, then the developer should work to add features into the game to support that model. If the developer waits until after the initial stage of development, this could lead to useless or clumsy monotization features being written in as mere afterthoughts.