However, per there statements they believe the market for MP for a game like Elemental is essecially non-existant. And they are likely right, if you are only counting the hardcore MP players. Most of it is 'causal' MP players who find is fun to do some times, but do not play enough to make a purchase just to have MP.
Which is why giving it away for free is the best idea. Those casuals who are only vaguely interested in the genre and the game would give it a shot because it is free. And they might get grabbed enough to buy MP xpacks or the SP game.
Fund the giveaway by selling MP expansions or non-community dividing vanity packs (basically reskins of existing gear). The lower the cost, the more players, and the more players the more benefit existing players get and the more likely they are to spend on stuff. Vanity capes for a high rating went over pretty well in DoW2, just make it require regular activity as well as skill to keep people in the game.
Remember, in MP players add to the value derived by other players simply by being online and playing. Each additional player reduces the time it takes to find a new game, and makes charging up the ranks more difficult and exciting. When the MP side costs nothing, there is no value to be gained from playing on non-official servers or piracy, swelling the ranks of potential competitors. That added value those potential pirates provide ends up justifying the expenditure to players of purchasing expansions and vanity packs, and those expenditures fuel development.
This is totally different from the SP experience. For a SP player, it doesn't matter if nobody else ever plays the game -- they derive all their value from the experience of the content and competition with the AI. Once they've beaten the game to satiation, they have nothing to look forward to other than a new release of content. SP enjoyment, therefore, is driven by developer time and (in some cases) modder effort. Since there's no particular reason to engage with the game after satiation, there's no reason to buy DLC after satiation; therefore, the SP part of the game should be payment in advance.
MP players derive their thrill from victory over their human opponents, or a well fought defeat; new content is nice, but they're entirely willing to play for forever so long as the game is good and the competition sticks around. Just look at the original Starcraft, which was played competitively for most of the last decade despite a lack of content releases after the Brood War expansion. There's not a doubt in my mind that if Blizzard had released some vanity packs for Starcraft, they would have sold like hotcakes.
It takes more time to design and build a new faction, concept and create new art assets and write new story elements than it does to adjust a few variables in the name of balance, or retexture a unit's gear for vanity item sales. MP costs money up front, but other than the fairly negligible cost of running the servers it's practically free after release. And most of the stuff you do for SP can be repurposed for MP with little effort.
There's money to be made here, and it is being left on the table by binding the MP game to the SP game. Take advantage of it! Give away the MP, and then sell DLC that doesn't divide the MP community, and you _will_ make good money on it (and pick up a lot of press for your bold business plan).
