question

>> 1. Is it possible that such a game could exist by using just the free development tier?

Yes, it’s possible. PlayFab would start charging after you upgrade your account to a paid plan. You can use a Free Plan account and development mode titles for your game, as long as it can satisfy your use.

>> 2. Is it possible or even likely that the amount of revenue you make from ad revenue could be less than the amount you are paying out for PlayFab? Or are the limits within each tier generous enough that this shouldn't ever happen? Perhaps someone could share the sort of ratio of revenue to expenditure you get on average.

It’s possible. PlayFab new pricing model uses the paid subscription system for developer accounts and uses the pay-as-you-go mechanism for titles. After upgrading the accounts, PlayFab would charge for the subscription, for example, $99/month for Standard Plan even if you don’t have a launched title under the account.

So if you do not make sure if you need the paid services that list in the Pricing page, please keep your account in the Free Plan, don’t upgrade the account.

>> 3. Is it possible to have an unexpected surge in costs that could wipe out your bank account due to a sudden spike in player activity? Are there safety caps you can put in place to prevent your costs shooting up unexpectedly? Many thanks in advance.

I’m not very sure is there a safety cap mechanism for accounts in the paid subscriptions. Please submit this question to the billing team on the contact page.

What we can say is that if you keep the account in the Free Plan, there are safety caps for your titles. The consumption of the development mode title cannot exceed its maximum limit. Besides, the limits of your title are adjustable. You can navigate to the https://developer.playfab.com/en-US/[YourTitleID]/limits click any item to adjust its custom limit. For more details about Pricing Meters, Billing Summary and Base Rate, please refer to the documentation. There is also a Best Practices of PlayFab Consumption.

As PlayFab Support Overview says, we may discuss more technical questions in the community. More advanced questions about billing, you can submit them on the contact page for the professional support. Thanks.