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Old Republic Devs Eyeing Free-to-Play
A post on Eurogamer notes that BioWare Austin, the developer behind Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO, is looking into the possibility of going free-to-play.
Said the game’s lead designer Emmanuel Lusinchi:
“The MMO market is very dynamic and we need to be dynamic as well. Unless people are happy with what they have, they are constantly demanding updates, new modes and situations. So we are looking at free-to-play but I can’t tell you in much detail. We have to be flexible and adapt to what is going on.”
The issue the game is facing is the fact that there are a lot of high-quality MMOs out there competing for gamers’ attention—not to mention the fact that it was revealed in May that the game lost 400,000 subscribers since February.
Said Lusinchi regarding F2P competition:
“I think it’s more than the free-to-play model—it’s more that there is a lot of competitive offers. If it was just free-to-play games and they weren’t very good it wouldn’t even be a question but there are definitely good games out there and good games coming out, so of course all of this competition impacts your plan with what you want to do.”
Readers may remember that back in November of last year, Sony’s DC Universe Online went free-to-play and saw a massive uptick in subscribers, growing 700 percent in that month. Are they making money hand over fist? Probably not. But free-to-play keeps on gaining traction, offering good user experiences for low buy-in costs. It could work…
Via Eurogamer
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Damn… Just give me KOTOR 3 already…
I’d play it.
Free to play Star Wars game………. Sounds good to me
I became a subscriber in may and i have enjoyed the game entirely. I beleive a lot of people unsub just to be popular and piss and moan about things. Ive met some people that say they didnt even play to level 10, i dont know how you could judge any mmo on such a small sample of what it has to offer.
I am now level 33 on my highest toon and the game and story just keep getting better the further i go.
plus the content updates put out in the last few months have been great!
It is a very good game. I’m a founder, and Beta tester, so I’ve played since the beginning. I have a few top level character (Imperial Agent Sniper is my main, and favourite). However I’m not currently playing, money’s been getting a little tight.
But regardless, I still want to play it. It’s a very good game, I don’t know why people hate it. I think they compare it to a singleplayer game that it just can’t compete with. People don’t understand that an MMO will always fall short in some areas compared to a game like that, graphics for example, even before the game came out people who didn’t understand these games complained the graphics looked crap.
If you’re not aware either, their graphics need to be downgraded so that they can get as many players with lower end machines playing.
The very reason I wont play MMO’s is because of the monthly subscription, but if it went free to play, I would totally pick it up and go from there.
@DMatomisk – Same here, brah. I’m sure some of these games may have gameplay or story value, but when I spend money on gaming, I want to OWN the game. And I certainly don’t want a locust swarm of brats and nerds jumping around shouting “GOLD PLZZZZ!!!LOLOLOL!!” while I’m trying to get in my gaming mode. I’d love to play The Old Republic if it were Free-To-Play and might consider paying for updates or upgrades at some point or another.
Hahaha,fucking knew it it’s gonna go down under all along.
Now come to daddy!
They aren’t going under. They are still racking cash like madmen. The only thing that’s happening is that these guy’s are finding the illustrious F2P more financially viable. If this goes F2P, I’m sure you’ll be lagging behind while those who use micro transactions speed off with $40 lightsabers and force powers. CoD F2P charging for ammunition? They’d be making cash in droves. Did you play ME3′s multiplayer? You can barely get through one mission without getting one of their upgrade packs, which either take the difficult to obtain credits from gaming or cash from your pocket. F2P isn’t free, my friend. And it’s going to continue growing until we’re paying for new endings, cinematics, more segments of the campaign, and maybe even the color of our avatar’s eyes… Don’t get so jolly just yet… We still have a dark storm a comin’……
Hey, if it’s free, I’ll try it. I’ve heard it’s pretty great for an MMO.
Even real life is better than this SHITGAME!
In my honest opinion,going f2p is a very bad idea.You’ll be paying more money for a f2p game than you would for a p2p one.If it is indeed going f2p i’ll just stick to playing gw2.