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Star Wars: The Old Republic Going Free-To-Play This November
After not even a full year of availability, Bioware’s MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will be officially going fully free-to-play this November, as announced by its publisher Electronic Arts this afternoon.
This move has been an anticipated one since the MMO’s launch last December, but became all the more likely when Bioware made the first 15 levels free for all earlier this year. The game will now, however, be more aggressively embracing the free-to-play philosophy that so many modern MMOs have resorted to.
All content currently available in the game and leading up to the switch to the new model will become freely accessible by any player with a capable gaming rig and Internet connection. This includes all eight character storylines up to level 50. Newer content and some advanced features will be restricted to non-paying players, but can be lifted by purchasing access through Cartel Coins. This new currency will be introduced in the fall alongside the system change.
“Players want flexibility and choice. The subscription-only model presented a major barrier for a lot of people who wanted to become part of The Old Republic universe,” mentioned Bioware GM Matthew Bromberg in a press release.
Because of this desired flexibility, both free-to-play and subscription options will be available. Players will be able to purchase subscription plans or play some of the aforementioned advanced content by redeeming what Bioware is calling Game Time Cards. Those who pay a subscription fee will receive a monthly allowance of Cartel Coins to spend in the marketplace on gear and features designed for convenience or aesthetic.
“Since launch, we’ve been listening to feedback from our fans and adding new content and refining The Old Republic at a breakneck pace,” said executive producer Jeff Hickman.
“We believe we are in a position to help improve the service even more, not only by continuing to add new content, but also by expanding the game to many more Star Wars fans, increasing the populations on worlds and the vibrancy of the community.”
Bioware’s aim (from this point forward) is to increase the amount of content being added into the game up until the model switch (when the game goes F2P). Current subscription payers can also anticipate an August update that includes Cartel Coin grants and special in-game item access.
Star Wars: The Old Republic will go on sale in August for $15 and will include a free month of subscription. When November arrives, the game will transition to a choice system: free-to-play or subscription. You can get a complete idea of what is and isn’t free from the official chart over on the SWTOR site.
Additionally, EA announced during its investor earnings call that the MMO has officially fallen under one million subscribers, certainly a contributing factor in the game going free-to-play. The game has officially dropped from 1.3 million in last quarter to below one million in the first fiscal quarter 2013.
EA said in February that for the game to remain “substantially profitable”, the player base would have to remain above 500,000. For now, it appears that they’re in good condition.
You tell me — is this good or bad news for SWTOR?
[via SWTOR]
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Might just give TOR a try once the F2P model will be out.
Pros its free to play and its Star Wars
Cons EA and no mac
Since currently my computer of choice is Mac I won’t be trying it
It sucks I love Star Wars
They’re at least giving it some consideration. And who knows? With the whole game going free-to-play, a Mac client might be worth investing in for them.
I’m going to get it when it’s F2P, will boost up their numbers by one because I’m a good guy :)
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/9539/ikid.jpg
That it all
so true, but it was an awesome game when it first came out, idk I just got bored of it.
The only claim I understand for people to not like this game is that there isn’t much to do after level 50 (which I hope is soon to be rectified).
I’m not really much of an MMO player, the only other ones I’ve played are Star Trek Online and City of Heroes/Villians (didn’t play that one long), but I found it the same in those. Albeit I haven’t been back to STO for awhile, but there still wasn’t much beside fighting Borg and doing daily missions.
Other than that I don’t understand why people hate the game so much. Do people not like the stories? (Granted Smuggler is a bit crap) Or the gameplay? What is it?
TOR basically destroyed any chance of a SWTOR 3 :(. So yes many people are angry for having their childhood ruined with a shitty WoW skin pack….
I will have to agree, I honestly though at first glance, that it may have been good, low and behold, it turned out like any other MMO I Have bothered to play. Either too easy to complete or too hard to figure out what to do or fight. In this case, it would be too easy. KOTOR 1 and 2 were my favorite games for their story, the interaction is key to getting better in the game, and much more. SWTOR to me later on turned out to not be worth the Subscription price, the story was nice but too easy to figure out that of course you are going to do something major in the end but to be expected since it is Star Wars but that may pass, another thing is the fact alone it is an MMO and currently you have to pay to play. Even if it will soon go to F2P, I will not continue my Trooper storyline or the game itself because MMOs are not my thing but I want my old Star Wars back from whence it came. The KOTOR series must come back with a possible idea for some sort of multiplayer aspect version of the story that would be awesome for 3 to play together. That, an awesome singleplayer version of it, and much more.
awesome, we all saw it coming =) finally I can play though, I never wanted to pay what, like $120 for the full game + 6 months or something? I dunno, i’m just against P2P models and stuff.
I had a “subscription” to this game for about 3 months when it first came out, and I understand why it is going free to play (because it really isn’t worth 15 bucks a month). Truthfully I am looking forward to Guild Wars 2 with a passion, it is F2P from the very beginning (you still have to buy the box) and it is freaking amazing, GW2 is the only MMO that deserves a fee, but doesn’t have one. Shit, the WvW could be a game all by itself aside from the PVE and sPVP. So I will not be going back to my TOR account, I will playing a badass game called Guild Wars 2.
Indeed, was surprised when I found out you only buy the box for such an amazing game. GW2 here I come!
Turns out making a carbon copy of WoW isn’t a good way to dethrone WoW
I take F2P as an indicator of an MMO’s failure and eventual collapse. What’s surprised me is that this game lasted less than WAR. Everyone get ready to jump of GuildWars2, the only true F2P MMO.
I still want Battlefront 3!
Is the sub price falling?
3 years of waiting. Cancelled a subscription to WoW.
I’m not sure whether to be angry at myself or Bioware.
Guild Wars 2, here I come!
i just think kotor didnt draw enough players away from wow, it also didnt draw enough people away from guild wars 2 and now whtith a release date people are starting to think, hey why dont i just play that better looking f2p game
I’ll play it, so it’s not that bad. But the second I have to by something like all the other free to play games, I’ll stop. Hmmmm, so i guess it is bad.
This sucks because it will have a whole bunch of idiots logging on,
@Galo – You have obviously not played SWTOR…. If you call SWTOR a carbon copy, you have not played one of them, cause honestly, there is only a FEW idea’s that obviously came from WoW, but to say its a Carbon copy is completely idiotic, and for lack of a better term, the words of a Troll. If anything, WoW is a Carbon Copy of Everquest, so its ironic, it would be more accurate to say, ‘SWTOR is a carbon copy of Everquest’ then a carbon copy of a carbon copy ^.- nice try
SWTOR is a good game. You can fully ignore the MMO part and play 4 totally different story lines in much bigger world then KOTOR ever was with the best things from KOTOR being left in it.
It sucks for the folks who bought it for the full price but for 12.99 Euros and 14.99 for digital premium edition with 30 days free it is a good deal
And by the time you play the first or second character to the end going free to play so for about the price of one Boxed game you get some in game stuff like speeders plus the cartel coins and then switch to f2p if you want in November.
Story is great [bounty hunter] and there is absolutely no point of not playing it now.
Loved Kotor. and if you treat it like it it will give you a 4 distinct story lines for very acceptable price.
It is a good game but a shitty MMO :) treat it as such and you will be happy.