Star Wars: The Old Republic 'looking at free-to-play'
As with most new subscription-based MMOs, it seems that the big question about Star Wars: The Old Republic is not if it'll go free-to-play, but when. BioWare is already pondering that shift itself, though it doesn't have concrete plans to share yet.
As with most new subscription-based MMOs, it seems that the big question about Star Wars: The Old Republic is not if it'll go free-to-play, but when. BioWare has said it's having a good look at that market, but isn't yet announcing any concrete plans to move into it.
Speaking to gamesTM, lead designer Emmanuel Lusinchi said that free-to-play games wouldn't be competitors if they weren't any good, 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."
"The MMO market is very dynamic and we need to be dynamic as well" he explained. "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 Old Republic shed 25 percent of its players between February and the end of March, down from 1.7 million subscribers to 1.3 million. In May, one player estimated that there were only an average of 344 people on each server. BioWare's Old Republic team was recently hit with layoffs too, though of course an MMO needs fewer people to maintain it as time goes on.
The MMO market is about to get a little busier, too. Funcom's subscribalicious and supernatural The Secret World is out next week, while ArenaNet's subscription-free Guild Wars 2 is expected before the year's end.
Still, work on new content continues. Our John had a gander during E3 at what's to come later in the year, including a cat-like playable race, an HK-51 assassin droid companion, and new operations and war zones.
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replyAlice O'Connor posted a new article, Star Wars: The Old Republic 'looking at free-to-play'.
As with most new subscription-based MMOs, it seems that the big question about Star Wars: The Old Republic is not if it'll go free-to-play, but when. BioWare is already pondering that shift itself, though it doesn't have concrete plans to share yet.-
lol?
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lol!
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The Nordstrom of gaming does NOT offer f2p games. Disgusting, can you imagine playing with all those poor people?!?
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1.3 is supposed to have it, I believe.
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oh wow.. I wonder how much EA is in the tank on this. At least 200 million to develop and who knows how much in advertising..
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They're probably still about 100 million in the hole from this.
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Doubtful... 1.7 million X $50 average to purchase, + 1.3 mil minimum X $13 x 5 months.. all conservative estimates.. puts them at around 185 mil in revenues. This does not include collectors editions, $15 a month subscribers..(many) and people that are going to continue playing. They are probably right around break even.
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Don't forget the maintenance budget. Costs money for all them servers and the people to maintain them.
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You'd be wrong. They said it was a success, but that's only if those initial numbers sustained and they didn't. It also has HUGE on going costs because of the bar they set for content. They've already laid off over 100 people so that tells you how well it's doing.
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I think the bigger implication is that other big mmos that were started ~4-5 years ago like Elder Scrolls are completely out of luck. There is no way they stand a chance if this powerhouse couldn't pull it off.
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I have a feeling that is probably part of the reason why backers pulled out on 38 studios..they saw SWTOR as a sign of the times..
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Hopefully.
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Just cause they were unsuccessful, doesn't mean there wasn't an era of them. Could probably name close to 10 just from the top of my head.
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6 monthers I don't think you'll get this, but 1 year bets are looking good.
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they need to look on how turbine does its MMO store system, LOTRO is about the only F2P MMO that has ever kept my interest.
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lmfao!
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Agreed. I played/raided through the big 1.2 patch but it just all seemed to be lacking and couldn't hold my attention. I gave the game more than a fair chance.
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Edit: "Unless people are happy with what they have, they are constantly demanding updates, new modes and situations."
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How is this as a single player game?
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It's ok, some good writing some bad writing typical Bioware RPG in that regard.
Probably best played as a co-op game with a friend or two so you can do the dialogue light/dark interactions.
It's probably worth $20 to play through a storyline once if you tend to like Bioware RPG's. I didn't care for repeated playthroughs though because of the repeated side quests and travel times to do anything.
So as a once through RPG it is decent, just wasn't a very good MMO. -
Actually pretty fun, actually. The quests are shitty MMO-style (mostly, there are some great exceptions) but the classes are fun to play. I actually liked playing my Sith Sorc simply because I had a lightsaber and was lightning bitches all day long. Brings a smile to the face.
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Actually actually actually
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I didn't mean to endorse this over KotOR III. Simply as a single player game, TOR isn't terrible and has many redeeming highs.
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blizzard's next mmo will probably be the only one to succeed
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It won't live up to the expectations of WoW, so it will fail in the eyes of many.
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That was fast...
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Some of them have been in development since MMOs were still really popular. Even Elder Scrolls Online which doesn't have a date started in 2007. That's like a year after Oblivion and a year before Fallout 3 was released to put it in perspective. It's crazy.
They aren't going to throw away 5 years of work because shit has changed, it's going to bite them in the ass even harder than TOR though.-
I'd say it's sad but these companies need to do a better job of looking at the market and considering future outlook, rather than choking what's hot right now to death. The movie industry has been doing it basically since there were movies. Lengthy development cycles require foresight. All these big games that fail are going to try free-to-play and push the mediocre f2p offerings over the edge, which will be good for everyone except the crummy Korean company that cobbled it together in 6 months and never hired a real translator (and those are all funded by the Government so who is this really hurting? Suck it, Korean economy!)
World of Warcraft releases, 10m+ people fall in love. Except for the poor kids, that's basically the entire MMO market.
>Many game companies decide they can steal that market, underestimating Blizzard and their product while missing the point of MMO's entirely.
>>Most of the new wave of products fail for multiple obvious reasons.
>>>Developers complain that people only buy Call of Duty.
>>>>LOLOL SEE YOU IN GUILD WARS 2 BITCHES
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