Star Wars: The Old Republic going free-to-play, introducing Cartel Coins
As expected, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be going free-to-play later this year... And as expected, there are tons of caveats.
As expected, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be going free-to-play later this year...
And as expected, there are tons of caveats. The F2P option will grant access to the first 50 levels of play in BioWare's MMO, with restrictions on access to new content and "advanced player features."
"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," BioWare Austin's Matthew Bromberg said in a press release. The game's lackluster performance has already led to downsizing at The Old Republic team.
Of course, while the game may be "free-to-play" later this year, it won't actually be free. A copy of the game must still be purchased. It will drop to $14.99 in August, which includes one month access to a paid subscription.
Paid subscribers will get access to new higher-level game content beyond the current level 50 cap, including new space combat missions. In addition, subscribers will also get ongoing monthly grants of "Cartel Coins," a new virtual currency that unlocks in-game items, such as customizable gear and "convenience features." Presumably, these Cartel Coins can also be purchased by free players.
Additional rewards will be distributed to current and former players. Current subscribers will quality for "special benefits," and receive additional Cartel Coins and in-game items. Lapsed players that reactive will also receive special benefits. For example, according to the official site, subscribers will get 150 Cartel Coins for every month paid for since launch.
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replyAndrew Yoon posted a new article, Star Wars: The Old Republic going free-to-play, introducing Cartel Coins.
As expected, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be going free-to-play later this year... And as expected, there are tons of caveats.-
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Bioware has become a worse company under EA. EricZBA is right.
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That is certainly an opinion, and you're welcome to it. I take umbrage at comments like "hahaha fuck you Bioware you pieces of shit". There are real people who worked very hard creating this content, everyone from support staff to managers. Some of those people lost their jobs due to they way this project turned out, and even then I wouldn't expect a single one of them to post such crude vitriol. Regardless of what you think about EA, or Bioware or SW:TOR or ME3 I do believe it's important to discuss them with a modicum of respect, if for nothing else but to raise the quality of discourse.
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I feel for the people, but even I saw this coming. I think the management at BioWare has finally bought into their own hype and EA has made it worse. It was a pretty good game company, and I hope they get back on track, but right now they are off the rails IMO.
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Agreed Fred. I did enjoy TOR but for me, it's just time in general. I would definitely play this casually. I've been a fan since the Baldur's Gate days and I'm hoping they do get back on track.
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Haxim, the voice of reason.
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When he's not taking swipes at sacred cows.
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That seems like an overreaction
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lol, that's a lot of hate you have there.
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might come back and finish/start that jedi story
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I'll only go back if I can buy current gear
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lol Wow. This has got to be the biggest MMO failure of all time, no?
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I guess im speaking strictly on the budget/time aspect. 300 million (rumored at 500 million at one point) and at least 6-7 years of development time, only to have it go F2P within the first year.
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F2P isn't necessarily a collapse, far from it. It's a change in business model, one that might bring more cash that a subscription model ever did. Judging from recent trends that is.
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yeah but I will bet that their plan never included going F2P in the first year. EA saw this as their way to 'beat' wow with a property that, if handled well, could have hooked people as much as wow did..unfortunately they didn't handle it well.
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Didn't handle it well, or the market changed before they could get it to market? The latter is the rhetoric I hear more often being discussed, which doesn't necessarily mean poor management. It's forcing them to be more agile a lot quicker than anticipated, which some could argue is an indication of good management.
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Have to agree, the MMO market isn't what it was when WoW was young. I mean I couldn't sit down and play WoW now, tastes have changed. I want something else from my games.
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I'll bet you anything they lost thousands of players who quit because their server was dying, and EA refused to merge servers for so long. The forced server merges just concluded. So yeah, I'm gonna say they didn't handle it well.
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how about that last Final Fantasy MMO? does that thing even work yet?
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Yeah, it "works". It's still burdened by a lot of really bizarre design decisions and seems regressive in baffling ways (like paying for the number of character slots you're allowed). But the total revamp hasn't launched yet. I'm still not clear on exactly what difference it'll make.
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at least that game stuck around for a long time... for better or worse.
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Cool. I'll have to play again. Hopefully my server isn't dead by then.
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It appears that the Shack server where I have my character(Corellian Run) is a landing point, and is doing well population wise. I imagine they'll keep the free transfers until the F2P starts so people will keep playing.
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maybe now they'll put it on steam too.
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There was, it was called Knights of the Old Republic. And in all fairness, Bioware would have fared much better just making KotOR 3. The cost to make a fully voiced MMO must have been gigantic.
Absolutely zero reason for me to buy TOR at this point then, might as well wait till August, buy it for a tenner, use the months sub then just keep going on a F2P basis.
Either that or go back to EVE. -
Tie Fighter on line one....
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I am surprised they did it so quickly, figured they would drag it out another year since they haven't even made WAR f2p. Wonder what kind of restrictions it will have.
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Funny, I'd argue LOTRO is the best F2P MMO out there. I think they did a fantastic job changing over.
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Isn't it not really F2P? Like you have to pay to unlock content?
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It's a bit of both. IIRC, the game itself is entirely F2P, but there are things (classes, and quests in certain zones) that you must pay to unlock...although some of that is waived depending on whether or not you've purchased a retail copy.
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Yeah, Turbine has definitely handled it the best, and it's apparently been extremely successful for them.
It's weird to me that more aren't following their model rather than trying to halfass it like SWTOR is doing here. -
To each his own, but I thought Mines of Moria was the last good expansion. Mirkwood was lackluster and my friends convinced me to try Rise of Isengard, which I immediately regretted. It took them a while to put content at 75 into that expansion. Now I hear Riders of Rohan will be going through the same ordeal.
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So in other words the usual progression of:
1. Make a game with subscription fee
2. Game flops, go F2P
3. Make 500% more money after going F2P (impressive statistic until you realize that 500% of not much is still not much)
4. Begin to realize that the handful of crazy spenders are not sustainable long term
5. Start to design game such that spending money is necessary to play effectively
6. Wonder why everyone's pissed off at you
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I just canceled today. What a weird coincidence. At least I'll still be able to raid with friends and stuff! woot!
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so this is all your fault
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I actually liked the game! I canceled due to time constraints.
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lollll
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Hahaha! This is what happens when they give us TOR instead of a proper KOTOR 3.
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To be fair, I'm pretty sure they started this game when WoW was in its hey-day.
After hiring a billion people and co-opting an entire studio in Austin to make this game, it'd be kind of hard to change the product focus mid-way through the project.
Granted...they really should have done that. :p
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How do you know that?
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They didn't even make Kotor 2, so.....
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Yes but i think thats because LucasArts wanted a sequel fast but bioware were busy with Mass Effect or something so they got Obsidian to do it, i'm sure Bioware would of made another Kotor when they had the time.
Not 100% sure on this though.
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i love how they spin things in this article
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ea-expands-award-winning-mmo-star-warstm-the-old-republictm-with-free-to-play-option-this-fall-2012-07-31
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Full list of free/pay feature comparisons: http://www.swtor.com/FREE/features
No raids, limited dungeons, possibly no mounts (which would make Tatooine interesting).-
I think the "limited" travel functionality is referring to the fleet passes and such. Unless they plan on selling mounts in the store.
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I don't think this is that bad, the story is probably the best part of the game anyway, so if you do a f2p account you can experience the better portions of the game and really only miss out on operations.
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They will definitely not restrict mounts
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so it's more like Shareware then.
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LOL dumb way to do this
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The details for the upfront price seem to be a bit misleading or unclear from what I've read elsewhere. Regardless, after reading the differences between subscribers and free players, it's clear that they are going to be basically punishing you if you choose the free route. Class/race restrictions, limits on nearly every meaningful aspect of gameplay. Yeah, way to make poorly handled game worse.
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I don't think this is the death knell that everyone is making it out to be. I mean yeah it shows that they're changing their business model but pretty much every MMO out there has a "you can play without a subscription but can't do everything" mode which is all that this is.
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Highly doubt they're over a million, if they were, there would be no reason to do this, eh? I haven't even logged in in 3 weeks, guess I'll unsub since now I can finish all the class stories for free which is all I really cared about anyway.
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I hope The Secret World comes to their senses and does something similar.
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What? TSW is fantastic the way it is
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I agree, why would they "come to their senses" and go F2P?
The game is good, and possibly the only MMO I've played in the last couple of years where I feel alright subscribing - they've already released new quests and features in their patches so the support seems pretty decent
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Ouch, three stinkers in a row: DA2, ME3 and TORtanic. Hopefully the next game will make up for them. Oh wait, its C&C Generals 2...
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"According to VGchartz". I'm sure it did okay, but they're not reliable. At all.
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"John C. asks, 'What's up with BioWare?!'"
Very prescient email to the Bombcast back in late December 2011. -
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Yep. It wasn't as good as the first two and it was a bummer that none of your decisions really mattered at all at the end. It sold well, sure, but I was expecting more.
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Also the game is pretty buggy, especially considering how polished 2 was. Clearly a rushed product. Despite that, the missions were actually pretty fun, so I wouldn't say it's a complete loss. The MP can die in a fire though.
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ME3 wasnt a stinker at all. And I think TOR wasnt really bad at launch, it just wasnt really ready :(
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Are you dissing C&C Generals? Because I've killed better men for less.
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You mean other than the First Decade pack?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_The_First_Decade
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Absolutely. The storylines are pretty awesome
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This is pretty horrendous http://www.swtor.com/FREE/features
Bioware clearly doesn't understand MMOs at all. Making it super shitty to play without a sub won't encourage people to play for free. They just wont' play at all.
Put paywalls on Content. The first few are free of-course. Don't tell me I can't PvP 150 times this week.
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It also didn't start in a market filled with F2P games.
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Yeah, people are forgetting that ALL of these kinds of games have a F2P component. World of Warcraft has a F2P component for fucksake!
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I don't see that as really any different. SWTOR is moving to a model where you can play for free, but it's content-capped. The only difference is they're capping something other than your level.
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F2P but still costs $15? No thanks.
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oh it looks like before completely F2P its getting discounted to $15 - might as well just wait
http://www.swtor.com/info/news/press-release/20120731
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Kinda bummed that they are not doing well. Star Wars is one of my favorite franchises of all time and I've been a long time Bioware fan since the Baldur's Gate days. I hoping this will keep the game around because it has to have some of the best stories that I've played in an MMORPG.
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Haha, this post from a previous article is even sadder now:
http://www.shacknews.com/article/74729/shack-psa-the-old-republic-free-trial-now-has-no?id=28513795#item_28513795-
hahah i knew exactly what that was going to be. what a toolbag.
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I think they're still in denial so they want to delay the inevitable as much as possible. Problem is it just brings up the "yeah we're having to go F2P" story over and over and it makes it look worse and worse (see the other story today on how subscriptions have lowered to under a million)
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Fucking idiots that's what they get. All they had to do was fix a few issues and the game would have been better. No LFG out of the box and a broken fucking planet out of the box. Then they released test servers and instead of giving you a max toon they wanted you to level up to TEST CONTENT. No ability to just turn off a planet which was also fucking stupid not to add that in.
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How long till this FTP bubble bursts?
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when larger number of gamers are willing to pay more either up front (think $250 for a new game) or a monthly fee
I remember discussions of Game Biz Models a while back where the bottom line was:
- you will pay more upfront for games
or
- you will pay for smaller amounts of content up front & DLC
or
- you will pay a subsciption
At that time microtransactions were not really a consideration, but it is basically the another form of DLC.
If you don't want that second option, be willing to pay more in one of those two other options & convince others to do the same.-
OK, not that it's an apples <--> apples comparison, but major Hollywood movies cost multiple times what some of the biggest and most expensive games cost and they're able to recoup their budget and make a profit off of a $7.50-$10.50 ticket price.
Lots of variables there (paying once, per person, to see the movie once, etc.) but I think to some extent the game industry needs:
- To get more people interested in video games (it's really popular now but not movie popular)
- To find ways to make games cheaper to make (which is probably already in progress)
- To make fewer expensive games
If we were limited to a handful of games every year on the order of Call of Duty then more efforts could be put towards smaller, cheaper games.
I kinda think at some point game technology will plateau and we can worry about making the games instead of making the technology. Spielberg doesn't have to go invent a new camera every time he makes a movie, why should id have to write a new engine every time they make a game? At some point the technology is good enough and you just make the thing.-
- To get more people interested in video games (it's really popular now but not movie popular)
more people prefer passive entertainment then active ... more people watch football then play football. It's important for more people to get into video games, but at the same time expecting "movie popular" levels is probably a pipe dream. Additionally, and just mentioning it here ... movies have multiple streams of revenue from a movie. Purchasing popcorn at a movie theater (or anything else) in some way filters back to "producers" as does rentals, and ad revenue from TV ... not to mention DVDs. To think that it's just at a $7.50 per customer is off, as you were saying.
- To find ways to make games cheaper to make (which is probably already in progress)
sure, and I mentioned two ways:
- DLC (F2P veriety or other)
- subscriptions
In addition you have:
- advertising
- sponsorships
- hard goods (physical products that fans would be interested in)
- Collectors editions (I include this because it lowers the entry price for many by getting more from super fans)
Even Kickstarter comes into play, or Guild Wars 2 pre-purchase. The feedback loop & cheaper money (compaired to credit or selling equity) actually can reduce the overall price to consumers and provide limits to how much producers will spend to make a game.
You were probably thinking on the "how much it costs" ... Look at how many games are out there today. It is much cheaper to make from a technical perspective, but the big costs for big games are still there & that is human creativity and talent. What good artists & storytellers can do is not easily replicated. If you want more on that, start reading stuff by Seth Godin, he really hammers over and over on the fact that creating art is hard and cannot be automated. Where the technical side of Games can be made cheaper to produce, you cannot replace an artist. (specifically see the book Linchpin: http://aly.me/linchpin )
- To make fewer expensive games
why?
I already went into how this is already happening and the technical quality of the games are always improving do to technological issues ... but there is that other side and the question of "why make fewer expensive games?"
I think your thought of expanding th video game market base is good.
At the same time, fewer "expensive" games seems unnessecary for this goal. More games, more options and due to more compeition the purchase price for consumers will go down.
Part of the reason F2P is so hot right now is because there is so much of it. It's basic ecomomics, supply & demand.
If you want cheaper to comsumers you really should want more games .... ack, my wife is calling me. I'll leave this umax signal & try to come back later. -
It's not really the technology that is causing the problems anymore, it's production pipeline. Every studio I've worked for has had some kind of redundant overhead, some worse than others.
Hell, this generation, half the industry was using Unreal 3 and it still takes 2-4 years to make a game. It's not about the technology at that point, it's a lot of factors.
Here's just a couple:
Vision - game design doc aside, most games are "felt" out and that takes time.
Tools - I work on the art side, the tools are terrible behind the times for what we do. So tools programers, if we're lucky enough to even get one, takes time to develop the tools just to make the game.
By the time the game is done the developers finally have figured out what makes the game fun, what they want from the game, and hopefully how to make it( tools and pipeline to boot) which is part of the reason why a sequel nearly always happens (I know there are more reasons to that, but that's one of the factors... companies invest so much time into setting up a production, they need a sequel to recoup the losses on the first one.)
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That's sad.
Speaking of Free-to-play MMOs, recently i've tried Entropia and hated it, have you guys tried it ? -
I'd like to correct the article. you don't need to buy the game once its goes F2P according to the official FAQ
http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/6471 -
Should've just made kotor III smh
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