SOE To Release Free MMO
The Austin-American Statesman website reports that Sony Online Entertainment plans to release a MMO game without a subscription fee next year. SOE hopes to get its revenue by selling things like extra weapons or game levels. No other details are available. Thanks GameCloud for the tip.
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SilverSnake
replyLet me guess. The "extra weapons" really means "the best weapons in the game" which is gonna piss off everyone who doesn't want to buy stuff in a game. Extra levels could be one thing, but in the end this will probably be a game only played by those who actually buy extra stuff and a lot of them will end up paying more then 15 bucks per month (on avarage) I bet.
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It's being released so fast that it sounds like it would hit the shelves as a budget game. That would allow a tremendous amount of room for the game to grow. Heres hoping that it's a sequel to planetside. If that's the case players would probably have immediate access to the basic weapons and vehicles and everything from then on out would cost a dollar or two.
I imagine that the game is going to have ads running through it also. So bigger the player base the better. If they go too crazy with the cost of addons it would just scare people away.
They would get a third source of $$$ by tying it into their station players service. It's optional in their current games but it is a very nice service. It's like $1/month per option. I actually wish that Blizzard had something like the station players service for WoW. -
Ugh. Selling items for RW cash instantly turns me off - i think a monthly fee is better than a game where my progress/power is hampered by my bank account...Between this news, and the character/money farmers in other games I think I'm through with MMO's.
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This is actually a great idea for the casual player. You're already paying $15 a mo for a subscription. Now instead of spending hours grinding for mats - living with 40 morons in a 6-7 hour instance 3x a week to get your killer item.. you can buy it for $5 and get on with your game,
kinda cool idea so long as the prices for the items/levels/perks (whatever) arent too crazy
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Well...one reason potentially have a project like this (as opposed to being more profitable) is just to simply hit the market of all the people who won't have anything to do with monthly subscriptions.
Even if it isn't the best way for them to make money, if it is profitable it is worth doing just to compete.
Personally, I hope something can solve the item / gold farmers problem. I see them all of the time in WoW, and it really sucks.
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