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The Old Republic goes free to play

StillBallin75 said:
Oh man my subscription runs through like september
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It's important to note that you can still keep your subscription, and paying 15 bucks a month, and not much will change. They are just giving the option for free to play.
 
StillBallin75 said:
Oh man my subscription runs through like september
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If you don't have the 15 a month subscription, there is so much you cannot do it is not really worth playing. This is just something to get more people into the game and spending at least something to appease corporate, who is highly pissed right now. This game might go down as the biggest flop ever in terms of not making back initial investment. Rumor mill had it that they had covered less than 10 % of the cost of the game as of a couple months ago.
 
Redress said:
If you don't have the 15 a month subscription, there is so much you cannot do it is not really worth playing. This is just something to get more people into the game and spending at least something to appease corporate, who is highly pissed right now. This game might go down as the biggest flop ever in terms of not making back initial investment. Rumor mill had it that they had covered less than 10 % of the cost of the game as of a couple months ago.
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People love micro-transactions, these kind of games make ****-tons of money. I suspect this will make them quite a pretty penny.
 
I always said and still contend that they'd have made a guaranteed huge return on investment if they'd just made a KOTOR 3 instead of yet another MMO. They can still make money on subscriptions and micro-transactions but they could have made 2 successful single player games by now with half the effort they put into TOR.
 
Your Star said:
People love micro-transactions, these kind of games make ****-tons of money. I suspect this will make them quite a pretty penny.
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Some do. Not all. Very few in fact. More commonly they keep enough revenue coming in to keep servers going and some staff paid for and a small profit.
 
Redress said:
Some do. Not all. Very few in fact. More commonly they keep enough revenue coming in to keep servers going and some staff paid for and a small profit.
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Actually it is more profitable for online games to have micro transactions than a subscription based model.

But what SWTOR has done is something all games should start out with. I find it odd that we can get demos on most games, a teaser.. if they are single player off line, but when it comes to online games we have to buy the game to try it. I for one would never ever buy Secret World based on reviews, because I simply do not understand what the hell the game is about. Now I knew what Star Wars was about so I took the plunge, but Secret World.. no way. I will wait to when it goes F2P in a few months.

SWTOR as it stands now is great, very balanced and has a lot of content. It could be harder, but as all online games they cater to the 10 year old snot nose. The problem with games like SWTOR and WOW, is that the "hard core gamer" plays it to the max, finishes the game and by that time a new game comes out. For SWTOR it was Diablo and then Secret World and soon Guild Wars 2. These new games hit all online games hard since people flok to find the "new great game" and rarely, if at all, do they find it. Which means a lot return to their old hunting grounds. I for one, dumped SWTOR for a month because of Diablo 3. Now Diablo 3 was an utter disappointment and I would never have bought it, if I had known I would have to repeat the game 3 times to max out my character.

For now I will keep playing Star Wars since there is nothing out there that seems interesting at all, but I fully understand with each new game coming, SWTOR will loose people, as will all other online games including WoW, Secret World and so on. I mean Diablo 3 "logins" have totally dropped off a cliff.
 
Boring Bob said:
I always said and still contend that they'd have made a guaranteed huge return on investment if they'd just made a KOTOR 3 instead of yet another MMO. They can still make money on subscriptions and micro-transactions but they could have made 2 successful single player games by now with half the effort they put into TOR.
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The reason I don't play TOR is because I wanted KOTOR 3, hell, I'd even be happy if they re-released KOTOR 2 how it should've been.
 
The problem with TOR is that it basically IS KOTOR 3, you just have to pay $15/month in order to play it. I got it for Christmas last year, and played for my free month. By that point I had realized that there was no MMO in the RPG, and it wasn't worth the money to continue my subscription. I might check it out again if it's free now.
 
PeteEU said:
Actually it is more profitable for online games to have micro transactions than a subscription based model.

But what SWTOR has done is something all games should start out with. I find it odd that we can get demos on most games, a teaser.. if they are single player off line, but when it comes to online games we have to buy the game to try it. I for one would never ever buy Secret World based on reviews, because I simply do not understand what the hell the game is about. Now I knew what Star Wars was about so I took the plunge, but Secret World.. no way. I will wait to when it goes F2P in a few months.

SWTOR as it stands now is great, very balanced and has a lot of content. It could be harder, but as all online games they cater to the 10 year old snot nose. The problem with games like SWTOR and WOW, is that the "hard core gamer" plays it to the max, finishes the game and by that time a new game comes out. For SWTOR it was Diablo and then Secret World and soon Guild Wars 2. These new games hit all online games hard since people flok to find the "new great game" and rarely, if at all, do they find it. Which means a lot return to their old hunting grounds. I for one, dumped SWTOR for a month because of Diablo 3. Now Diablo 3 was an utter disappointment and I would never have bought it, if I had known I would have to repeat the game 3 times to max out my character.

For now I will keep playing Star Wars since there is nothing out there that seems interesting at all, but I fully understand with each new game coming, SWTOR will loose people, as will all other online games including WoW, Secret World and so on. I mean Diablo 3 "logins" have totally dropped off a cliff.
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Online game != MMO. Farmville makes a ton of money(until recently) with microtransactions, with a few grand spent to make it and almost no upkeep costs. SW:TOR is not Farmville.
 
Redress said:
Online game != MMO. Farmville makes a ton of money(until recently) with microtransactions, with a few grand spent to make it and almost no upkeep costs. SW:TOR is not Farmville.
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I disagree. It is in the same category. The traditional online game with subscription is dying out and most games are going for a F2P with a premium subscription version. It wont be long before WoW goes that way as well I suspect. When SWTOR goes over to F2P.. well it actually has a bit, then it only leaves a few MMOs that do not have a F2P part. Some have gone the whole swag, others have limited levels or access, but it is what the majority of games are doing.

Look at the last "big wow killers". Aion = F2P, Rift = F2P, SWTOR = F2P

And the rumours of F2P for Secret World are growing and growing.

When F2P becomes popular in Asia, then you will see WoW going that way as well. Like it or not a F2P aspect is the future of all online games.
 
PeteEU said:
I disagree. It is in the same category. The traditional online game with subscription is dying out and most games are going for a F2P with a premium subscription version. It wont be long before WoW goes that way as well I suspect. When SWTOR goes over to F2P.. well it actually has a bit, then it only leaves a few MMOs that do not have a F2P part. Some have gone the whole swag, others have limited levels or access, but it is what the majority of games are doing.

Look at the last "big wow killers". Aion = F2P, Rift = F2P, SWTOR = F2P

And the rumours of F2P for Secret World are growing and growing.

When F2P becomes popular in Asia, then you will see WoW going that way as well. Like it or not a F2P aspect is the future of all online games.
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F2P is already rather popular in Asia, specifically South Korea, and China.
 
PeteEU said:
I disagree. It is in the same category. The traditional online game with subscription is dying out and most games are going for a F2P with a premium subscription version. It wont be long before WoW goes that way as well I suspect. When SWTOR goes over to F2P.. well it actually has a bit, then it only leaves a few MMOs that do not have a F2P part. Some have gone the whole swag, others have limited levels or access, but it is what the majority of games are doing.

Look at the last "big wow killers". Aion = F2P, Rift = F2P, SWTOR = F2P

And the rumours of F2P for Secret World are growing and growing.

When F2P becomes popular in Asia, then you will see WoW going that way as well. Like it or not a F2P aspect is the future of all online games.
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Rfit is not FTP RIFT - Subscription Information - Dynamic Fantasy MMORPG

Two of the three biggest MMOs are subscription based(actually all three for now, until SW:TOR goes FTP).

Secret World will got FTP eventually, but only once the subscription model is no longer the most profitable, which is some ways off. Note that Eve Online is still subscription based and Secret World has a similar buzz.

FTP is popular in Asia.
 
Redress said:
Rfit is not FTP RIFT - Subscription Information - Dynamic Fantasy MMORPG

Two of the three biggest MMOs are subscription based(actually all three for now, until SW:TOR goes FTP).

Secret World will got FTP eventually, but only once the subscription model is no longer the most profitable, which is some ways off. Note that Eve Online is still subscription based and Secret World has a similar buzz.

FTP is popular in Asia.
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None of them can be used to forecast the future of the genre, which can only trend increasingly toward F2P. When a large number of companies are producing the same product, the one with the most satisfying payment plan seizes the future.

SW:TOR showed just how weak an attraction a popular IP can be. Most of the big companies in gaming are increasingly disliked, so brand loyalty won't decide. Only gameplay and money can decide. People can always clone the most popular games and charge less money for them, so money carries the day -- especially in an economy where people look set to be counting their pennies for years to come.
 
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Morality Games said:
None of them can be used to forecast the future of the genre, which can only trend increasingly toward F2P. When a large number of companies are producing the same product, the one with the most satisfying payment plan seizes the future.

SW:TOR showed just how weak an attraction a popular IP can be. Most of the big companies in gaming are increasingly disliked, so brand loyalty won't decide. Only gameplay and money can decide. People can always clone the most popular games and charge less money for them, so money carries the day -- especially in an economy where people look set to be counting their pennies for years to come.
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FTP is what is coming, no one is claiming otherwise. That does not change the fact that SW:TOR is a huge failure, nor that subscription models are the more profitable and preferred model right now for big name MMOs.
 
Redress said:
FTP is what is coming, no one is claiming otherwise. That does not change the fact that SW:TOR is a huge failure, nor that subscription models are the more profitable and preferred model right now for big name MMOs.
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Peoples' time investments and social relationships keep them absorbed into the games against the attraction of the F2P model. The appeal of the subscription model itself is long dead and no longer justifiable. Next major release that tries it will fail like SW:TOR has.
 
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Morality Games said:
Peoples' time investments and social relationships keep them absorbed into the games against the attraction of the F2P model. The appeal of the subscription model itself is long dead and no longer justifiable. Next major release that tries it will fail like SW:TOR has.
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Based on what? Two of the last 3 big MMOs are subscription based and seem to be doing fine. The two longest running still "big" MMOs are subscription based(WoW and Eve).
 
Redress said:
Based on what? Two of the last 3 big MMOs are subscription based and seem to be doing fine. The two longest running still "big" MMOs are subscription based(WoW and Eve).
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Yeah, and most of their competitors utilize F2P or a hybrid of F2P and subscriptions -- the subscription model is fast receding in popularity due to the economic reality that there are too many interested companies wanting to cash in on the MMO these days.

The most basic way those two games continue to get away with it is because (1) MMOs produce social networks people get attached to. These blend with players' social networks in the real world, so that people are continually being introduced or brought back into the MMO by their friends so that is hard to break away completely unless your gaming social circle makes a commitment to it. (2) is that players have devoted a lot of time to building up their characters and accounts, so they can indulge in the various addictions of MMO gameplay from the top-down rather than the ground up.

The games continue to be successful because of the traction they got back when the subscription model was still popular. People are paying for their friends, their position in their guild, their achievements and history, and the lower level of upkeep for older characters.
 
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Morality Games said:
Yeah, and most of their competitors utilize F2P or a hybrid of F2P and subscriptions -- the subscription model is fast receding in popularity due to the economic reality that there are too many interested companies wanting to cash in on the MMO these days.

The most basic way those two games continue to get away with it is because (1) MMOs produce social networks people get attached to. These blend with players' social networks in the real world, so that people are continually being introduced or brought back into the MMO by their friends. (2) is that players have devoted a lot of time to building up their characters and accounts, so they can indulge in the various addictions of MMO gameplay from the top-down rather than the ground up.

The games continue to be successful because of the traction they got back when the subscription model was still popular. People are paying for their friends, their position in their guild, their achievements and history, and the lower level of upkeep for older characters.
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Except they are not really much competition. Let's look at some of the bigger FTP MMOs. From the used to be subscriptionm based group: Everquest, Everquest 2, Age of Conan, LOTRO, DDO, and soon SW:TOR. Most of these utilize FTP as a method to get people to play and end up paying a subscription. I know DDO and LOTRO are doing fairly well with this model, though with smaller staffs and few servers. Most of the rest are just scratching out a few more dollars from a game before it finally dies. None of these really compete with WoW/Rift/Eve.

Then there are the FTP from the start. I think Wizard101 and Runes of Magic are the big 2 there(oops, almost forgot Maplestory). Both are very successful, but again not to the point of being real competition to WoW/Rift/Eve.
 
Redress said:
Except they are not really much competition. Let's look at some of the bigger FTP MMOs. From the used to be subscriptionm based group: Everquest, Everquest 2, Age of Conan, LOTRO, DDO, and soon SW:TOR. Most of these utilize FTP as a method to get people to play and end up paying a subscription. I know DDO and LOTRO are doing fairly well with this model, though with smaller staffs and few servers. Most of the rest are just scratching out a few more dollars from a game before it finally dies. None of these really compete with WoW/Rift/Eve.

Then there are the FTP from the start. I think Wizard101 and Runes of Magic are the big 2 there(oops, almost forgot Maplestory). Both are very successful, but again not to the point of being real competition to WoW/Rift/Eve.
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A game can't be successfully FTP unless it utilizes micro-transactions. None of those games was originally designed around that model, they did so to adapt to the supremacy of WoW.
 
Redress said:
Rfit is not FTP RIFT - Subscription Information - Dynamic Fantasy MMORPG
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Yes it is. There are just limitations. They call it Rift lite.

https://rift.trionworlds.com/accoun...flow.action?experience=lite&request_locale=en

Two of the three biggest MMOs are subscription based(actually all three for now, until SW:TOR goes FTP).
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Actually I need to correct myself... even WoW is F2P some what. They have a 10 day trial.

Secret World will got FTP eventually, but only once the subscription model is no longer the most profitable, which is some ways off.
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Its funcom.. they dont have a history of success...

Note that Eve Online is still subscription based and Secret World has a similar buzz.
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Eve has a 14 day free trial, which technically is also F2P with limitations.

FTP is popular in Asia.
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I stand corrected.
 
A free trial is not a FTP model.....
 
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