SWTOR Announces Free-to-Play Model

[Viozaer]

F2P

Looks like it's happening.

[Uxas]

Does that mean we can all just cancel our sub and keep playing our account?
It looks like the only reason to keep a sub is to get free tokens every month...
Might save some cash if we all can just keep playing and cancel our subs.

[Rymark]

Has Bioware really lost so much money on TOR that they have to do this?

[Corth]

wow. just wow...

[Rux]

You know what this means? One of two things.... no one is going to play, or everyone is going to play. Which means that there will be a lot more world PVP going down!

Oorah.

[Dany]

F2P doesn't mean bad things for TOR. DC Online, D&D, LotR Online, Champions, etc. are F2P and are doing well last time I checked. Each game showed a substantial profit increase after doing so (can cite references if needed). Other MMOs like Rappelz has large profits for always having been F2P. The only worry is the game might become free-to-play, pay-to-win if they introduce a cash shop.

[Rymark]

I still am not liking where all this is going.

[Rux]

From the notes it looks like they are keeping all single player content available in initial purchase. Meaning people who want to play a single player swtor 1through8 can do so with initial purchase. Then the MMo stuff is in the sub fee.

But even still, I agree that this isn't good news for the game. They don't have enough content to make this move. It hasn't even been a year and there is no expansion at all yet.

The end game content isn't worth paying for as it stands for a lot of people. We'll just have to see how this goes and keep positive vibes going.

[Fairbairn]

Check the post, the features are different for paid and free subscribers.
http://www.swtor.com/free/features
I'm not bothered by it personally, i would rather have people playing than noone playing.

[Qorbin]

I remember when Lotro first went F2P, people were running around screaming: OMG the game is closing down, OMG the sky is falling, OMG dogs are going to be hanging out with cats. It turns out F2P is not all that bad and can breath some much needed life into a MMO:

Switching to F2P was a move that proved to be financially sound. Kate Paiz, the Executive Producer for LOTRO, announced some very good news during a panel at the recent GDC Online 2010. She stated that since going to F2P, LOTRO has doubled its revenue. She also mentioned that over 1 million new accounts have been created, 20% of former players have returned and over 400% increase in active players. This is solid news that shows that their F2P model is quite successful.

Since going F2P Lotro has released 3 new expansions. Regardless if it is F2P or P2P a MMO company must continue to release content to keep players engaged and new players coming in.

In closing this game is not closing down and Alpha Company is not going anywhere. I will keep this thread open of discussion as long as it doesn't start to get out of control.

[Kontraz]

Last I checked, even when/if this game closes, it doesn't have to mean Alpha Company dies with it

[Nysro]

Changes nothing for me, I will continue to subscribe as I enjoy the game. Whatever comes will come regardless so I'm not sweating it. A long life or destined for cancellation, I am here for the duration.

[Arkhas]

Yeah, Im along for the ride.


This still blows, however.

[Tai]

As long as they don't include a pay to win feature with a cash shop where you basically have to spend real money to buy everything you need but yeah I'll be around for awhile. Hopefully beyond this game as well as other mmos will be launching soon that maybe you guys would like to check out.

[Ben'airu]

So for those of us who bought 6 month subs.. Do we get our money back?