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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Devs Considering F2P?

13

Comments

  • Afro-ThunderAfro-Thunder Member UncommonPosts: 86
    Originally posted by TwwIX
    Originally posted by bbates024

    Probably be the worst thing they could do to the game.

    They've already accomplished that just by releasing this half assed, cookie cutter "MMO".

    /winthread

  • MerdurMerdur Member UncommonPosts: 27
    Originally posted by chilliz

    lol Blizzaard has beat them all.  For years we were eharing about thiwand that game will dead wow and blizzard.  The only way these games can even stay competetitive now is to go F2P bloody joke.  Half these games that have come out in the past 5-7 years have probabaly had greater the budget of the intital wow, and some slightly lebut by no means a small amount.  Yet the only games that have seemed to flourish in the post wow era have been wow, and eve, and maybe some asian f2pgames.  Roll on the pretenders, blizzard is waiting to turn you all into F2P games hahah

    The funniest part about trashing this statement is that the only reason blizzard can claim 10mil subs is because of asia and the MASSIVE amount of bot accounts and farmers they have. NA/SA/EU only has a combined total of about 1 mil subs if that, last i checked it was about 1.2 mil and that was 3 years ago. WoW will die once everyone wises up and starts making innovations instead of trying to copy WoW. Blizzard can't innovate anything anymore why D3 is bombing hard.

     

    Edit- oh btw WoW is F2P to with it's unlimited play to 15. So your statement is totally invalid since WoW is now a F2P game aswell.

  • arcwestarcwest Member Posts: 61

    i'd come back to swtor if it was FTP for more than 10 levels, like many other "FTP" games out there. if it's just another trial mislabled FTP i'll just wait till secret war and GW2 MOP, maybe even try Tera.

  • OlgarkOlgark Member UncommonPosts: 342

    Predicted this would happen 6 months after it launch when it was still in beta. The forum community at the time laughed at me. The game is ok but its not a decent enough quality for a AAA sub.

    image

  • pierthpierth Member UncommonPosts: 1,494


    Originally posted by Olgark
    Predicted this would happen 6 months after it launch when it was still in beta. The forum community at the time laughed at me. The game is ok but its not a decent enough quality for a AAA sub.

    Times have changed- I can't say I'm sure there's any game out there worthy of a sub.

  • dadante666dadante666 Member UncommonPosts: 402

    well its not going to be an impact its not like nobody know it soon going to happen ,the future of mmo  going to be f2p whit CS so the company can have  gain of theyr works they do ,nowdays theres no  single mmo that is worth paying ,terra soon like aion and TSW will be f2p whithing the year of theyr release nothing new once gw2 comes out  GG to all and subs option

    and then again just mi opinion

    image

  • daltaniousdaltanious Member UncommonPosts: 2,381

    Noooo.... do not ruin the best game I have ever played! F2P ... be gone!

    If there are any games, and have played a lot, worth subbing ... for sure there I see only 3 (imo of course): swtor, wow and rift.

    You can not run good restaurant with top food full of people that want to eat for free!

  • AtheenahAtheenah Member Posts: 58
    Originally posted by Olgark

    Predicted this would happen 6 months after it launch when it was still in beta. The forum community at the time laughed at me. The game is ok but its not a decent enough quality for a AAA sub.

     

    My guess was a year....

  • NanfoodleNanfoodle Member LegendaryPosts: 10,610
    Originally posted by zinger71
    I already have a paid sub and don't logon. How will this will change this for me?

    This! Thats me as well. Ya I plan to canceling soon

  • LonzoLonzo Member UncommonPosts: 294

    it is so sad what Bioware did with the Star Wars licence... :-( I would have assumed that this would have been Funcom or Cryptic... but Bioware!? So sad...

     

    They should screw this game and start to work on a huge SWG2! ....

    image
  • tv2zulutv2zulu Member UncommonPosts: 73
    Originally posted by Olgark

    Predicted this would happen 6 months after it launch when it was still in beta. The forum community at the time laughed at me. The game is ok but its not a decent enough quality for a AAA sub.

    Just so you know, we're still laughing. Come back when it actually happens.

    I hate SWTOR as much as the player next to me, for being a disappointment, but I'm seriously starting to think MMO players have a learning disability when I see what people write and conclude, after reading that paragraph.

  • itgrowlsitgrowls Member Posts: 2,951

    Actually the owners (EA Lead Director) has stated there isn't a time frame but that they "definitely" will be doing a F2P version in the future to deliver to the public what the public demands. So Apparently it's no longer a maybe. EA is taking the wheel once again.

    Can't say we didn't tell you folks. Those of us who know that the subscription models are dieing off tried to let everyone here know that these games can't be sustained by subs alone anymore. The economy in it's present state in both Europe and US can't sustain a monthly fee on games anymore. This combined with the new way gamers play games, jump on jump off, just isn't sound anymore. It will be interesting to see what happens to TSW and Archeage when they release.

  • WicoaWicoa Member UncommonPosts: 1,637
    Originally posted by Illyssia
    Originally posted by Alot

     


    Originally posted by marz.at.play
    Oh boy...here we go! Release the floodgates.

     

    Release the Kraken!

    More like release the trolls...

     

    SWTOR is a very good game and all Bioware have stated is that they are looking into F2P options. An endless trial is a F2P option for example. However, what would be really cool would be 1-49 F2P and 50 as small sub, with DLC expansions at a small purchase cost. SWTOR is looking good here, heck, it's Star Wars folks! 

    Release the kraken troll! Muahah

  • itgrowlsitgrowls Member Posts: 2,951
    Originally posted by Illyssia
    Originally posted by Alot

     


    Originally posted by marz.at.play
    Oh boy...here we go! Release the floodgates.

     

    Release the Kraken!

    More like release the trolls...

     

    SWTOR is a very good game and all Bioware have stated is that they are looking into F2P options. An endless trial is a F2P option for example. However, what would be really cool would be 1-49 F2P and 50 as small sub, with DLC expansions at a small purchase cost. SWTOR is looking good here, heck, it's Star Wars folks! 

    That's like saying "It's Warcraft Folks!" doesn't mean there isn't huge room for improvement nor does it mean they shouldn't have done better on the release.

     

  • faefrostfaefrost Member Posts: 199
    Originally posted by Xstatic912
    @ Alot

    But why go F2P when you got about 1mill paying subs?


     

    Here's the key problem with SWTOR. It does not matter if it is a good game, a bad game, a game worse than Warhammer, whatever. It was built on an impossible business model. There is virtually no possible set of circumstances under which it can succeed as a standard pay to play subscription game. None. The math just doesn't work.

    The problem is the game cost too much damed money to make. Low estimates put it around $250 million US. Others have hinted that development, marketing and licensing hit closer to $500 million. That is between a quarter and a half a billion dollars. US$$$. That makes it by all accounts the most expensive MMO ever, and if not the most expensive video game, than certainly coming real close.

    In order to make back those investment numbers within a reasonable time frame Bioware would have had to pretty much steal all of WoW's current and past players, and keep them for at least 18 to 24 months. Think on that. Their path o success and profitability was essentially that they must immediately steal ALL of the competitors customers +1, from day one and maintain them going forward.

    That is of course an insane business model. But somehow that is where they ended up. Their current subscriber base is more than enough to support a thriving MMO under most other circumstances. Heck buy all accounts it would easily have been the #2 most succesful MMO ever. But because of how  they financed the thing, and how much money they poured into it, #2 is not good enough to achieve the profits they need. So staff are getting laid off, and they are looking for radically changed business models. It's not the end game. It's not graphics, it's not the devs listening or not listening or whatever. This horse was dead over a year before launch. It's all about the accountants and the math.

    WoW became a license to print money because it's subscriptions were able to exceed it's development costs in months instead of the years originally planned. Blizzard, while taking a long time to develop, spent reasonably conservatively. They own the license and IP outright, and were also able to generate additional product revenue streams through related products. SWTOR is a licensed product for Bioware. I think they paid Lucasfilms somewhere close to $100 million for the license alone. And they most likely get 0 of any related products or sub marketing. (Here's a hint. Two of the new Lego Star Wars sets coming out this month are SWTOR ships. The Sith Fury and the Republic Striker. Anyone want to bet whether EA/Bioware is seeing any piece of that at all? Whereas Blizzard has a deal where Megabloks will be releasing World of Warcraft and Starcraft toy sets any time now. Want to make a guestimate on how much Blizzard will be making off of that?) 

    It's all about the money. It typically always is.

  • KakkzookaKakkzooka Member Posts: 591
    F2P! That mean the game is doing fantastically! And it's Star Warsy!

    Re: SWTOR

    "Remember, remember - Kakk says 'December.'"

  • YellowbearddYellowbeardd Member UncommonPosts: 83

    Love it when i'm right. TOLD YA. SWTOR reminded me so much of AoC and it's launch and crash , so it's gonna end up just like AoC and free to play , don't get me wrong tho AoC is a great game and so is swtor but that is what you get rushing a release without polish in it or some polish.

  • YellowbearddYellowbeardd Member UncommonPosts: 83
    Originally posted by faefrost
    Originally posted by Xstatic912
    @ Alot

    But why go F2P when you got about 1mill paying subs?


     

    Here's the key problem with SWTOR. It does not matter if it is a good game, a bad game, a game worse than Warhammer, whatever. It was built on an impossible business model. There is virtually no possible set of circumstances under which it can succeed as a standard pay to play subscription game. None. The math just doesn't work.

    The problem is the game cost too much damed money to make. Low estimates put it around $250 million US. Others have hinted that development, marketing and licensing hit closer to $500 million. That is between a quarter and a half a billion dollars. US$$$. That makes it by all accounts the most expensive MMO ever, and if not the most expensive video game, than certainly coming real close.

    In order to make back those investment numbers within a reasonable time frame Bioware would have had to pretty much steal all of WoW's current and past players, and keep them for at least 18 to 24 months. Think on that. Their path o success and profitability was essentially that they must immediately steal ALL of the competitors customers +1, from day one and maintain them going forward.

    That is of course an insane business model. But somehow that is where they ended up. Their current subscriber base is more than enough to support a thriving MMO under most other circumstances. Heck buy all accounts it would easily have been the #2 most succesful MMO ever. But because of how  they financed the thing, and how much money they poured into it, #2 is not good enough to achieve the profits they need. So staff are getting laid off, and they are looking for radically changed business models. It's not the end game. It's not graphics, it's not the devs listening or not listening or whatever. This horse was dead over a year before launch. It's all about the accountants and the math.

    WoW became a license to print money because it's subscriptions were able to exceed it's development costs in months instead of the years originally planned. Blizzard, while taking a long time to develop, spent reasonably conservatively. They own the license and IP outright, and were also able to generate additional product revenue streams through related products. SWTOR is a licensed product for Bioware. I think they paid Lucasfilms somewhere close to $100 million for the license alone. And they most likely get 0 of any related products or sub marketing. (Here's a hint. Two of the new Lego Star Wars sets coming out this month are SWTOR ships. The Sith Fury and the Republic Striker. Anyone want to bet whether EA/Bioware is seeing any piece of that at all? Whereas Blizzard has a deal where Megabloks will be releasing World of Warcraft and Starcraft toy sets any time now. Want to make a guestimate on how much Blizzard will be making off of that?) 

    It's all about the money. It typically always is.

     

    Think you need to do your math again , since it's been proven that a pay to play is a profitable buisness model or they wouldn't be doing it in the first place duuuu. Also they made their money back a long time ago with sales and subs and advertisment and collectables. A company almost makes as much or more every year from advertisment then they would pay to play or free to play.

  • KickaxeKickaxe Member UncommonPosts: 167
    Originally posted by faefrost
    ... Low estimates put it around $250 million US. Others have hinted that development, marketing and licensing hit closer to $500 million...

    I'm calling made up figures here.  Low estimates have been around $80 million; high estimates $300 million (ala EALouse); insane estimates > $300 million.  Generally we see $200 million as the current favourite speculative figure.

     

    Not that I entirely disagree with some of your other points, however.

  • rojoArcueidrojoArcueid Member EpicPosts: 10,722

    IT is time for the life saver to make his move. Perfect World Entertainment, the salvation of failed sub mmos. lol

    EA, sell Swtor with all the BIOWARE team to PWE





  • MoiraeMoirae Member RarePosts: 3,318

    I hope to hell not. I hate the free to play model. 

  • svzurichsvzurich Member UncommonPosts: 21

    I too don't log on.  Canceled my sub but still have time left.  Once I maxed Imperial Agent, I was done with the game.

  • GettCoupedGettCouped Member UncommonPosts: 47

    Misleading title is misleading.

  • raistlinmraistlinm Member Posts: 673
    Originally posted by Illyssia
    Originally posted by Alot

     


    Originally posted by marz.at.play
    Oh boy...here we go! Release the floodgates.

     

    Release the Kraken!

    More like release the trolls...

     

    SWTOR is a very good game and all Bioware have stated is that they are looking into F2P options. An endless trial is a F2P option for example. However, what would be really cool would be 1-49 F2P and 50 as small sub, with DLC expansions at a small purchase cost. SWTOR is looking good here, heck, it's Star Wars folks! 

    Agreed though I hate to hear "it's star wars folks" or "it's Bioware that's why".

    If you like par for the course themepark mmo's then TOR is a good game (though they need to do something with pvp from what i hear).

    If they do go free to play I personally hope for something like whayt LOTRO does because I have no problem paying a sub and getting a monthly stipend for a cash shop.

  • illutianillutian Member UncommonPosts: 343

    Huh? Wasn't it like two weeks ago MMORPG had an article of SWTOR going PARTIALLY Free2Play (think first 20levels free, just like WoW).

    Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising everytime we fall.

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