as nice as proper done F2P would be for SWG but i have to agree just to old mmo and SOE already messed up there top IP in everquest going F2P. SWG is still making money but if it gets bad enough i think good option is lower subscription fee to maybe $7.95 or around that. plus on top of the reduced fee do couple huge updates with just bug fixes and clean the crud out. if you can't F2P least go out fighting. Lucasarts said the want SWG and TOR to co-exist so time will tell.
I certainly hope not. If they do, they will likely copy what they did with EQ2, which was a horrible way of doing it. The game is actually better than it has ever been except for 2 things: the horribly overcrowded laggy Starsider server and the rest of the servers being in various states of deadness. Some of the lowest populated ones, like Gorath and Radiant are positively dead and people on those servers get gated from content even. SWG doesn't need more players running amok on seperate servers, we need new blood and server consolidations to retain the people we still do have.
Played: Asheron's Call(still the best fantasy MMO!), EQ1, EQ2, Vanguard, DAoC, Horizons, City of Heroes/Villians, WoW (crap), LOTORO, D&D Online, Eve, Anarchy Online, and still playing SWG daily.
Making SWG free to play would require a lot of work. Not only from the viewpoint of coding all the changes, but also changes in the games design to make it compatible with a free to play system.
The current devs struggle to do things as simple as holiday events without major bugs or problems. Most of the recent game content is released bugged, broken or disfunctional and left that way. SWG has never been an easy game for soe to develop, because it was rushed to release and redesigned so many times that it just doesn't fit well together.
I highly doubt swg will ever go free to play.
First it would require lucas arts to sign off and I seriously doubt they would want to risk reviving all the negative press that SWG is when they are about to release a new mmo. They just layed off staff, so I doubt they want to risk SWTOR on the off chance that soe somehow makes SWG f2p something that will be successful.
Second it would require soe to actually do it right. They already failed with EQ2X. They struggle with the simplest of additions to swg currently.
Third the game servers could not handle it. Free to play would just crush the servers, because they can't handle normal mmo loads like other games do.
I say the chances of swg going free to play are slim and if it does it will be a complete mess.
I got 1 word for you...DCUO! (well...4 letters, no actual word I guess, but whatever)
There are at least a dozen former SWG Devs working on DCUO atm (Loche, Deadmeat, Rouge_5 +). Production is NEARLY finished, and early reviews have been quite positive. Shifting them back to SWG for a month would be an easy call if Smed thought he could make some $ off it still with minimal investment.
With the new one on the way now would be as good a chance to do it as any, sure plenty of people are itching for a SW's game to pass the time in until that releases, some of those likely never even heard of this one (since kotor has generated more buzz, from all sorts of different gamers).
Gallaxies would probably only serve as a cashgrab and shut the doors though, because I don't really see too many being interested in this once KOTOR releases, going f2p anytime after would likely be somewhat pointless too.
Gallaxies would probably only serve as a cashgrab and shut the doors though, because I don't really see too many being interested in this once KOTOR releases, going f2p anytime after would likely be somewhat pointless too.
This is exactly how it's going to go though, very typical SoE, too little, too late. SoE isn't an industry leader, they're an industry follower. It won't go F2P until Spring/Summer 2011 and by then it'll be too late to capture the waiting SW:ToR fans.
With the new one on the way now would be as good a chance to do it as any, sure plenty of people are itching for a SW's game to pass the time in until that releases, some of those likely never even heard of this one (since kotor has generated more buzz, from all sorts of different gamers).
Gallaxies would probably only serve as a cashgrab and shut the doors though, because I don't really see too many being interested in this once KOTOR releases, going f2p anytime after would likely be somewhat pointless too.
"Galaxies would probably only serve as a cashgrab and shut the doors..." This wouldn't surprise me at all. If I saw this game go FTP, I'd have to wonder if this was a last grab at players wallets via a manipulative business model before the release of TOR.
It IS possible that SWG could go F2P, they got the freaking trading card that's pedaling in money for SOE (lots of booster pack addicts out there). Even then I probably won't go back to SWG, I'm all dried up on that game.
Comments
SWG and EQ2 aren't good titles for F2P conversion, imo. Both titles suffer same issue - very dated graphics.
F2P model is based on high player base, something that games with dated graphics won't get.
as nice as proper done F2P would be for SWG but i have to agree just to old mmo and SOE already messed up there top IP in everquest going F2P. SWG is still making money but if it gets bad enough i think good option is lower subscription fee to maybe $7.95 or around that. plus on top of the reduced fee do couple huge updates with just bug fixes and clean the crud out. if you can't F2P least go out fighting. Lucasarts said the want SWG and TOR to co-exist so time will tell.
Pricing isn't the problem with SWG. Just like it wasn't the problem holding EQ2 back.
Cutting the games price in half will just lower revenue.
I certainly hope not. If they do, they will likely copy what they did with EQ2, which was a horrible way of doing it. The game is actually better than it has ever been except for 2 things: the horribly overcrowded laggy Starsider server and the rest of the servers being in various states of deadness. Some of the lowest populated ones, like Gorath and Radiant are positively dead and people on those servers get gated from content even. SWG doesn't need more players running amok on seperate servers, we need new blood and server consolidations to retain the people we still do have.
Played: Asheron's Call(still the best fantasy MMO!), EQ1, EQ2, Vanguard, DAoC, Horizons, City of Heroes/Villians, WoW (crap), LOTORO, D&D Online, Eve, Anarchy Online, and still playing SWG daily.
I got 1 word for you...DCUO! (well...4 letters, no actual word I guess, but whatever)
There are at least a dozen former SWG Devs working on DCUO atm (Loche, Deadmeat, Rouge_5 +). Production is NEARLY finished, and early reviews have been quite positive. Shifting them back to SWG for a month would be an easy call if Smed thought he could make some $ off it still with minimal investment.
I had to quit playing this busted farce in order to rediscover my love of Star Wars. No way I'd go back if it was FTP.
With the new one on the way now would be as good a chance to do it as any, sure plenty of people are itching for a SW's game to pass the time in until that releases, some of those likely never even heard of this one (since kotor has generated more buzz, from all sorts of different gamers).
Gallaxies would probably only serve as a cashgrab and shut the doors though, because I don't really see too many being interested in this once KOTOR releases, going f2p anytime after would likely be somewhat pointless too.
This is exactly how it's going to go though, very typical SoE, too little, too late. SoE isn't an industry leader, they're an industry follower. It won't go F2P until Spring/Summer 2011 and by then it'll be too late to capture the waiting SW:ToR fans.
"Galaxies would probably only serve as a cashgrab and shut the doors..." This wouldn't surprise me at all. If I saw this game go FTP, I'd have to wonder if this was a last grab at players wallets via a manipulative business model before the release of TOR.
It IS possible that SWG could go F2P, they got the freaking trading card that's pedaling in money for SOE (lots of booster pack addicts out there). Even then I probably won't go back to SWG, I'm all dried up on that game.