If SWTOR is bleeding financially to a point where the books are not balancing then... who knows.

Ironically we could just be left with Clone Wars Adventures F2P as the main Star Wars title and a very light maintained F2P SWTOR, if that.

F2P kills games.

Khan The Absolute Power, 2Moons, Last Chaos, Perfect World.

Those are examples of dead games that were free to play, Gold farmers start invading the servers using macros to farm areas and the end result is the entire map becomes unplayable. I remember standing next to a GM in 2moons that was trying to ban those macros, there was a new one running into the area every 15 seconds and the Gm sat there for an hour before giving up. There is just no stopping them once the game goes free.

Originally posted by nyxium

If SWTOR is bleeding financially to a point where the books are not balancing then... who knows.

 

Ironically we could just be left with Clone Wars Adventures F2P as the main Star Wars title and a very light maintained F2P SWTOR, if that.

 Thats why they need to go F2P now before the game loses so many players it has no real chance to recover when going F2P...just look at AoC. It went F2P afterl losing the vast majority of players, did it halfassed pay trap with a insane shop prices and even though over 600,000 created F2P accounts next to none of them stayed.

They need to go F2P soon and with a real F2P cash shop and not a pay trap, with a cash shop thats somewhere out of Mars selling an xpac for $75 when the thing was being sold in an actual store for $40.

Originally posted by Skarett

F2P kills games.

Khan The Absolute Power, 2Moons, Last Chaos, Perfect World.

Those are examples of dead games that were free to play.

 Great list, you should have left off Perfect World which was actually extremely popular...I mean if you are going to take the time to name only really bad F2P to push an agenda...at least do your homework. BTW, everyone else knows that there are extremely popular and profitable F2P games out there so...lol.

And looking at this article, the writer has no clue what he is talking about and is making the dumbest assumtions I have ever seen.

If the subscription model was really dead then no one would be paying for cable or satelite tv anymore. I've seen gaming companys in Asia switch to making anti virus software specifically for the wide subscription base.

This article sounds like it was written by one of those little cry babys that post on the SWTOR forums about how we need transfers and then when they come post how its too many people.

Originally posted by Skarett

And looking at this article, the writer has no clue what he is talking about and is making the dumbest assumtions I have ever seen.

If the subscription model was really dead then no one would be paying for cable or satelite tv anymore. I've seen gaming companys in Asia switch to making anti virus software specifically for the wide subscription base.

This article sounds like it was written by one of those little cry babys that post on the SWTOR forums about how we need transfers and then when they come post how its too many people.

What? LOL Wait wait....really? This is your counter-argument? You're using the subscription fees that come with things like cable and phones to counter the change in payment plans in video games? REALLY?

That was hilarious. Thank you.

all the "F2P is coming!" threads make me laugh.  You know another trend in MMO development?  making terrible games.  As long as the games suck, who cares what the payment model is?  as for saying that more people want F2P than a payment model, so what? they are either not a paying customer so their opinion doesnt count or they part of the group getting taken advantage of by the item shops and I'm not going to be joining them in that. 

I think good games will still have no problem being successful with subscription based payment models and I don't really care what happens with bad games.

I actually think communities in F2P mmos are alot friendlier and all around better than the ones in P2Ps.

From my experience in fallen earth since it went F2P (when i started playing), people are alot more cordial than most freaks I ever seen in WoW for example.

EA's Peter Moor has been interviewed stating that f2p is inevatable, referring to not just SWTOR but the industry.

http://kotaku.com/5919847/the-strange-scary-fascinating-exciting-future-of-video-games-according-to-a-giant

Pretty interesting read :)

Originally posted by gaeanprayer

Originally posted by Skarett

And looking at this article, the writer has no clue what he is talking about and is making the dumbest assumtions I have ever seen.

If the subscription model was really dead then no one would be paying for cable or satelite tv anymore. I've seen gaming companys in Asia switch to making anti virus software specifically for the wide subscription base.

This article sounds like it was written by one of those little cry babys that post on the SWTOR forums about how we need transfers and then when they come post how its too many people.

What? LOL Wait wait....really? This is your counter-argument? You're using the subscription fees that come with things like cable and phones to counter the change in payment plans in video games? REALLY?

That was hilarious. Thank you.

Subscriptions come with nearly everything in life, its a proven business model that works when it is done right. Take a little time away from your computer and you might actually see how the real world works bub.

You really forgot the major issue with this game, there is not enough content to justify a subscription,  There are f2p games out there with a lot more content.  When you have a fast leveling curve like this game you effectively kill it because people reach end game content far too fast.

Why make people buy game and pay subscriptioN? Simple! Quick and easy cash grab at consumer. Milk it as much as possible and then once its down hill enough drop it and use F2P to renew interest and find new ways to milk people.

I rather go back to WoW than playing SWTOR. Problem is not the money, it's the game.

Originally posted by Skarett

And looking at this article, the writer has no clue what he is talking about and is making the dumbest assumtions I have ever seen.

If the subscription model was really dead then no one would be paying for cable or satelite tv anymore. I've seen gaming companys in Asia switch to making anti virus software specifically for the wide subscription base.

This article sounds like it was written by one of those little cry babys that post on the SWTOR forums about how we need transfers and then when they come post how its too many people.

It's a completely different situation. There's no free alternative to satellite or cable for most people. Yes, I know of torrent and streaming sites, but usually they're either lower quality and needs much more technical knowledge and infraestructure (not everyone has high enough internet speeds to stream HD video in real time).

On the other hand on the MMO front we have games that were (subjectively) considered AAA on release just few years ago (some dissapointed, some didn't) and are now F2P, some in much better condition than they were on release, and actually being succesful (AoC, for all the complains around, is actually producing enough income as a F2P title for funcom to produce TSW), plus there are games that are considered (again, subjectively) AAA quality that are coming out either as F2P or B2P with no sub attached to them (GW2, Planetside 2 for example) plus more turning F2P (Vanguard), without mention the games that were F2P for a while, a sub based MMO need to really differentiate itself enough to be able to justify charging for a sub these days.

IMHO the writting is on the wall. Sub based MMOs aren't going anywhere... but in the very near future we'll see a much higher percentage of non sub MMOs as well.

Originally posted by Alders

Originally posted by Stevenra

Yeah because playing games in which kids just steal their parents credit cards and buy items that should only be earned is a real fun way too play games....Get real any game that goes pay too win deserves to bomb.  Stop trying to speak for everyone that games the majority dosnt want this type of platform of paying.

This is pretty ignorant.  You don't think this happens in P2P games? 

 They steal their parents credit card to play, but it doesn't give them an advantage.

P2W games are a vile creation, I would hate to see even a game I disliked such as SW:TOR go the way of P2W.

F2P with cosmetic cash shop, maybe some experience boosters, fine, but P2W is something no games should do.

lets face it free to play are some of the worst MMO's ever made due to the fact they're not really free.

And the ones who convert to free model may indeed make a profit but the game was a turd before,it will be one after it's added.

I really wish bioware could have the foresight to understand what true gamers want and not these Wow kids who think PVP and endgame gear is the only feature an MMO should focus on.

The industry is deconstructing itself by it's greed. they don't make fun anymore because creating a tread mill seems to be the fast path to cash even if the turnover is huge.

I can't say watching all these themeparks get worse and loose subs and fail doesn't make me smile a little for the sandbox genre.

Amazing. A game released around half a year ago with one of the largest IPs as well as budget, managed to screw up big time and is now struggling to survive. I don't care about this game at all, but this is laughable.

If you make the same old same old, then yeah...there's nothing to set it apart from other games which have gone f2p.  Therefore SWTOR should go f2p.

Subscriptions for the current batch of mmo is not worth it as the linear themepark style of game can be experienced within the first month which comes with your box purchase. 

Originally posted by causs

Amazing. A game released around half a year ago with one of the largest IPs as well as budget, managed to screw up big time and is now struggling to survive. I don't care about this game at all, but this is laughable.

^ Which is the main "story".

With 2.5+ million units sold and 200-500K (est) people left in game, this conversation should be on how the gaming community (players) were had with the marketing and promotion of SWTOR as well as players "rights" to be fed a fair game. Some paid top dollar for a game looking at going free to play after 7 months.

Where are the customers and players rights?

But any conversation that goes down this road is frowned upon here.

I do not understand the logic of this article and am concerned with the aggressiveness with which this site is promoting this buisness model.