Comments recently made by BioWare's Emmanuel Lusinchi alluded to the possibility of BioWare 'looking at' free-to-play for Star Wars: The Old Republic. While the article in question has since been mysteriously taken down, we're really hoping BioWare is considering free-to-play for the game, and we're offering up four reasons why in this week's SWTOR column.

The gist of the report was simple, according to Lusinchi, BioWare is “looking at” free-to-play. Did he misspeak? Who knows? But even if he did, BioWare really should be looking at free-to-play, and given all the recent events, I wouldn’t be surprised if they indeed are.  With that said, I’ve got four reasons in mind for why BioWare should be looking at free-to-play for Star Wars: The Old Republic, and that’s what we’ll be discussing in this week’s column.

Read more of Michael Bitton's Star Wars: The Old Republic: Four Reasons BioWare Really Should Consider F2P.

Grab the asbestos suit, michael.

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.

Might as well go F2P, the game is pretty much dead so anything that even has an off chance of resurrecting it is a good idea for EA.  I honestly don't think any MMORPG is worth a sub fee at this point, they are all pretty boring.  SWTOR is the worst AAA MMORPG though so a sub fee is just a joke.

SWTOR will definitely go full f2p it's just a question of when. As soon as it gets to the point where EA can make more money from f2p they will make a business decision and change models regardless of the community's opinion.

I happen to think SWTOR would be pretty damn successful as a f2p game if they transition it correctly and have a sensible model that doesn't put massive restrictions on players like some MMO companies do. 

I personally dislike FTP games, I left aion when it went FTP after 2.5 years of playing it!

But with SWTOR...I stopped playing after 3 weeks (max leveled nothing to do). But I would probably go back if it went FTP and they fixed PvP.

I'm on record as not being opposed to free to play with options what mmy hope continues to be though is that they would folow a path more similar to turbines and less like the one followed by EQ2 though for me I don't that it would have an effect I still love TOR and wil more than likely be a subscriber for years to come.

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? 

It's pretty much in beta for f2p from a dev's point of view from the recent interviews coming out from Bioware's end. Reminds me of STO going f2p; the dev's don't really want to admit that they are preparing for f2p, when infact they are holding meetings/have held meetings and will continue to hold meetings about getting the game to f2p as I even type this! At this point it's just a matter of time. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just not living in the real world.

F2P communities suck to put it mildly.  I'd much rather pay $15 for a quality game than play a F2P game.  With that said, I did just recently cancel my TOR account.  If they could come up with a premium server that was not as much as $15 (say $7.50) just to get away from the F2P community I'd pay that, but I will never play a truly F2P game.

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.

But the majority does want F2P. The majority are playing F2P. The majority have chosen F2P over the few remaining sub models.

He isn't speaking for everyone. There are those of us who still prefer sub models. But, we need to come to grips that we are no longer the majority.

An interesting example is my nephew. He is 19 and going to a jr. college with an associates degree in game design. He loves fantasy rpg. He asked me what games I played, and I rattled off a list of sub-based mmos that I have enjoyed over the years. He visibly grimaced at each and everyone and in very stereotypical teenage gamer form said, without fear of hurting my feelings, 'Those games all suck. They suck hard'.

So I asked him why. He replied (paraphrasing)  "Cuz they all make you pay a sub fee. I'm never going to play a game that forces money from you without knowing you'll get something in return"

He was so certain, so assured with an attitude of 'everyone knows this'. He went as far as degrading WoW players for being gullible. And not because the game is simplified or cartoony or because of wellfare epics.....it was because he thought all WoW players were idiots for playing a game with a sub fee.

Now granted this is just one kid - I don't mean to cover all future developers in the same blanket. However, it was obvious to me that his opinion was cemented in place and he was obviously surrounded by a slew of other gamers who felt the same. He was comfortable that his opinion was the majority - he had never met someone like me; he was shocked and dissappointed in my gaming habits. I was speechless too, as I had never met anyone in real life with his opinion.

To further, I supervise a lot of guys in their twenties. Probably about 1/3 of them game. Most have had some experience with an mmo - but most don't consider themselves 'mmo'ers' but 'gamers'. One of them played WoW for awhile, but is now playing D3, prior he was a DOTA and Starcraft player after leaving WoW. I told him I'd give him a scroll of resurection if he wanted to play with me but he vehemently said no. Why? Because he felt duped by paying a sub fee for those 2 or 3 years - why do that when there is so much F2P stuff out there? Again, like my nephew, he said this with the conviction that he was in the majority opinion. With his attitude, and the attitude of other of my employees plus with my nephew, entering the dev buisiness, holding all virtually the same sour opinion of sub fees, I had to come to grips.

I thought sub-based games were what the majority wanted - I found out it was just my generation of gamers.

If it wasn't worth it to pay $15 a month, it's not going to be worth it to pay more money in micro/macro transactions.

Just pull the plug.

If there wasn't sub for this game i'd probably try it out again at some point.

Even if SWTOR decides to go F2P today, it will take them a year to get it up and running. Think of all the design and coding they would need to do to support a new model.

TBH, I really think SWTOR should have been B2P to begin with.

The game is just not built for longevity, I said this when it came out, and I think that recent events have proven me right.  The whole idea is that there are all these stories for you to go through...but then once you go through them, they are over...why stick around?

I felt like the game was an MMORPG only because they were trying to justify charging a sub for what is essentially a largely single player experience with some Coop and PvP options.  But that strategy doesn't work...because no one is going to pay a sub for a game that they hardly play anymore because they already finished the story.

The only thing to keep people there is grinding a few raids for gear, and most people that like to do that will probably play WoW.

[mod edit]

I think f2p should die... it spawned the dreaded cash shop...

please if any devs are reading these forums dont go down the f2p route stick with p2p thanks..

Sub model is dying? Weird, isn't Rift a sub game without a CS and tons of content updates over the last year, with an upcoming full expansion, large scale 3 faction pvp and mentoring system? Yeah, dead.

I think spending millions and millions of bucks on tons and tons voice acting, not to meantion the slow progress it causes on content updates, is simply just not a good idea.

How will it go ftp? TSW is made to go ftp. They can lock weapon sets, quests anything they want really. Tor has one thing The main story line.

Even if they want to go ftp, how long will it take to make it so with that mess of a code they have?

Originally posted by Zorgo

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.

But the majority does want F2P. The majority are playing F2P. The majority have chosen F2P over the few remaining sub models.

He isn't speaking for everyone. There are those of us who still prefer sub models. But, we need to come to grips that we are no longer the majority.

An interesting example is my nephew. He is 19 and going to a jr. college with an associates degree in game design. He loves fantasy rpg. He asked me what games I played, and I rattled off a list of sub-based mmos that I have enjoyed over the years. He visibly grimaced at each and everyone and in very stereotypical teenage gamer form said, without fear of hurting my feelings, 'Those games all suck. They suck hard'.

So I asked him why. He replied (paraphrasing)  "Cuz they all make you pay a sub fee. I'm never going to play a game that forces money from you without knowing you'll get something in return"

He was so certain, so assured with an attitude of 'everyone knows this'. He went as far as degrading WoW players for being gullible. And not because the game is simplified or cartoony or because of wellfare epics.....it was because he thought all WoW players were idiots for playing a game with a sub fee.

 

Now granted this is just one kid - I don't mean to cover all future developers in the same blanket. However, it was obvious to me that his opinion was cemented in place and he was obviously surrounded by a slew of other gamers who felt the same. He was comfortable that his opinion was the majority - he had never met someone like me; he was shocked and dissappointed in my gaming habits. I was speechless too, as I had never met anyone in real life with his opinion.

To further, I supervise a lot of guys in their twenties. Probably about 1/3 of them game. Most have had some experience with an mmo - but most don't consider themselves 'mmo'ers' but 'gamers'. One of them played WoW for awhile, but is now playing D3, prior he was a DOTA and Starcraft player after leaving WoW. I told him I'd give him a scroll of resurection if he wanted to play with me but he vehemently said no. Why? Because he felt duped by paying a sub fee for those 2 or 3 years - why do that when there is so much F2P stuff out there? Again, like my nephew, he said this with the conviction that he was in the majority opinion. With his attitude, and the attitude of other of my employees plus with my nephew, entering the dev buisiness, holding all virtually the same sour opinion of sub fees, I had to come to grips.

I thought sub-based games were what the majority wanted - I found out it was just my generation of gamers.

Zorgo you are right but I think the problem in this community is tha alot of people here have rl friends who are alot like them and play mmorpg's all the time so they really tend to not be in touch with the fact that the general population of gamers still looks at subscribing to a game you already paid for as a big no no.

I am the only person I know personally who plays mmorpg's and this is the sentiment I get from all my friends who are into video games they simply will not pay a sub fee for a video game they already bought or even one they would get for free often.

i am different because I really do think I love gaming more than all the people I hang with and it is why I was able to eventually get dragged into sub based gaming even with that though I was aware of games like EQ,DAO,UO and while I was often intrigued by what I saw it took a beloved franchise like Star Wars to finally drag me into paying a sub fee for a game.

It's one thing to say I'll pay five bucks a month for x box live and be able to play any multi player game I buy to saying I'm going to pay fifteen bucks a month for access to a single game.