One of our favorite things to do is check out the rumor mill on a day to day basis. We've rounded up a few of the biggest ones people are talking about this summer in today's Free Zone. Check them out and then let us know what you think in the comments.

Maybe it's because there never seems to be as much news during the summer aside from the annual bursts related to E3, plus some lesser events. That's about the best I can come up with in terms of reasons why this time of year typically feels like it brings out the most rumors. Or maybe it actually does. In any case, I thought you might be interested in some that have crossed my path recently involving the free to play model. Be warned that I have no solid reasons to believe any of them. These are merely rumors at this point.

Read more of Richard Aihoshi's The Free Zone: The 2012 Summer Rumorfest.

Unknown.

SWTOR- I really have no idea what the finacial position the game is in right now. The production cost was, well, yeah. If they returned investment, i don't see EA doing F2P for a game this big.

TSW- While the built in Cash Shop can be a sign that FC plans on going F2P, it can also be the opposite. With CS already in, the only point of F2P is more players, but removing the mandatory sub can also mean less money. Like i said in anothe thread, with this model in practice, i believe it wil only convert if it doesn't generate enough money eventually, which is unknown at this point.

Wildstar- Haven't been keeping up with it so i don't know what it's about. However, from what i know, it doesn't seem to be as high production cost as most of these mmos, so i think starting out F2P is understandable.

TERA- I have no idea teh situation it's in right now. I do feel it will go F2P eventually, but only on gut feeling. It will depend on the reveneu, as always

I actually just  bought a copy of SWTOR because of the free trial so in at least one instance it is working as intended.. . I got it cheap though :)

The Copernicus rumor caught my attention.  I hope this happens.

FYI 38 Studios is from Rhode Island not Delaware

SWTOR ftp

maybe... but EA has never made any mmo ftp   (DAOC, WAR)

Secret World ftp

doubtful - Funcom always wanted TSW to be a subgame

worth noting that EA copublished TSW

I was hoping for Darkfall to go f2p. Would be some nice pvp.

Originally posted by Nadia

SWTOR ftp

maybe... but EA has never made any mmo ftp   (DAOC, WAR)

 

Secret World ftp

doubtful - Funcom always wanted TSW to be a subgame

worth noting that EA copublished TSW

Yes, I agree about EA not letting games go free to play. I still miss E&B. I think that is where I still have feelings of not trusting EA when they have ownership in an MMO. I really liked Mythic and was worried about EA buying them. Now I feel correct.

On the TSW side though they were just a publisher and has nothing else involved with the game. They were just publishing in the US for Funcom.

Funcom has noted that at some point down the road, TSW will likely be considered for conversion to FTP. So it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone when they do announce it.

I would guess, for the sake of not pissing off all those who bought the lifetime subscription, it will likely be at the least after the time when subscription fees would have exhausted the $200 they paid. That would be a little over 1 year. I imagine it would be some time after that, though.

Even so, when they do make that transition, at the least, FC will keep the "subscription-like" option in place... pay $15 a month and get access to everything just like with a regular sub. This, for me, is great because I would much prefer to pay my $15 up front than be nagged continuously in-game to visit the cash shop for some reason or another.

I wonder why you left off GW2.  If any game was built from the ground up for F2P it is GW2.  Here we come, all abourd the GW2 P2W train.  I feel you could take TSW segement and swap in GW2 and make the same level of validity with your arguments.

Just so many MMOs. it has to reach a point that the entire genre collapses. F2P is the wrong way to go. I think we are seeing the beginning of the end. right now facebook games are dying, major MMO are dying, studios are going under like crazy. layoffs are in the news almost everyday.

We keep getting so much suck and random generic MMOs it's kind of insane to watch.

What the MMO industry will find out way down the road is they should have been making great games, innovating the genre mixing it up and making new systems and mechanics. finding ways to make fun instead of trying to leech as much money to save dying crappers that were no fun at all.

See thats the problem with F2P they refuse to die a natural death so the market won't be saturated with crap. instead F2P allows something that should have failed and been replaced allowed to continue to dilute and pollute the genre.

We are heading for a major crash in the MMORPG market, major.