With all of the AAA mmo's (except WoW and Rift) being F2P/B2P, will we see WoW go F2P/B2P in 2013? Blizzard has to be looking at it by now. Tera goes F2P tomorrow, and I honestly think Rift will be the next to enter the F2P realm. So, how much longer can Blizzard hold out?

Leave your thoughts and opinions on the subject:

Not this year, unless there is an unprecedented falloff in sub numbers.

I venture to say they still have more subbed players than the next 5 titles combined, so why would they give up that revenue?

Sure, of the subs get down to 250K, they'll think about it, just don't see that happening any time soon.

But...I've been wrong before....

Anyone who says yes is just trolling... they can bring in tens of millions off micro pets/subscriptions, no company would go F2P to risk that.

They'd start increasing the cosmetics cash shop content long before going F2P.

Just wait 3 more days for their Q4 report.

I heard some predictions from people who don't know squat (my friends) saying they'll be down to 5 million by now

It'll be a fun weekend.

wow has to many subs to go free 2 play. Its not even a consideration. I believe titan will be free 2 play from start. Wow will not go buy 2 play ever. they do have some nice sales on the boxed games and still make money of that. 

Why go free 2 play or buy 2 play when u are making as much money as they are right now. when u have 10 million subs u don't have to worry about what the rest of the industry is doing. 

Originally posted by Kyleran

Not this year, unless there is an unprecedented falloff in sub numbers.

I venture to say they still have more subbed players than the next 5 titles combined, so why would they give up that revenue?

Sure, of the subs get down to 250K, they'll think about it, just don't see that happening any time soon.

But...I've been wrong before....

I think you're right.  They could probably lose as many subs as GW2 box sales and still have more subscribers than the next 5 games combined.

The better question will be, is Titan going to be sub-free or sub-locked?

WoW has an inertia that would take a catastrophe to stop.  It might never go sub-free.  However, as popular as Titan might be initially, Blizzard would need to somehow generate that same sort of inertia for it to also succeed as a sub-locked game.  The only two major games I can see staying sub-locked in the next couple of years are WoW and EVE.

Be careful what you wish for. If WoW were to go F2P it would cause such a huge implosion on the rest of the industry with players old and new flocking back to play that the only time you would see any really huge migrations would be when new games were released. It would be like seasonal migrations of canadian geese. Flying back and forth between WoW and a new mmo and back again.

I know I would. Long forgotten avatars that sit idle in a mmo I no longer have the desire to pay for would suddenly be top on my list to play. Millions! And I mean MILLIONS of players would flock back just to see their old friends once again. If not to continue where they left off it would be to serve as a common stomping ground. A mmo touchstone if you will.

I think they can only reduce the subs from $25 to $15, that's it, nobody from Blizz wants F2P game after all.... 

After Titan, maybe not before that.

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Originally posted by nikolait
I think they can only reduce the subs from $25 to $15, that's it, nobody from Blizz wants F2P game after all.... 

 

After Titan, maybe not before that.

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Umm, subs are already $15 per month.

I don't think wow will go f2p or b2p anytime soon, I think titan will be b2p.

Say what you want about them, but the Blizz name attracts sales, even for mostly crap games *cough*Diablo 3*cough*, they have no need to go f2p on any of their games.

Originally posted by Bladestrom
Daft question as far as wow is concerned. Re Titan, you could easily see Diablo 3 as a trial of their future model, but considering the greed of the corporate decision makers I just cannot see blizzard throwing away the 'guaranteed income@.

Much more interesting question: when titan releases blizzard are obviously going to try and push the population to Titan as they are not going to sub to both, I predict a cynical starvation of resources for wow despite the existing sub base- could be very interesting to watch..

They might as well have 1 sub for WOW/Titan. That way people will believe they are getting "extra" value.

Not likely, reason being they don't have to.

Sub + item shop + paid services + box sales + expansions.  They'd be nuts to give this up as long as it remains working.