Last week, Bioware and EA announced that Star Wars: The Old Republic would be adding a free to play component. In our latest Free Zone column, we take a look at the announcement and give our analysis of what it all means as well as check in with several F2P industry voices for their thoughts as well. Check it out!

While I didn't have the opportunity to comment last time on the news that SWTOR will change business models, the topic is still very prominent in my mind, so let’s get to it. I wasn't surprised at all by the actual announcement since I had already predicted quite some time ago that it would happen. Actually, even though I knew there was zero possibility at the time, I expressed the opinion years ago, well before launch, that the game might be better served by redesigning it to be free to play from the get-go. Nonetheless, I didn't expect EA to make the move so soon. My best guess was by around the middle of next year. Obviously, my crystal ball turned out to be somewhat misty.

Read more of Richard Aihoshi's The Free Zone: What Does SWTOR F2P Mean?