Star Wars: The Old Republic 'looking at free-to-play'

As with most new subscription-based MMOs, it seems that the big question about Star Wars: The Old Republic is not if it'll go free-to-play, but when. BioWare is already pondering that shift itself, though it doesn't have concrete plans to share yet.

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As with most new subscription-based MMOs, it seems that the big question about Star Wars: The Old Republic is not if it'll go free-to-play, but when. BioWare has said it's having a good look at that market, but isn't yet announcing any concrete plans to move into it.

Speaking to gamesTM, lead designer Emmanuel Lusinchi said that free-to-play games wouldn't be competitors if they weren't any good, but "there are definitely good games out there and good games coming out, so of course all of this competition impacts your plan with what you want to do."

"The MMO market is very dynamic and we need to be dynamic as well" he explained. "Unless people are happy with what they have, they are constantly demanding updates, new modes and situations. So we are looking at free-to-play but I can't tell you in much detail. We have to be flexible and adapt to what is going on."

The Old Republic shed 25 percent of its players between February and the end of March, down from 1.7 million subscribers to 1.3 million. In May, one player estimated that there were only an average of 344 people on each server. BioWare's Old Republic team was recently hit with layoffs too, though of course an MMO needs fewer people to maintain it as time goes on.

The MMO market is about to get a little busier, too. Funcom's subscribalicious and supernatural The Secret World is out next week, while ArenaNet's subscription-free Guild Wars 2 is expected before the year's end.

Still, work on new content continues. Our John had a gander during E3 at what's to come later in the year, including a cat-like playable race, an HK-51 assassin droid companion, and new operations and war zones.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 15, 2012 9:30 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Star Wars: The Old Republic 'looking at free-to-play'.

    As with most new subscription-based MMOs, it seems that the big question about Star Wars: The Old Republic is not if it'll go free-to-play, but when. BioWare is already pondering that shift itself, though it doesn't have concrete plans to share yet.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 9:37 AM

      lol?

    • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      June 15, 2012 10:07 AM

      If they had gone F2P in the first place they would have been able to avoid the stigma of eventually giving up and switching to it.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 10:19 AM

      did it ever get an LFG tool?

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 10:26 AM

        Nope. Still one of the things coming in a 'later patch'.

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 10:32 AM

        1.3 is supposed to have it, I believe.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 10:29 AM

      oh wow.. I wonder how much EA is in the tank on this. At least 200 million to develop and who knows how much in advertising..

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 10:44 AM

        They're probably still about 100 million in the hole from this.

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          June 15, 2012 3:36 PM

          Doubtful... 1.7 million X $50 average to purchase, + 1.3 mil minimum X $13 x 5 months.. all conservative estimates.. puts them at around 185 mil in revenues. This does not include collectors editions, $15 a month subscribers..(many) and people that are going to continue playing. They are probably right around break even.

          • reply
            June 15, 2012 8:53 PM

            Don't forget the maintenance budget. Costs money for all them servers and the people to maintain them.

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 10:44 AM

        They probably aren't. I seem to recall it'd already been considered a success relatively early on. I'd be surprised if they hadn't made a profit with the kinds of subscriber numbers they were dealing with, even with that obscene budget.

        • reply
          June 15, 2012 10:49 AM

          they did the same victory lap most new MMOs do when they are released. usually a few months before we start seeing this type of news posts.

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          June 15, 2012 9:44 PM

          You'd be wrong. They said it was a success, but that's only if those initial numbers sustained and they didn't. It also has HUGE on going costs because of the bar they set for content. They've already laid off over 100 people so that tells you how well it's doing.

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 10:52 AM

        i think they already said they're gonna take a loss on this

        • reply
          June 15, 2012 10:58 AM

          I think the bigger implication is that other big mmos that were started ~4-5 years ago like Elder Scrolls are completely out of luck. There is no way they stand a chance if this powerhouse couldn't pull it off.

          • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
            reply
            June 15, 2012 10:59 AM

            Yeah I've been seeing a whole lot of doom and gloom around that game and zero optimism. The era of the WoW clone is over I think.

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              June 15, 2012 11:10 AM

              I have a feeling that is probably part of the reason why backers pulled out on 38 studios..they saw SWTOR as a sign of the times..

            • reply
              June 15, 2012 11:29 AM

              Hopefully.

            • reply
              June 15, 2012 11:54 AM

              I don't think there ever was an era of the WoW clone. At least a high budget WoW clone. Were any of them ever successful?

              • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
                reply
                June 15, 2012 12:43 PM

                Certainly not as successful as WoW, but many of them had a lot of hype and did alright for themselves. These days nobody even cares about them in the first place anymore.

              • reply
                June 15, 2012 12:46 PM

                Just cause they were unsuccessful, doesn't mean there wasn't an era of them. Could probably name close to 10 just from the top of my head.

          • reply
            June 15, 2012 12:45 PM

            As far as I'm concerned, their own arrogance killed it off. The hell with what the players want, this is what we the developers say you want!. They deserve to have failed for how they treated the playerbase.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 10:43 AM

      6 monthers I don't think you'll get this, but 1 year bets are looking good.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 11:18 AM

      MMO's are like act 4 inferno with no resist gear.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 11:28 AM

      they need to look on how turbine does its MMO store system, LOTRO is about the only F2P MMO that has ever kept my interest.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 12:24 PM

      lmfao!

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 12:32 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 12:34 PM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 12:36 PM

        Agreed. I played/raided through the big 1.2 patch but it just all seemed to be lacking and couldn't hold my attention. I gave the game more than a fair chance.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 12:47 PM

      Edit: "Unless people are happy with what they have, they are constantly demanding updates, new modes and situations."

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 12:49 PM

      How is this as a single player game?

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        June 15, 2012 1:11 PM

        It's ok, some good writing some bad writing typical Bioware RPG in that regard.

        Probably best played as a co-op game with a friend or two so you can do the dialogue light/dark interactions.

        It's probably worth $20 to play through a storyline once if you tend to like Bioware RPG's. I didn't care for repeated playthroughs though because of the repeated side quests and travel times to do anything.

        So as a once through RPG it is decent, just wasn't a very good MMO.

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 4:03 PM

        the class stories are great imo, but after you finish it... the end game is there and there are nothing but power gamers trying to get their gear so they speed through shit like crazy just to get their commendations and it's just turns into a grindfest for that stuff and is boring

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 9:05 PM

        Actually pretty fun, actually. The quests are shitty MMO-style (mostly, there are some great exceptions) but the classes are fun to play. I actually liked playing my Sith Sorc simply because I had a lightsaber and was lightning bitches all day long. Brings a smile to the face.

        • reply
          June 15, 2012 9:06 PM

          Actually actually actually

        • reply
          June 15, 2012 10:00 PM

          In the beta it was fun up to a point, then the story quests become farther and farther apart and it felt like a soul crushing grind to advance. Then you want to kill yourself and wish it was a single player KOTOR game instead. Not a good substitute in the end.

          • reply
            June 15, 2012 10:06 PM

            I didn't mean to endorse this over KotOR III. Simply as a single player game, TOR isn't terrible and has many redeeming highs.

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 9:58 PM

        that's how i played it and i didn't mind paying 60 for it. i didn't renew sub though. hell i didn't even get to 40. but the main story up til lvl 40 was great fun and i liked the characters

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 1:12 PM

      blizzard's next mmo will probably be the only one to succeed

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 3:48 PM

        It won't live up to the expectations of WoW, so it will fail in the eyes of many.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 3:40 PM

      That was fast...

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 9:49 PM

      They got what they deserve to be quite honest. You don't release a game with no Dungeon finder plain and simple its fucking stupid not to do it. PVP Planet broken straight out of the box again they got what they deserved.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 10:04 PM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 10:15 PM

        Some of them have been in development since MMOs were still really popular. Even Elder Scrolls Online which doesn't have a date started in 2007. That's like a year after Oblivion and a year before Fallout 3 was released to put it in perspective. It's crazy.

        They aren't going to throw away 5 years of work because shit has changed, it's going to bite them in the ass even harder than TOR though.

        • reply
          June 17, 2012 3:47 AM

          I'd say it's sad but these companies need to do a better job of looking at the market and considering future outlook, rather than choking what's hot right now to death. The movie industry has been doing it basically since there were movies. Lengthy development cycles require foresight. All these big games that fail are going to try free-to-play and push the mediocre f2p offerings over the edge, which will be good for everyone except the crummy Korean company that cobbled it together in 6 months and never hired a real translator (and those are all funded by the Government so who is this really hurting? Suck it, Korean economy!)

          World of Warcraft releases, 10m+ people fall in love. Except for the poor kids, that's basically the entire MMO market.
          >Many game companies decide they can steal that market, underestimating Blizzard and their product while missing the point of MMO's entirely.
          >>Most of the new wave of products fail for multiple obvious reasons.
          >>>Developers complain that people only buy Call of Duty.
          >>>>LOLOL SEE YOU IN GUILD WARS 2 BITCHES

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