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Star Wars: The Old Republic going free-to-play, introducing Cartel Coins
by Andrew Yoon, Jul 31, 2012 7:30pm PDTAs expected, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be going free-to-play later this year...
And as expected, there are tons of caveats. The F2P option will grant access to the first 50 levels of play in BioWare's MMO, with restrictions on access to new content and "advanced player features."
"Players want flexibility and choice. The subscription-only model presented a major barrier for a lot of people who wanted to become part of The Old Republic universe," BioWare Austin's Matthew Bromberg said in a press release. The game's lackluster performance has already led to downsizing at The Old Republic team.
Of course, while the game may be "free-to-play" later this year, it won't actually be free. A copy of the game must still be purchased. It will drop to $14.99 in August, which includes one month access to a paid subscription.
Paid subscribers will get access to new higher-level game content beyond the current level 50 cap, including new space combat missions. In addition, subscribers will also get ongoing monthly grants of "Cartel Coins," a new virtual currency that unlocks in-game items, such as customizable gear and "convenience features." Presumably, these Cartel Coins can also be purchased by free players.
Additional rewards will be distributed to current and former players. Current subscribers will quality for "special benefits," and receive additional Cartel Coins and in-game items. Lapsed players that reactive will also receive special benefits. For example, according to the official site, subscribers will get 150 Cartel Coins for every month paid for since launch.
Comments
As expected, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be going free-to-play later this year... And as expected, there are tons of caveats.
As expected, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be going free-to-play later this year... And as expected, there are tons of caveats. : Shacknews
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more people prefer passive entertainment then active ... more people watch football then play football. It's important for more people to get into video games, but at the same time expecting "movie popular" levels is probably a pipe dream. Additionally, and just mentioning it here ... movies have multiple streams of revenue from a movie. Purchasing popcorn at a movie theater (or anything else) in some way filters back to "producers" as does rentals, and ad revenue from TV ... not to mention DVDs. To think that it's just at a $7.50 per customer is off, as you were saying.
- To find ways to make games cheaper to make (which is probably already in progress)
sure, and I mentioned two ways:
- DLC (F2P veriety or other)
- subscriptions
In addition you have:
- advertising
- sponsorships
- hard goods (physical products that fans would be interested in)
- Collectors editions (I include this because it lowers the entry price for many by getting more from super fans)
Even Kickstarter comes into play, or Guild Wars 2 pre-purchase. The feedback loop & cheaper money (compaired to credit or selling equity) actually can reduce the overall price to consumers and provide limits to how much producers will spend to make a game.
You were probably thinking on the "how much it costs" ... Look at how many games are out there today. It is much cheaper to make from a technical perspective, but the big costs for big games are still there & that is human creativity and talent. What good artists & storytellers can do is not easily replicated. If you want more on that, start reading stuff by Seth Godin, he really hammers over and over on the fact that creating art is hard and cannot be automated. Where the technical side of Games can be made cheaper to produce, you cannot replace an artist. (specifically see the book Linchpin: http://aly.me/linchpin )
- To make fewer expensive games
why?
I already went into how this is already happening and the technical quality of the games are always improving do to technological issues ... but there is that other side and the question of "why make fewer expensive games?"
I think your thought of expanding th video game market base is good.
At the same time, fewer "expensive" games seems unnessecary for this goal. More games, more options and due to more compeition the purchase price for consumers will go down.
Part of the reason F2P is so hot right now is because there is so much of it. It's basic ecomomics, supply & demand.
If you want cheaper to comsumers you really should want more games .... ack, my wife is calling me. I'll leave this umax signal & try to come back later.
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