The lights are on
You might recall that Blizzard recently stripped its next subscription MMO, Titan, down to the studs for a complete overhaul. On today's Activision second quarter earnings call we learned that something that went in the dumpster was the subscription model.
"We're in the process of selecting a new direction," said Blizzard president Mike Morhaime. We know that members of the team have been moved onto other projects, including World of Warcraft and Diablo. For more on Titan's reboot, check out editor Adam Biessener's opinion piece on the subject.
Our TakeThe subscription MMO is dying, and World of Warcraft is one of the last to succeed with that model. Moving to a free-to-play structure or something like Trion's Defiance makes a lot of sense in the changing landscape.
I don't think subscription based is bad though. WoW was certainly priced kinda high at $15/month. That adds up. For awhile though, I didn't mind because it was fun. WoW just isn't all that fun to me anymore. Besides, F2P isn't doing much better. Most of the time, they make it to where actual skill goes away, and it's just whoever is willing to pay the most money...then it stops being fun right from the get go because you're immediately at a disadvantage. It makes it feel like you didn't buy the full game.
about time...play that game for a year, you could've bought 3 brand new games, 6 $30 games, or anything besides a subscription...think that's so stupid (people do what you want with your money, but i think that's crazy)
Subscription MMOs aren't dead, at least not to gamers. The truth of the matter is F2P/B2P are just often times more profitable, especially in the short term. It's a proven fact that people are willing to pay a monthly subscription if they are enjoying the experience.
Blizzard is just showing, like any other multi-billion dollar corporation, that they are in it solely for the money. They don't have to go F2P. WoW still has a gigantic subscription base even if it is in decline. They choose to go F2P because that is how one will make more money.
I hate F2P.... Pay to win is going to kill the entire industry
Since I have no real comment on this, and there's nowhere else for me to complain, I miss Fusionfall...
This is a really smart move from Blizzard. I could see them stubbornly going with another subscription model because of how successful WoW was, but this is definitely the model they will need if they want it to be as big.
It's also great news for gamers imo. Being able to play as much of an MMO as you want without spending any money is much less intimidating than having to pay.
Just a side note: I really hope that they make this game more skill based and less grind based than traditional MMOs.
No subscription? I guess I'll give Blizzard another shot then... Hopefully it will be on PS4 as well, like ESO.
Defiance isn't free 2 play.
I hope this puts pressure on Bethesda to make TES Online Buy to Play.
I'm still waiting for a Starcraft FPS/Action game