This Fall the Old Republic is getting a free to play option. This free to play option will allow access to the full story plus all current classes and races, players will also be able to go up to the current level cap of 50. Some content however will be restricted to those who pay a $14.99 subscription fee or using an upcoming form of in game currency called "Cartel Coins".
Benefits of being a subscriber including monthly allotments of Cartel Coins, new high level content, and new features. Also unlike free players subscribers will get unlimited access to PvP warzones. Free players will also have a limited number of bank slots, and will have to pay for new content.
Bioware GM Matt Bromberg has stated in an interview with IGN that this is not about subscriber loss.
"There has been some decline in our subscriber numbers, but I wouldn't say that's what's driving the decision...what's happened in the marketplace is that free-to-play has really become the market standard for MMOs and we felt like there were both potentially millions of new players who were Star Wars fans who never tasted the game because the subscription was a barrier. Our research also told us that a lot of the folks who we had earlier on who left the game would like to come back and try some of the new features and content that we've put into the game since they've left if the subscription wasn't a barrier. So we feel like the market and our players are telling us that greater access is what they want and so we're really responding to that."
EA and Bioware have also said that this will allow them to release content more regularly. With the first of the new content to come in August, then Bioware hopes to release new content every six weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment