SW:TOR Goes Free To Play

AcidK

AcidK

New Member
Yup, it's gone that way it seems, going completely free to play (no cost to buy game, no subscription fees). Those that have bought the game and/or paid for their subscriptions get 'cartel coins' for products unobtainable by normal play. So if you played for, say, a few months and paid for a limited edition copy, expect a huge amount of coins to spend.

Also, with the new patch, HK droids are now available. Because who doesn't want an assassin droid that sees you as a mere meat-bag questing with you...
 
Zhar

Zhar

New Member
YchLa.jpg
 
Panda with issues...

Panda with issues...

Well-Known Member
'I felt a tiny disturbance in the Force, as if virtually no voices suddenly cried out, but weren't suddenly silenced because no one gave a shit.'

They should have made this game a single player epic. It has to go down as the biggest flop to ever hit the shelves in terms of budget alone.

THe only other flop that resonates to this level was daikatana.
 
thatbloke

thatbloke

Junior Administrator
so you can "play" the game for free... but you can't talk to anyone. essentially you HAVE to play it as a single player game if you play for free...
 
BiG D

BiG D

Administrator
Staff member
Panda with issues... said:
They should have made this game a single player epic. It has to go down as the biggest flop to ever hit the shelves in terms of budget alone.

THe only other flop that resonates to this level was daikatana.
Click to expand...

Not sure what math your definition of a flop is, but I don't think a PC game that sells 2.5 million copies fits...
 
Kasatka

Kasatka

Active Member
Considering it cost (and this is industry speculation as it was never announced officially) between 150 and 200 million dollars to make, i think it can be considered a flop if an MMO goes free to play within a year - it's a sign that the developers just can't keep it going with a charged subscription model.
 
AcidK

AcidK

New Member
Technically it has not gone free to play, it is still a subscription game but with a Free to Play option. Basically they are giving the storyline parts of the game for free (and heavily restricted). You can still talk to people, the only restrictions on that are for the first 10 levels (can imagine that being to deter waves of gold sellers).

Yes there are restrictions to the game on the F2P option, but that's because you're technically only getting the solo section of the game (with flashpoints and group quests, ofc). If you want the full game, gotta pay the subscriptin fees or unlock the parts you want to use with cartel points.

Can't really consider the game a massive flop, it has recovered the costs of development and continues to develop/expand its content. It still has a regular subscription base (fair be it not as big as on release) that continues to cover further development and server costs. In terms of sales (Which is everything to EA), it is not a flop. Otherwise EA would have shut it down by now.
 
Panda with issues...

Panda with issues...

Well-Known Member
AcidK said:
it has recovered the costs of development and continues to develop/expand its content. It still has a regular subscription base (fair be it not as big as on release) that continues to cover further development and server costs. In terms of sales (Which is everything to EA), it is not a flop. Otherwise EA would have shut it down by now.
Click to expand...

Where are these numbers coming from?


When the most expensive game ever made turns out to be just another throw away MMO, it has to be considered a flop in my opinion.
 
BiG D

BiG D

Administrator
Staff member
Kasatka said:
Considering it cost (and this is industry speculation as it was never announced officially) between 150 and 200 million dollars to make, i think it can be considered a flop if an MMO goes free to play within a year - it's a sign that the developers just can't keep it going with a charged subscription model.
Click to expand...
Based on the numbers I'm seeing, it's quite likely they've already recouped dev costs. I don't think a move to F2P says much about the game, but more about the MMO industry in general.


Panda with issues... said:
So you're arguing it's a success then?
Click to expand...
No?
 
Zhar

Zhar

New Member
They expected WoW fees for a subWoW game with subWoW support.
Not only is the game itself as an MMO incredibly flawwed, it had a terrible launch, a plethora of bugs, players were banned for things such as "influencing the auction house" and ofcourse, paying for this game is feeding the disease that is killing this industry, EA.

ps bioware is dead
 
thatbloke

thatbloke

Junior Administrator
In terms of the initial expectations for this game, it was/is a flop. The expectation was that it would be a WoW killer, and the money was spent in an attempt to make it so.

That never happened.

They may well have recouped their costs but it's most certainly not turned into a license to print money like they were expecting.

The reason? It's not WoW.

WoW's been around so long that, love it or hate it, it is the de facto standard that every new MMO will be compared to. They've had about 8 years now to fix bugs in WoW - they have nowhere near that amount of time for a new game, meaning it WILL have a smegload of bugs, balance issues, and lacking features. Why? Because it's not a game that's had 8 years of continuous development after its release.

This provides a bad impression, meaning "it's not as good as WoW" so all those ex WoW players just go back to what they already know, because they want the (much less) bug free experience with more features/customisation on offer...
 
H

HotStuff

Member
Xfire MMO stats


♦ World of Warcraft (28.8%)

♦ Guild Wars 2 (23.4%)

♦ Star Wars: The Old Republic (10.3%)

♦ Aion (3.0%)

♦ Eve Online (2.9%)
 
Ki!ler-Mk1

Ki!ler-Mk1

Active Member
Too bad the slice is too small to be meaningful. Though it does display what's expected. Wheres planetside?
 
Enya

Enya

Member
Flop or not. I still enjoy playing this game because of the epic story-lines each and every class has.
 
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