World of Warcraft lead dev: "Wow could become F2P one day"

[skyjuice]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but some may find this of relative interest:

As reported by Neowin,

World of Warcraft, one of the most successful online games of all time, currently has a subscription fee which allows you to play the game. But according to World of Warcraft's lead designer Tom Chilton, in an interview with PC Gamer, "at some point, it may not make sense for us to have a subscription fee."

Blizzard is considering the free to play model in response to the other online games that have moved away from the subscription model and adopted the micro-transaction model. Rather than charging a subscription fee, many of the more valuable items in the games are purchased with real money rather than being found or purchased with in-game money. Having users purchase items in the game with real money helps to offset the subscription fee for the service. Games like Lord of the Rings Online, Company of Heroes and Dungeons and Dragons Online have all moved away from subscriptions fees and are now making their money through micro-transactions.

Blizzard isn't feeling any pressure to move to a micro-transaction model just yet though and they don't feel the games that have gone free to play really competed with World of Warcraft. Tom said, "I feel like they’re doing that to compete with other games that are on a similar subscriber level to what they were at. I imagine that when one of them went free to play it cannibalized some of the other subscribers. I can definitely imagine that being the case with World of Warcraft. If another game comes along and blows us away it may not make sense for us to have a subscription fee. Or even further down the line, when we have another MMO out."

The micro-transaction model is certainly a viable one for Blizzard as there are even several companies, such as Nexon and Ijji, that offer all of their games for free and are funded entirely on micro-transactions. But don't expect World of Warcraft to move to a free to play model just yet. According to Tom, "We’re not spending a lot of time thinking about it. It’s not something that’s a reality for us in the near future."

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

and that will happen when

[Eladiun]

and that will happen when

Actually, I think it's very likely to happen. Right after they release their next gen MMO and pull most of their subscriber base into that.

[Zion_Halcyon]

You guys aren't reading between the lines.

They are talking about going F2P when another big MMO comes out and possibly finally takes it to or dethrones WoW.

Why mention it? What MMO could possibly even come close to knocking WoW off its perch?

Oh, thats right - next spring: Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Its fear people. Blizzard sees whats coming with SW:TOR. And in that event, it makes total sense to go F2P - I know when SW:TOR comes out, I will also keep playing DDO from time to time, more even when I suffer from SW:TOR burnout, because it is F2P. If DDO was a sub, no way I hang onto it. That said, because the F2P hooked me, I bought all the adventure packs and am thoroughly enjoying them. There are big advantages with F2P, and DDO made an excellent decision going to it.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

Different game. WoW will not even think of going F2P until their subscriber base diminishes to unacceptable levels.

Years before that happen.

Too much guaranteed $$.

Most of WoW subscriber base is too stupid to understand f2p. Way too complicated for them. They are lucky mommy and daddy are paying for their game in the first place

[Mockduck]

It'll be a basic business matter. Once and if WoW ever someday stops making them more money than the federal government can print and gets to the point that they can no longer support their desired level of investment into the game, they'll go F2P and millions will buy sparkley horses. By that time, the dev team will use their newfound money to take the next galactic flight to Mars, where they'll be totally working on Starcraft 3: the MMO.

[DANTEIL]

The other bit of interesting WoW news I've seen is that they are moving to having people's real life names be displayed on the official forums:

http://www.wow.com/2010/07/06/offici...-be-displayed/

yowzers.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

The other bit of interesting WoW news I've seen is that they are moving to having people's real life names be displayed on the official forums:

http://www.wow.com/2010/07/06/offici...-be-displayed/

yowzers.

like I said, STUPID. How long has WoW been out, 6 years?

Hey, maybe they should run a contest to see the stupidest thing a wow subscriber could do after 6 years of playing....

Here's your first contestants...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_ozckzI3hc

[Chai]

You guys aren't reading between the lines.

They are talking about going F2P when another big MMO comes out and possibly finally takes it to or dethrones WoW.

Why mention it? What MMO could possibly even come close to knocking WoW off its perch?

11 million people, hmmm. Who else is even close right now.

If another MMO ever comes out that caters to the lowest possible common denominator, it might have a chance to dethrone WOW. Nobody wants to make this game however...

...And I understand each and every one of them completely.

[Rasczak]

They thought about it. But they have no need to do it. Why go micro-transaction when they have such a massive player base all on subscription? I don't see it happening, I do however see other companies going ftp to try and get the number one spot but that is so unlikely due to the popularity. People go with what they are told and millions tell them WoW is the way. Marketing made them their money. They are not the best game on the planet by a longshot but they are definitely the most recognised and marketed.