Back in June, we reported that according to Star Wars: The Old Republic’s lead designer, they were considering the free-to-play model. For those unfamiliar, the free-to-play model, as the name implies, lets gamers play the game for free without any subscription fees (unlike MMOs such as World of Warcraft). Instead developers make money by selling perks, items, gold and whatnot for cash. At the time of reporting, the developers were only considering the model and there was no indication that they would adopt it.
However according to reports, an anonymous BioWare Austin employee lashed out at Star Wars fans, blaming them for the game’s “failure”. The employee also went on to “confirm” that the game was in the process of converting to the free-to-play model, but due to layoffs, the team is currently shorthanded and are having difficulties managing the change. Safe to say anyone can claim to be an employee of a company online, and since there has been no official word just yet, we suggest taking this with a grain of salt for now, but what do you guys think? Is the free-to-play model an inevitable move for SWTOR?
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