News

SOE: EA and BioWare did the right thing making The Old Republic free-to-play
Posted: 04.08.2012 06:28 by JonahFalcon Comments: 9
During Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley's "Ask Me Anything" event on Reddit revealed that he believed that Electronic Arts and Bioware did the right thing in adding a free-to-play option in rival MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic.

 
In the Reddit AMA, Smedley stated, "It is the only way to go for new games. It was the right decision for SWTOR (which is a fantastic game). Wait till you see our next round of games after (Planetside 2)." Smedley had worked with Sony's Star Wars MMO Star Wars Galaxies.

Smedley also bristled at claims PC gaming was declining.

"I hate it when people talk about the decline of the PC industry. It's idiotic garbage spouted by morons that can't count where the players are playing. It's not like League of Legends reports numbers to NPD. The players are playing F2P games on the PC not going to retail," he insisted.

Smedley recently tweeted that the PlanetSide 2 beta would commence on Monday.

Comments

By Longsword (SI Core Member) on Aug 04, 2012
Longsword
Of course it's the right thing. More people will play it this way. I may go back for fun. And I love the Star Wars Galaxies screenshot on the right ;)
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Aug 04, 2012
nocutius
Can't argue with anything here :)

As long as f2p is not too crippled it's a great way to play, it's up to you to decide if you're gonna spend any cash.
By unsilviu (SI Core) on Aug 04, 2012
unsilviu
That guy seems like a one-of-a-kind CEO, someone who actually plays games. I remember Totalbiscuit saying in a commentary of his on Planetside: "And there crashed the President of SOE just now".
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Aug 04, 2012
herodotus
Well talk about stating the bloody obvious. "SW:TOR" would never survive the release of "Guild Wars 2" without having a F2P option, which in effect is the ONLY real option for EA/BioWare.
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Aug 06, 2012
SiyaenSokol
I also have a feeling that Guild Wars 2 is going to rip all of the other MMORPG' to pieces. From the small amount I saw of the game, it looks like it will definitely dominate World of Warcraft, especially since it is free to play.
By unsilviu (SI Core) on Aug 06, 2012
unsilviu
GW2 isn't F2P, it's just a flat pay with no subscription.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Aug 06, 2012
herodotus
It will certainly destroy "SW:TOR" before it even goes F2P.
And yes, as Uns points out "GW2" just like the original and expansions is simply free after purchasing the game.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Aug 06, 2012
SirRoderick
The only concern I have for GW2 is if they can still manage to fund themselves on a flat rate or what kind of concessions have to be made.
By unsilviu (SI Core) on Aug 06, 2012
unsilviu
The concession is that they have no incentive for good endgame content. Which means they'll concentrate on the leveling. They actually have an incentive to make people stop playing after a while to lessen server costs.