Star Wars: The Old Republic Goes F2P

Gamespot has let loose with some information about the latest MMO Giant to turn to the Dark Side (known as Free-2-Play, although that in itself is debatable).

Sad times for everyone involved I'm sure, it's just not been performing well enough under it's pay-monthly subscription scheme and is now being forced to include a free-to-play system. All past subscribers will be credited with premium currency depending on: if you bought the Collector's Edition AND the number of months you subscribed for (more details here).

S.W.Tortanic is sinking.

I really wanted this game to succeed, I bought this game on launch and I even played solidly for a month. There was nothing to keep me hooked, the story was pretty much the only hook. The gameplay was dated and basically the exact same as World Of Warcraft.



Many MMOs nowadays are moving in the direction of free-to-play and after a rumoured huge decrease in subscriptions I guess SWTOR wasn't churning out enough money. Many fans will have seen that there has been very little updating in the past 8 months and it would seem as if they were saving all the content for their new F2P system. And so we are reminded that game companies are still just another business.

Don't worry guys, you're probably gonna get this guy. ... wait, where are you going?

Well, on the bright side at least more people will be able to enjoy it. It's a shame so many people waste so much money on the game already to try and keep it afloat - and I don't think premium currency in the cash shop is going to make it all better. RIP SWTOR. This Autumn/Fall, you can play for free.

UPDATE: Worth mentioning that they're not doing away entirely with their subscription system, if you pay monthly you will continue to get all the content - however there will now also be a Free Option whereby many aspects of the game will be limited for this type of account. This includes Auction House access and the number of listings you can put up (full details here).