The age of P2P MMOs is over? Is WoW one of the last games of that type?

[Deleted]

This is what we know from Activision Blizzard Q2 Earnings Call:

Titan will not be a subscription based MMO. Blizzard is still working on a new direction and plan for the project.

WoW is one of the last games that are P2P on today's market. Players will still have to pay subscription to play it because there's a lot of people interested in doing that. But in a few years I think the age of subscription based MMOs will be over. What's your opinion on this matter?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

We still got EVE, and it is still growing. It has yet to experience a dip in subs. It's been around for ten years and it will last another five at the very least. I seriously doubt that the devs will need to consider other payment options any time soon.

Final Fantasy XI (FFXI), is also subscription based, and has been running for two year longer than WoW, but it has neither gained nor really lost players. As it stands now, only the players who have been playing since it launched in 2002 still really play (though others have come and gone).

But other than that, I quite frankly think that subscription based MMOs are coming to an end; the older generation of players who appreciate very detailed spreadsheets, in depth RPG Dungeons and Dragons like mechanics and serious strategy are being replaced by the new generation of children who think that by picking up a new game and instantly "achieving" twenty effortless head shots in a row without any skill involved whatsoever is more awesome. Since these new kids don't really want to invest much effort into games like EVE or WoW, companies are losing profits and therefore believing that they must cater to this new generation to survive. Freemium and simple mechanics is what they will do now.

As of late, every subscription based MMORPG that has been released within the past four years has gone F2P. LOTOR, STO, Rift, SWTOR, etc. FFXIV and ESO will put a nail in the coffin.

Hopefully Blizzard won't change WoW too much anymore and keep it they way it is until the game dies. Then they can decide how to proceed with WoW 2.

[Deleted]

It can be nice, but it can also be bad.

As far as i've known, subscription based products have the economy to produce higher quality content (May just be quicker instead of better).
B2P titles will probably have to have something you can buy INGAME in order to pay for the servers. Aslong as it isn't P2win it's fine i guess.. to a point. If they release something that really looks badass, i'd feel bad not being able to get it except for paying for it..

However when you think like that, it would still be cheaper to buy something there every once in a while rather than 10eu a month.

[mistahwilshire]

I hope not. The delusion that F2P MMOs are coming out with just as good of quality as sub-based has been just that to me. I've yet to find any F2P MMO worth the time of day.

For that reason alone, I hope the model sticks around. I can't handle another clunky disjointed Rift/SWTOR/TERA/etc. While conceptually a lot of these games have fantastic ideas, it's clear that the money isn't going in to polishing them.

[Deleted]

Seeing as almost every MMORPG released still goes P2P...no it's not dead. All you need is 1 other succesfull MMORPG. Might take some time, but it will come.

I hope not. The delusion that F2P MMOs are coming out with just as good of quality as sub-based has been just that to me. I've yet to find any F2P MMO worth the time of day.

For that reason alone, I hope the model sticks around. I can't handle another clunky disjointed Rift/SWTOR/etc. While conceptually a lot of these games have fantastic ideas, it's clear that the money isn't going in to polishing them.

This has more to do with the fact that the publishers/development teams are working on 5-10 MMORPG's at a time insted of focusising on 1. Those publishers aim at big box sales and hope for the best when it comes to subs.

Trion is the perfect example of this, if all the money from Archeage, Defiance, and wathever other MMORPG's they release would have been injected in Rift it wouldn't directly mean they would have more subs. But the overall quality of the game would be better, leading to a higher succes rate.

Still wondering if Elder Scrolls Online is going to get the funding it needs...the franchise is to big to release something half assed. Big expectations come from an Elder Scrolls title, even if it isn't the same company working on it.

[Deleted]

Seeing as almost every MMORPG released still goes P2P...no it's not dead. All you need is 1 other succesfull MMORPG. Might take some time, but it will come.

99% of MMOs are either F2P or B2P these days.

[Greed001]

When people say 'free to play', everyone knows these games aren't free, right?

EverQuest went free to play, but you can only see about .00001% of the game without the full subscription.

Same with Rift. DCUO. Star Wars. Every-single-game-to-go-free-to-play.

Free to play is a bullshit term that rivals 'organic' in its misleading nature.

[Airwaves]

No. 99% of F2P games would KILL to have subs in the numbers wow had.

[Tziva]

The era of subscription based games has been over. It's a completely viable business model for particular existing games like WoW or EVE, but I would be pretty shocked if any new MMOs survived in that kind of system.

- - - Updated - - -

When people say 'free to play', everyone knows these games aren't free, right?

EverQuest went free to play, but you can only see about .00001% of the game without the full subscription.

Same with Rift. DCUO. Star Wars. Every-single-game-to-go-free-to-play.

Free to play is a bullshit term that rivals 'organic' in its misleading nature.

Everyone knows what "free to play" means functionally. That's just what the genre is called.

Obviously they have to get money somehow.

[Airwaves]

When people say 'free to play', everyone knows these games aren't free, right?

EverQuest went free to play, but you can only see about .00001% of the game without the full subscription.

Same with Rift. DCUO. Star Wars. Every-single-game-to-go-free-to-play.

Free to play is a bullshit term that rivals 'organic' in its misleading nature.

Rift is the best F2P model, game and cash shop i have ever seen in a game. Its perfect for a F2P game and its all free. All content in the game is free. Its not even fair to put Rift in the same sentence as star wars.

[ComputerNerd]

All that means is that it will not be an MMO with a subscription.
Does not eliminate it being an MMO, or a non-MMO game with a subscription.
P2P refers to a cost, be it a single upfront or a subscription.
Lack of a subscription does not prevent it being P2P.

[mistahwilshire]

Rift is the best F2P model, game and cash shop i have ever seen in a game. Its perfect for a F2P game and its all free. All content in the game is free. Its not even fair to put Rift in the same sentence as star wars.

Except that the gameplay faces the exact same clunky crap and lack of general polish that SWTOR and ever other F2P MMO in existence.

The model is useless if the gameplay feels like 1999 covered in feces.

[Deleted]

99% of MMOs are either F2P or B2P these days.

I'm sorry, I don't count browser or steam MMORPG's. A new free to play MMORPG gets released every month as some highschool project or wathever, doesn't mean it is actually worthy counting for.

Except that the gameplay faces the exact same clunky crap and lack of general polish that SWTOR and ever other F2P MMO in existence.

The model is useless if the gameplay feels like 1999 covered in feces.

True, but it's still miles ahead of other MMORPG's though. Let's at least give credit where it is deserved. (I played Rift in the past)

[Itisamuh]

My opinion is that the sooner the subscription model dies out, the better. I tire of paying excess money for games that are no better than those I can buy once and never spend another dime on. At the very least, a subscription should cover all other fees associated with the game, such as expansions, transfers and the like.

[prwraith]

When f2p quality matches p2p then I'll be interested. Until then, those games are just wasted potential in my eyes.

[Venant]

When people say 'free to play', everyone knows these games aren't free, right?

EverQuest went free to play, but you can only see about .00001% of the game without the full subscription.

Same with Rift. DCUO. Star Wars. Every-single-game-to-go-free-to-play.

Free to play is a bullshit term that rivals 'organic' in its misleading nature.

Planetside 2 is FtP and pretty much every upgrade/item you can buy through the store is attainable in game, and the game is pretty high quality.

[Zoneseek]

i dont see myself playing a monthly fee game anytime soon, there are now too many mmo's that i thoroughly enjoy and are f2p. there is no time for p2p games for me. ill still keep up with them like i always have, but right now i have no desire.

[Itisamuh]

All that means is that it will not be an MMO with a subscription.
Does not eliminate it being an MMO, or a non-MMO game with a subscription.
P2P refers to a cost, be it a single upfront or a subscription.
Lack of a subscription does not prevent it being P2P.

P2P refers to continually paying to be able to play. A single upfront purchase is B2P, which most people afterward call F2P.

[Airwaves]

Except that the gameplay faces the exact same clunky crap and lack of general polish that SWTOR and ever other F2P MMO in existence.

The model is useless if the gameplay feels like 1999 covered in feces.

All new MMO's have a lack of polish. It took wow 6 years to get everything right in the ICC patch only to unpolish everything in cata.

[klaps_05]

being the only p2p mmo means it has complete market control which means it will last quite a lot more.