WoW going free to play sooner than later?

[phenox]

when wow goes f2p it dies and then GG GOOD CONTENT

[Deleted]

Even with a quarter of the current subs they would be taking in $360M per year just from the subscription fee.

In a magic world where everyone paid in dollars, per month, this might be true, but they don't, so it's not.

[mvaliz]

IGN also posted saying that they copywrited the name "Redguard" and most likely would be the next Skyrim expansion.

2 months later, Bethesda announces that there are no more Skyrim expansions being made.

What you learn here is that IGN is simply creating a story out of nothing. WoW subs are in the news, and they're "creating" a speculation JUST to get traffic hits...

...and to get people like the OP to link them to other forum websites in order to get MORE traffic hits. :P

[Deleted]

Here is the reason why it will never happen...

8.3 million subscriptions x $15 a month = $124,500,000 a month

How the hell is possible that after all these years and countless discussions someone on this forums still seriously believe that?!

IT IS NOT THE CASE!

8.3 millions of subscriptions by Blizzard definition is not by any means 8.3 millions of people who pay 15$ a month like you do. It isn't. I am not stating my opinion, I am just telling you how it is. People in the East branch of the game don't buy expensive expansion boxes and don't pay rich monthly subscription fees like US and EU customers. They pay a small fee per hour or, sometimes, much cheaper monthly fee. Even if they just paid a few cents for an hour of play in 3 months, they are nonetheless counted as subscribers as you, who maybe paid 35$ in the meantime.
Stop thinking that WoW is the king of MMOs that 8.3 millions of people pay 15$ a month, it's not the case, it NEVER was the case. Which is also quite a proof that other payment models are perfectly viable for WoW since they are ALREADY in place.

On topic, I would just add that between monthly subs and f2p there's a third model, which is Buy to Play. Buy the game and the expansions, then the game is yours and you play it for free when you want. WoW also has already an online store, that could be perfectly expanded without making it a pay to win system.
It's now 8 months that MoP is out and they just released 2 content patches so far: that's quite absurd and unjustified in 2013, when lots of other games offer more frequent content updates for free.

[Orange Joe]

Wow won't be going FTP until you see sub numbers drop below 2 million.

[Deleted]

A lot of those subscribers don't pay $15 a month as they say in the video. The Asian market has a different payment method.

Sure, lets call it 4.15 million then, they do make some money from Asia, but again for simplicitys sake lets just ignore Asia totally.

That is still $62,250,000 a month.

How many F2P microtransactions would you need to make up that?

WoW will go F2P when blizzard thinks they can make more money by going F2P (we all know F2P is not free right?)

[Krolikn]

A large portion of the casual playerbase left aswell as chinese (farmers). Any further drops will happen less frequently with the more loyal playerbase that is still playing.

[Tziva]

With over eight million subscribers, I think it would be a massive income loss to go free to play.

I suspect they'll start considering it as an option around two or three million and it won't actually happen until it dips below one million.

[mvaliz]

World of Warcraft will NEVER BE free to play.

-> The reason you ask? Why would it change it's model that's worked for over 8.5 years.

VHS tapes have been around since 1970 and it worked for them for 30 years. Should we still be using VHS tapes because it worked for 30 years prior!?

Times change, dude... seriously.

But regardless, Blizz probably knows exactly at what point it will be to switch over to F2P to make MORE profit than when Sub-based is. It wont' be for a long while... but I guarantee it will happen at some point.

All they have to do is make more purchasing items available for real $$ and, most likely, work the kinks out of the Diablo 3's RMAH and apply it over to WoW's AH - and PRESTO!. A F2P WoW would bring back 10x more customers, and that amount using the RMAH would be WAY more profitable.

---------- Post added 2013-05-10 at 03:47 PM ----------

With over eight million subscribers, I think it would be a massive income loss to go free to play.

[snip]

Unless they can convince 8 million subscribers to buy $15 worth of items every month, or, conversely 2 million to buy $60 worth of items every month. Never underestimate MMORPG powersellers...

I'm still expecting an RMAH in WoW's future. It won't happen for a while, but it will. And people will be fine with it BECAUSE it will be probably implemented at the same time it went F2P.

[Deleted]

It's now 8 months that MoP is out and they just release 2 content patches so far: that's quite absurd and unjustified in 2013, when lots of other games offer more frequent content updates for free.

Sorry I have to bite.

Which F2P MMO (or in fact any MMO) is pushing out more content than WoW?

Rift used to be the "daddy" of content, this seems to be no longer the case though (I am hoping they get back to it though to keep blizzard on their toes!).

The number of patches does not equate to the amount of content.

Diablo 3 has had 8 patches since release does that mean the have had more content than WoW added?

[MoanaLisa]

The entire game going F2P any time soon? No because that's stupid and anyone that thinks that it will happen soon has taken leave of their senses.

The already-existing F2P trial version of WoW expanded beyond level 20? Quite possibly.

[Deleted]

No, no, no. Not going to happen, atleast not for the fallowing years. Maybe when Titan is out. If Titan is a monsterhit, sure. But not if it's gonna be as D3.

Free2play will get us = Less contet, as people have already been pointed out. With less contet and things to do ingame, the game will slowely die. So there would actually be a stupid thing to set the game to F2P mode.
If You think it's to much to pay for the game. (It's sure as hell not much, stop going and eat burgers 4 times a month, with that money you have game time, dont drive, etc. It's always the money who get's in the way)

Eitherway, if Blizzard now wants more people to still play the game / come back or start playing the game.
Why not have a discount of gametime? Like during the summer 40% discont on game time. It's sure as hell aint much, but when people see it.. Ye you know how it is at the store..

[Agoonga]

Other MMOs would be happy to have 8.1 million paying monthly subscriptions

[Zeek Daniels]

Here is the reason why it will never happen...

8.3 million subscriptions x $15 a month = $124,500,000 a month

its too bad subs dont work like that. less than half that number uses that formula, the rest is much less and in some cases tho minimal more.

when wow goes f2p it dies and then GG GOOD CONTENT

Right they lose all their good content... like more daily quests and scenarios in MoP. Or since i didnt play mop but did play cata i can tell you all the things subs did pay for. The collossal failure that was patch 4.1, They made so much money from those 12 mil subs they could not pay devs to develop firelands fast enough. In fact subs brought in so much money they had to delay firelands because it wasnt ready. Not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars made from subs could not fund a War of the Ancients raid so they had to downsize it into 3 crappy dungeons. I mean so much money was made from subs they had to scrap the abyssal maw raid.

I hope you see now that profit =/= more content or good content. They choose to put out things people did not want and take away things people did and that was when they were making more money from subs. WoW going f2p isnt going to change anything other than the model itself.

Face it guys. Blizzard subs fund activisions other products. The sub money does not go back into WoW and thats the problem. If blizz was independent and was only working on WoW and no other games and had 10 mil subs. They would be making a crap ton more content than they are now and would be a much bigger company as they could hire more devs. Right now they are taking WoW profits and putting it into other games ether blizz games or activision games. If Blizz only worked on WoW it would be 100x better with a ton more content, faster updates and a bigger world.

[Karizee]

Sorry I have to bite.

Which F2P MMO (or in fact any MMO) is pushing out more content than WoW?

Rift used to be the "daddy" of content, this seems to be no longer the case though (I am hoping they get back to it though to keep blizzard on their toes!).

The number of patches does not equate to the amount of content.

Diablo 3 has had 8 patches since release does that mean the have had more content than WoW added?

That would be Guild Wars 2. Monthly content patches + a vanity item cash shop that you can also use ingame gold for.

[PuppetShowJustice]

IGN making a bold claim to get page hits? On my internet? I don't believe it.

in before "You can't spell ignorance without IGN."

But seriously; WoW is in no danger. Heck, we've seen the kind of figures they can pull just from adding a new Blizz Store pet or mount. Or another Annual Pass style deal. They're still rolling in the dough.

[Zafire]

It wont be F2P even if it dips down to 200k subs. Look how FFXI and Rift are doing. That's all they have.

[SugarMagnolia]

I really hope not. I prefer P2P over F2P with a cash shop/pay-to-win. The quality of the game would drop, and I know I'm not alone in saying I would quit.

I really don't see it as a possibility as long as there are major content updates, but it's very likely it will go F2P when Blizzard "retires" WoW.

[veldrinal]

Sure, lets call it 4.15 million then, they do make some money from Asia, but again for simplicitys sake lets just ignore Asia totally.

That is still $62,250,000 a month.

How many F2P microtransactions would you need to make up that?

WoW will go F2P when blizzard thinks they can make more money by going F2P (we all know F2P is not free right?)

Most people who play f2p end up spending more than $15 a month purchasing things, as long as the cash shop is done right.

[Amerissis]

That would be Guild Wars 2. Monthly content patches + a vanity item cash shop that you can also use ingame gold for.

How much content was in those patches? Not much as far as I can tell.