Predict the year WoW will become free-to-play

[Richardbro]

It's foolish to believe WoW will remain a subbed game forever, considering how much money companies make from having their games go free-to-play. Despite that, WoW has a loyal and addicted group of fanbase that will never quit no matter what (probably over 500,000 of people like this) which could sustain subs for another decade.

With the Microsoft acquisition, we could see WoW go free to play even next year, with seasonal bundles and more micotransactions.

I personally believe it will go free to play a year after the microsoft acquisiton (2024), as microsoft will likely have it on gamepass and will see no real reason to keep it subbed.

[callipygoustp]

2022
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[Relapses]

Never o'clock on the Neverleventh of Neverember.

[Chickat]

2034.

30th anniversary free to play. I really do think wow can last another 12 years before going ftp. Maybe in 6 to 8 years they scale back production some but I don't see ftp happening until wow is down to like 500k subs.

[Uko]

It will never go f2p why would blizzard give up on guaranteed money every month. They are milking more and more people with other microtransactions as well so the sub fee isn't scaring the paying players away. There is no upside for blizzard either. If anyone heard wow going f2p people would scream dead game since that's what every other mmo that came out after wow was as soon as they announced a f2p transition lol.

[Kithelle]

WoW isn't particularly built to be a free to play game...doesn't need to go free to play. They would make little money off of classic because it would alienate a lot of fans to suddenly make it about season passes or gamble boxes, they aren't going to do classic+ so people would just go back to either not playing or private servers.

They only have one competitor really...so why? Why go free when that is a move games go when it's basically sink or swim for them?

[Ringthane]

Never.

Isn't it pay to win? That's what the other thread says it is.

[Goat7]

It's foolish to believe WoW will remain a subbed game forever, considering how much money companies make from having their games go free-to-play. Despite that, WoW has a loyal and addicted group of fanbase that will never quit no matter what (probably over 500,000 of people like this) which could sustain subs for another decade.

With the Microsoft acquisition, we could see WoW go free to play even next year, with seasonal bundles and more micotransactions.

I personally believe it will go free to play a year after the microsoft acquisiton (2024), as microsoft will likely have it on gamepass and will see no real reason to keep it subbed.

I don't know if you know this but Microsoft already has PC game pass, which is a SUB service @ $9.99 US per month. Im sure they will just add WoW to that.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I doubt it will ever go F2P. WoW is old. A relaunch isn't going to bring in a new wave of whales and keep WoW afloat. WoW is a known quantity to the demographic it was aimed at, and zoomers are playing Fortnite. Mind as well keep milking what whales are still left for all they are worth.

[Athorha]

Lifetime sub in 2025, end of dflight.
Sub included in gamepass 2026

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Also, the king of all MMOs going F2P but would be a blow to Blizzard's ego. They already stopped reporting sub numbers and have to contort bizzare metrics to make WoW look good.

[Gravity2015]

i would absolutely play if it were free, and I don't not sub due to cost either

[Very Tired]

The F2P thing is mostly good for new games trying to get a strong player base they can milk for cash. Since WoW isn't new and already has a huge player base of subbed customers, maybe one of the largest, going F2P now would just be moronic.

[Garretdejiko]

After DF, so 2025?

[deenman]

WoW isn't particularly built to be a free to play game...doesn't need to go free to play. They would make little money off of classic because it would alienate a lot of fans to suddenly make it about season passes or gamble boxes, they aren't going to do classic+ so people would just go back to either not playing or private servers.

They only have one competitor really...so why? Why go free when that is a move games go when it's basically sink or swim for them?

there have been tons of mmo's that started as either sub and or buy and whent f2p,things just changed,its not that hard for them to add everything on the cashshop or even make new stuff like permanent stat increase on the shop etc,just look at runes of magic

[Civciv]

Never

/10chars

[Otimus]

It'll probably only happen if Microsoft brings the hammer down on them for underdelivering or something. So far, though, Microsoft has been real hands off with everyone they've bought. The only reason Blizzard did it with Overwatch 2 was because they kind of got themselves stuck in a bad place due to them being very Blizzard with their handling of it, and that just flat out not working with that type of game.

[Stickiler]

I don't know if you know this but Microsoft already has PC game pass, which is a SUB service @ $9.99 US per month. Im sure they will just add WoW to that.

They're not going to add it to GamePass, they'd be giving up a ton of revenue and basically be slashing WoW's budget to do that, which would destroy the game.

OT: The game is already F2P up to level 20, I could see them extending that up to the start of the current expansion, but I doubt it would go further than that.

[Otimus]

They're not going to add it to GamePass, they'd be giving up a ton of revenue and basically be slashing WoW's budget to do that, which would destroy the game.

OT: The game is already F2P up to level 20, I could see them extending that up to the start of the current expansion, but I doubt it would go further than that.

More likely they'll just put the game/expansions themselves on there, and not the subs.

[Chilela]

OT: The game is already F2P up to level 20, I could see them extending that up to the start of the current expansion, but I doubt it would go further than that.

This seems like the most likely option for the near future. Past that, WoW would need to decline a good bit further before a "proper" F2P option became a realistic move. If DF ends up flopping, though...