Originally Posted by
Valyrian Stormclaw
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.