Tuesday, July 31, 2012

This Was Inevitable, Seemingly

I've been meaning to write about Star Wars: The Old Republic for months (among a hundred other things I haven't gotten around to writing about, either). Mostly, I was wondering about the size of the financial hickey EA was getting from a game that was clearly not performing as expected.

Today, there was this:
Star Wars: The Old Republic will be going free to play this November, publisher EA announced this afternoon.

All eight character storylines up to level 50 will be accessible with restricted access to new content and advanced features. Some of these restrictions can be removed by "purchasing" access with Cartel Coins, the new virtual currency to be introduced in the fall. Unlimited access including higher-level content and new features will be available through subscription options.

I don't see how this move can hurt--the subscriber numbers seem to have been dropping rapidly--but it's certainly a very public admission of the game's struggles.

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