Free World of Warcraft? Dream On, Says Blizzard
![Free World of Warcraft? Dream On, Says Blizzard [With 11 Million Activision Subscribers, Blizzard Not Spending Time Thinking About A Free-To-Play Scenario]](http://tftscdn4.nexus404.com/Blog/thumbnailimages/alt/World-Warcraft-ScreenshotTFTSThumb220153.jpg)
World of Warcraft has something like 11 million active users. It’s the most popular MMORPG in history, and Blizzard is surely making lots of money, if not just by the sheer numbers. So, would they ever consider going to a free-to-play model? Many MMORPGs are going that way, and not just cheap, bargain-basement ones. Mainstream ones like from Turbine and Electronic Arts have moved to free-to-play. But, WoW isn’t going to, for the time being.
Tom Chilton, Blizzard’s lead designer, sat down with PC Gamer US and gave a candid interview, where he said that “at some point, it may not make sense for us to have a subscription fee.” However, don’t hold your breath for such a moment. He went on say “We’re not spending a lot of time thinking about it. It’s not something that’s a reality for us in the near future.”
Regarding why there were so many free-to-play MMOGs today on the market, Chilton added:
I feel like they’re doing that to compete with other games that are on a similar subscriber level to what they were at. I imagine that when one of them went free to play it cannibalized some of the other subscribers. I can definitely imagine that being the case with World of Warcraft. If another game comes along and blows us away it may not make sense for us to have a subscription fee. Or even further down the line, when we have another MMO out.
If a MMO doesn’t have a monthly-fee, then it has the alternative, where it’s supported by microtransactions – where the player pays $5 or $10 for things like in-game armor and what not. Folks like Turbine claim they’re profitable running off such a scheme.
For now, however. Blizzard is getting 11 million people to pay $15 a month. Would you like to see WoW go to a freeplay model? Do you think they can? Hit us up in the comments.
Image Credit: Gamespot
Credit: Source.Blizzard Discusses The Old Republic's Impact On WoW Numbers, Considers Extending World Of Warcraft Free Trial
With No Mists Of Pandaria Release Date In Sight, Blizzard Begins Planning Future World Of Warcraft Content
Blizzard Says World Of Warcraft On iPhone May Still Happen, Discusses Challenges In Making Mobile Port
Anonymous Sources Say Blizzard Is Working On A Free-To-Play MMO, Could Titan End Up As A Free-To-Play Game?
World of Warcraft: Mists Of Pandaria Beta Sign Up Now Available, Blizzard Says The Beta Is 'Very Close To Beginning'
Diablo 3's Global Play Allows Gamers To Play With Anyone In The World, Blizzard Reveals Its Cut Of Auction House Sales
1 Comment / Add Your Response?
Breaking News
The TFTS Team
Blizzard gives away plenty of free 10 trials to WoW. IMHO DDO (Dungeons & Dragons Online) from Turbine doesn’t even come close to the writing that goes into quest lines or the graphics for characters and scenery that WoW has. I don’t begrudge paying that 14.99 a month as long as connectivity to a server is good. Its better than cable and provides most of my entertainment. I just wish that would leave pre-Cataclysm servers for those who haven’t experienced everything that exists in pre-Cataclysm WoW and allow for the migration later to a Cataclysm server with character transfer. I understand the desire for new things that some people who have been playing for a long time have. I have been playing for a about a year (with a hiatus for computer problems of about 4 months) and really haven’t seen or done enough IMHO because I haven’t stuck to the same race class combination or even to only Alliance or only Horde. I got to 60 as a solo NE Rogue and then I started running into issues of needing to group more often and needing Dungeon quests and gear issues because tremendous issues of flaky players…so really needing an active levelling guild that also has a successful raiding component then my computer died and I’m in the process of building a new one slooooowly due to money issues.
But I would still like for there to to be some non-Cataclysm servers to be maintained. New people will miss all the enjoyment that is available already (its all new for them anyway).