Doc Asks: Is This the End of the MMO?

Recently, Electronic Art has announced The Old Republic will go to a free-to-play model as soon as November. This drastically changes the climate of massive multiplayer online games. MMOs were once on the rise as the ultimate form of video game. Now, I am unsure if they will last. I discuss the ramifications of TOR not being able to handle subscriptions and the future of the MMO.

[rdgneoz3]

If it was "Subscription based MMOs" they maybe (though nothing will be killing WoW anytime soon with panda land coming up). Free-to-play and one time payments (like GW 1 / 2) will be around for a while. With SWTOR, the single player story was done amazingly well, with great cinematic and voice acting. However, lost subscribers because of the lack of end game and polish in the later areas. MMOs will be around for a while, though subscriptions are fading.

[dubt72]

Yeah, I agree. I think Guild Wars 2 will do well with their strategy.

[DrGumaer]

I do like their "buy-to-play" strategy, but I think they expect too much money from what they are offering through micro-transactions.

[DeadlyFire]

If the content is worth playing then no... Problem with the whole MMO genre is that most lack the ability to even use MMOs to their full potential. Blizzard, CCP, and few others understand how to do this. Economy as well is at its worst. People simply can't afford much of anything anymore. If they could they would throw money at everything they see.

I am looking to get a 2nd job soon. Just to be able to do something other than sit at home. I pay a few things and have no cash. Paying for a MMO on top of that is not possible for me.

[Wizziokid]

Subscription Model is dying but the genre isn't.

[Zha1tan]

No its the end of EAs shoddy attempt to break into the market.

[Ness619]

MMO's are amazing when they're new ideas. EverQuest was amazing when it came out because it was one of the first games to do what it did. Star Wars Galaxies, even though it kind of flopped, was at least original in many different aspects. FFXI felt like a completely original game as well. Then there's games like SWTOR which just copy the WoW model and fail.

EA has zero balls and creativity. The game industry is turning into the music industry, where suits think that everyone likes the same crap over and over again so they keep churning out bad products that resemble ones that just came out last week. And the drones eat it up...

Bottom line. Make something original and you'll have fans