How long until TOR shuts down

[ArcossG]

On July 30th EA announced that TOR is going Free to play only two weeks after it switched to a partial free to play model, the fact that neither the free weekends in May nor the partial free to play switch didn't even slow down TOR's decline says a lot, not to mention that WOW itself is losing subs faster than TOR

It had gone grom 2 million subs in december to 1.3 million in May to less than a million at the end of July and the fact that EA doesn't release the exact subscription numbers anymore shows just how bad things look for TOR right now

Also BioWare wanted not to fire anyone after the game was completed and now they laid off 1/3 of the staff and are rumored to transfer members of the Dragon Age team to work on TOR

Add in the fact that TOR was supposed to stay subscription based forever and eventually eclipse WOW(LOL)


With all that said I really doubt a Free to Play switch will even help at all, and to end this post dramatically: TOR's days are numbered!

 

[Fappy]

It will probably turn a profit on the F2P model eventually. It will chug along for 5-10 years most likely.

 

[Zeckt]

You say TOR's days are numbered as if you are right or something, especially with the name of the topic. This seems like a pointless "hate the game" topic to me. I'm sure you will attract others to come in and bash the game with you with their wrong opinions, so if thats what your aiming at congratulations. Anyways, you seem badly biased enough to discredit your point.

 

[Verzin]

It's not having financial issues 'that' serious.

It'll keep going for a few years. Will be profitable for a long while yet, just not the bloated force-fed money cow EA wanted it to be.

 

[Thoric485]

Nah. it's EA. They still charge a subscription fee for UO and WAR, so I think SWTOR will linger on for quite a bit with 100k paid subs or so, like the rest of the failed WoW clones.

Anyway, that's last year's news. Now we can look forward to TESO flopping.

Official thread soundtrack:

 

[veloper]

They all keep going. All the MMOs that failed as subscription-based wonders are still hanging in there as F2P hybrids.

There's no reason for EA to shut it down. The only big expense is the development of TOR and that's a past mistake that is irreversable.

Aslong as there's rabid Starwars fans and Bioware fans, you can always keep some servers filled with players, bringing in revenue. Some is better than nothing.

 

[ArcossG]

Nah. it's EA. They still charge a subscription fee for UO and WAR, so I think SWTOR will linger on for quite a bit with 100k paid subs or so, like the rest of the failed WoW clones.

Anyway, that's last year's news. Now we can look forward to TESO flopping.

I don't think TESO will flop, the biggest reason TOR failed is because of expectations, EA/Bioware were claiming thigs likeK it'll revolutionazie the MMO genre, it will be bigger and better than WOW in every way, the voice acting and story focus will make it ZE BEST GAEM EVARRR. so far ZeniMax hasn't been stupid enough to make such claims

 

[MisterShine]

I don't think TESO will flop, the biggest reason TOR failed is because of expectations, EA/Bioware were claiming thigs likeK it'll revolutionazie the MMO genre, it will be bigger and better than WOW in every way, the voice acting and story focus will make it ZE BEST GAEM EVARRR. so far ZeniMax hasn't been stupid enough to make such claims

So an advertising strategy of:

"It's pretty much a 95% WoW clone set in TES, but we'd like you to play our WoW clone instead pretty please?"

is really going to get anyone to care?

TOR had literally everything going for it, that it possibly could. Legendary IP with Star Wars, high developer cred with Bioware, and EA's money for aggressive marketing and funding of the project. And yet it still failed.

There will never be a successful hotkey-based MMO with a subscription ever again, and TOR proved it.

 

[hazabaza1]

It'll probably go on for a while.
Hell, APB is still going and that has none of the supporting factors that TOR does have.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Depends on how enraged they are, F2P keeps most MMOs alive even if by a thread, but EA's swift moves may be a sign that they have no intention of waiting so they may just cut their losses and take it all down after a couple of years.

Either way it doesn't matter, people got their story out of it and the rest is substandard, the quicker they shelve this the sooner we can get another KOTOR.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

It's not having financial issues 'that' serious.

It'll keep going for a few years. Will be profitable for a long while yet, just not the bloated force-fed money cow EA wanted it to be.

This, pretty much. Considering that Age of Conan is still going, and that did much more poorly than TOR.

I think that TOR will be really successful as a free to play game. A lot of people are only playing it for the story elements, and I think these people are much less likely to want to continue paying a subscription, but may still want to jump in occasionally when new content is released.

 

[Windcaler]

It'll be a long time before it disappears. Most games see their profit margin rise a ton when they go free to play. In the case of Dungeons and dragons online I remember them once saying their profit margin rised 140% in their first year.

If the business model is good the same thing will probably happen to SWTOR. The issue is, there business model isnt all that great IMO. A lot of people who are going to play the game now are going to do so just to experience the class stories. As I understand it they wont be able to run operations (their version of dungeons), do mass PVP (Warzones), or raid so people that really like to play those high end parts will still have to subscribe to do them.

The issue I see is, I dont think Bioware knows how to make a free to play game. They havnt done it before and so far as I can tell they arent studying any of the successful free to play games out there right now. So Im kind of looking at this strange business model as growing pains for Bioware (and to a lesser extent EA)

Captcha: Red-Handed

Yes captcha Ive been caught red handed with logic once again

 

[OpticalJunction]

it'll survive for at least a few years as a f2p model, in fact it'll probably do better financially than it is now. the ability to login and mess around at your convenience will do a lot to maintain people's interest.

 

[Scarim Coral]

It probably won't shut down, just to the point that most people will forget about it the game fall into the forgotten abyss like Champion Online and DC Universe.
Even if it does get shut down, I would like to bet that it would come back to life years later but fall under the radar like e.g. did you know that the other MMORPG games like RF Online and Hellgate London came back to life after they were shut down?

 

[King of Asgaard]

The switch to F2P should, supposedly, lengthen TOR's lifespan, yet it all depends on how they handle their transactions.
At the time of writing, they're keeping the story quests free, while charging for operations.
This seems like a wrong move, for a simple reason; many people who played TOR were fans of KOTOR, and wanted to continue the story. After all, it's just the same hotkey-based combat, like WOW, and people who have invested time and money in WOW will be disinclined to spend time on another, very similar MMORPG.
So, only charging for extras, that not many people care about, could bring about TOR's undoing.

 

[Something Amyss]

It will probably turn a profit on the F2P model eventually. It will chug along for 5-10 years most likely.

Don't you know? In 2012, F2P is still doom! DOOOOOOOM!

 

[Lunar Templar]

will it die completely? not likely, the crap that is Age of Conan and Champions Online are still around.

will it gain much momentum? also not likely, it's had its day, and now will probably sink into its place never to be mentioned again

 

[MDSnowman]

It will probably turn a profit on the F2P model eventually. It will chug along for 5-10 years most likely.

I'm inclined to agree with Fappy here. A MMO with the backing of a big company like EA is not going to pull an APB, pull up stakes, and just vanish overnight. They'll eventually switch to F2P, bring in micro transactions, and the game will limp along for years to come.

The only reason TOR looks like a train wreck is that the expectations were WAY too high.

 

[Fappy]

It will probably turn a profit on the F2P model eventually. It will chug along for 5-10 years most likely.

Don't you know? In 2012, F2P is still doom! DOOOOOOOM!

Soon life itself will be free to play. No one is safe.

 

[fluffybunny937]

Am I the only one who thinks the free to play model is the future of MMOs?