Turbine: Subscription Model is Still Kicking

[The Wooster]

Turbine: Subscription Model is Still Kicking

Turbine reckons the tried and tested $X-a-month pricing model still has its place.

"It's probably not right to say the subscription MMO is dying," said spokesman Adam Mersky in an interview with Eurogamer. "It's probably more right to say the idea of forcing a player to only have one option for having to consume your content -- that's probably dying."

Turbine's most notable games, Dungeons and Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online, have both fared better as microtransaction-driven "free" games than they did as traditional, subscription-based titles.

"If we were going to release another MMO, we would not come out and - from my perception - launch it as a subscription game," Mersky continued. "The right choice would be to make it a player-choice of subscription or free-to-play."

Mersky went on to claim that Turbine pioneered the switch from a subscription to F2P model. It's worth noting, however, that Anarchy Online featured a F2P option five years before Turbine introduced the option in Dungeons and Dragons Online.

Rightly or wrongly, I suspect a lot of people are watching The Old Republic's peformance very carefully. If the combined might of Bioware's (slightly tarnished) reputation and the Star Wars license can't maintain a subscriber base at the traditional $15 price-point, I suspect we'll be seeing a lot more high-profile MMOs launching as F2P titles.

Source Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-01-30-subscription-mmos-arent-dying-says-lotro-maker-turbine]

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[wyrmslayer1991]

wait, why is bioware's reputation "slightly tarnished" now? I was under the impression people were enjoying old republic and were still looking forward to mass effect 3.

If anything star wars is the slightly tarnished one of the two in my opinion.

 

[JaceArveduin]

He might have meant there version of free to play, where you can actually unlock everything with a little bit of grinding. For LOTRO, (I've not gotten far into DDO) you get Turbine Points for grinding things you'd have to grind to raid anyway. There's other bits you don't have to grind, but once you get up to cap where you need to grind out your traits, you could literally just do all of the slayers deeds in an area before moving on without too much trouble, since you one shot everything anyway. Sometimes you'll also get lucky and catch a higher level grinding in a lower level while you're there, and they'll group up and you get some free xp and help on quests.

 

[Rad Party God]

Well, their games are certainly some of my favorites and one of the main reasons is that I can enjoy their content without paying a monthly fee, without feeling that my experience is being crippled, not like Age of Conan (Alternate Advancements being mandatory for raids and PVP and they're only accesed by subscribers) or Everquest 2 (a fine game, but certainly a fairly expensive "free" game if you plan to be, at least, "competent" for raids).

I perfectly know they're not entirely free, but the main reason I almost entirely quit playing MMOs, is the monthly subscription fee. I'm a huge supporter of Turbine's F2P model, wich hasn't been replicated by many games, except maybe Fallen Earth (wich is awesome and you should try it).

 

[Musaab]

I enjoy DDO so much I just subscribed again after originally subscribing 6 years ago when it first came out. I really like what they are doing with the game.

 

[vxicepickxv]

wait, why is bioware's reputation "slightly tarnished" now? I was under the impression people were enjoying old republic and were still looking forward to mass effect 3.

I'm not sure if I'm even going to pick up ME3 near launch. I might wait for a bit of a price drop.

Bioware dropped the ball with DA2, and ME3 isn't really grabbing me right now.

 

[88chaz88]

wait, why is bioware's reputation "slightly tarnished" now?

TOR's first big patch which pretty much broke the game and the godawful rushed sequel that was Dragon Age 2. Even as a massive Bioware fan I'm nervous of Mass Effect 3 smelling ever so slightly of poo.

 

[ResonanceSD]

I love the AO reference. Anarchy online is the best mmo I've played to date!

 

[Irridium]

Hey, it's Lulzy!

I hope Shamus does a "Shamus Plays" of The Old Republic. His LOTRO strip was amazing.

wait, why is bioware's reputation "slightly tarnished" now?

TOR's first big patch which pretty much broke the game and the godawful rushed sequel that was Dragon Age 2. Even as a massive Bioware fan I'm nervous of Mass Effect 3 smelling ever so slightly of poo.

Well, you might want to know, the person who did the romances in DA2 is one of the main writers for ME3. I think she's doing the romances, but she might be a story-writer. Not sure.

Oh, and she has also praised Twilight for its writing. As have quite a bit of the DA2 writing team actually...

 

[As Seen On 360]

His ego is showing, something about how they pioneered free to play. Maybe they pioneered subscription only games turning free to play, but as mentioned Anarchy Online was first. That and Guild Wars came out a year before D&D Online AND was free to play from the start.

The rest of the article I agree with though, so many companies are shifting toward f2p that, eventually, not giving any options from the start will reflect badly upon them. Free is free, people are willing to throw their inhibitions out the window with a zero dollar price tag more than they're likely to put up with a whole lot of bad decisions coming from a company that has the gull to charge them 15 a month for the privilege of being a part of their community.

 

[hooksashands]

I'd like to take this time to pat myself on the back for becoming a VIP in DDO, thereby making all this possible.

*pats own back*

Turbine makes some serious bank even though their two main MMOs are free. It's the perks that you get from buying their Fastcards and memberships that keep them afloat.

 

[Worgen]

I don't know why every single mmo decides it has to copy wow even down to the stupid price point, wow was the most expensive monthly mmo when it came out and now every single one copies the monthly fee, why not $10 or $5 a month?

 

[Dastardly]

Turbine: Subscription Model is Still Kicking</b

Now here's what I wonder:

When are they going to figure out they can get even more money if they lower the arbitrary $15 subscription fee?

Free-to-play generates more money because it brings in all of those on-the-fencers. People who don't want to spend $60 + $15/month to play... but they might spend $5 or $10 a month in little things. Maybe they usually spend around $7, and they end up doing without a few "premium" items.

You offer them a full subscription for $10... suddenly it's not "double." It's just $3 more, and they get that. Well, that's $3 more than you would have gotten from them, and that's a gain.

Here's hoping...

 

[Formica Archonis]

Hey, it's Lulzy!

Ah, yes, the classic scene where she spent all her hard-earned money to try put the moves on Aragorn.

I loved that series.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I perfectly know they're not entirely free, but the main reason I almost entirely quit playing MMOs, is the monthly subscription fee. I'm a huge supporter of Turbine's F2P model, wich hasn't been replicated by many games, except maybe Fallen Earth (wich is awesome and you should try it).

Yep, this is my stance as well and really the only reason I do still play LOTRO at all. Not having that subscription fee hanging over your head makes the entire experience of playing the game more enjoyable. You're not sitting there when you're not playing, staring at the clock and calender thinking about how this months sub fee is going to waste. When you are playing, you're not as focused on getting as much done in one month as possible to make your sub fee worthwhile either. If I want to take a week, or 3 weeks, or a month, off from even loading up LOTRO once I can do it and I don't feel like I'm wasting anything. It's because of this freedom that any new MMO I may play in the future that has a sub fee is going to have to bring something absolutely amazing to the table to make me want to pay one again.

 

[JaceArveduin]

I don't know why every single mmo decides it has to copy wow even down to the stupid price point, wow was the most expensive monthly mmo when it came out and now every single one copies the monthly fee, why not $10 or $5 a month?

Well, for LOTRO you can buy 3 months for $30. It's supposed to be $15 if you just buy it a month at a time, but I'm a Founder (beta) so I can buy it for a month for $10. I didn't actually expect it to be honest, the way it was when it first came out was it was $10 a month for founders as long as they stayed subbed.

*shrug*