LucasArts And BioWare Considering Multiple Pricing Options For Old Republic

39 Comments Posted September 8, 2009 - By Jake Gaskill

For those of you out there itching to get your Force-loving hands on BioWare’s massively-multiplayer role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic you’ll be interested to know that BioWare and LucasArts are currently debating about what pricing structures will be included in the game.

Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, LucasArts president Darrell Rodriguez said there will most likely be several pricing options available to players, including subscriptions and micro-transactions, but the details have yet to be worked out. Rodriguez also revealed during Gamescom 2009 that he expects the game to receive at least as much support as LucasArts sunk into Star Wars: Galaxies, which was over seven years.

To drive and sustain this level of support, Rodriguez said LucasArts is taking a global view of The Old Republic in terms of its appeal and design.

“You start looking at how different communities, territories such as Asia, actually play games, and we start to consider it all - especially if we want it to be a worldwide phenomenon."

What kind of pricing structure do you expect/want for The Old Republic?

Source

Tags: MMO News, PC Gaming

Comments

Oldest First

Displaying 1–20 of 39

12 2

BigDogW

i prefer micro transactions b/c i don't play online games all the time and get bored after a while with one game

Posted: September 8, 2009 3:38 PM | Reply | Report

0 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
Zero9bound

i agree with Bigdog. i like guild wars if i can be honest because its free and its not to go back to after so long of not playing it. i prefer not to pay a subscription. my problem with warcraft was that when i got bored with it after 2 weeks i still had a subscription fee to pay.

Posted: September 8, 2009 3:51 PM | Reply | Report

+3 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
RiskeeIndians

Looking forward to seeing more of this game. LucasArts needs to land this game. An rpg Star Wars is a great idea, though its been done before. I would love to see this come to just a standard flat fee, which wont happen. But, monthly fee's (WoW and UO) will most likely be the final decision.

Posted: September 8, 2009 3:51 PM | Reply | Report

+5 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
ChrisHero22

Never been a big MMO fan but I'm really looking forward to this. Finally an MMO that doesn't feel so generic, and has some more action and relevant story progression. I'm hoping for the best from this, as for pricing options? It seems likely that the game will release with a "subscription" card of some sort if you want to buy the disc itself. I would love for them to make it free to play with content that costs money, but that is unlikely. At best I'll settle with what I hope would be more long term cards that keep you subscribed for a year or so for those of us without credit cards.

Posted: September 8, 2009 4:02 PM | Reply | Report

+3 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
haterhater

I really want to play this game through college, but I won't be able to stay commited to game if it follows the montly/yearly subscription models of other MMO's. Here's hoping they come up with a method that will allow me to make the most of this game without forcing me to pay a subscription I won't be able to use.

Posted: September 8, 2009 4:29 PM | Reply | Report

+1 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
NakedSnake14

You know what how about this price option (FREE!!!)

Posted: September 8, 2009 4:45 PM | Reply | Report

-8 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
piglet102970

I want it to be like Maplestory's micro-payment system. It works really well

Posted: September 8, 2009 4:48 PM | Reply | Report

-9 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
Maxarga55

I kinda agree with Bigdog and Zero, but I say you should pay $20.99 to start the account the use micro transactions to fund it. (and besides these are mostly star wars fans and what do they not buy in relation to star wars items). And I also agree at times most MMOS get boring after while, but with micro transactions and account fee already paid you should have the ability to log on win ever you feel like. (just for reference, my computer had a bad motherboard and it took me a while to get a new one but on GWs it required nothing but the server app and it up and running everything right where I left it ). By the way it was nearly a year before I got on again, cool thing was I had new options to buy things (1/2 off) that where not available a year ago.

Posted: September 8, 2009 4:50 PM | Reply | Report

-1 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
kyle2dotcom

i think if your paying 50-60 buxks for a game you should get access to all the content. In reality i'm going to pay whatever they charge, but I would like to see it around 10 dollars rather then 15.

Posted: September 8, 2009 5:11 PM | Reply | Report

+4 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
RagTagPwner

I would really some way to play a majority of the game for free. Mainly story mode.

Posted: September 8, 2009 5:43 PM | Reply | Report

-5 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
purewitz

I think they should do it like Guild Wars. 50 bucks for the core game and free game play. Then release expansions every year or two for the same 50 bucks. They'll have money to make new content, but players won't be bleed dry like with other games.

Take in example two new game Champions Online and Aion, both are the standard 50 bucks for the game and 15 buck a month for a subscription. If you pay for every month in a year that's 180 bucks on top of the original 50 bucks. Plus some companies are even bringing in microtransactions into their subscription based games. Look at Sony Online Entertainment, so their games you have to buy the core game, subscribe, then on top of that they have microtransactions and virtual trading card games. Where you get a starter deck with your subscription, but then have to buy booster decks.

This all has to come to an end at some point, there needs to be a standard that works for both the developer, publisher, and consumer. Before MMOs we were all happy paying one set price with nothing more to pay to play a game.

Maybe the MMO industry could even take a hint from Lionhead Studios with the up coming Fable 2 episodic release. Of course that just an offline game cut into 5 chapters (Which the 1st chapter will be free.), but you only will pay for the content you are playing. Once you hit the end of the content you paid for, you are ask to pay for the next area of the game. I could see this working in MMOs too. With countries, continents, and planets in MMOs. You get a number of them for free, then have to pay for others that you need for your story.

In the end, they should either go buy to play like Guild Wars or episodic like Fabe 2 will be, but with a larger free starter area.

Posted: September 8, 2009 6:32 PM | Reply | Report

-1 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
Giga

I going to say free but seeing as how i doubt that i hate micro transactions i would far rather do a monthly fee and get every thing. If the game is as good as I think it will be I would probably be willing to do a life time membership offer like some mmo's offer for about $200 considering i played WOW for years at 15 a month it realy would pay for it self in the long run.

Posted: September 8, 2009 6:44 PM | Reply | Report

+1 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
cwhas2godhands

i wish this was an article about kotor3. mmo is not for me.

Posted: September 8, 2009 6:54 PM | Reply | Report

+1 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
Drop_Six

I think free would be a good way to get people to play. I might actually consider playing if it were free. But this MMO Star Wars has already been done with Galaxies. The only thing that might keep this game afloat is if the subscription fee is free or cheaper than WOW and the Sith and Jedi classes.

Posted: September 8, 2009 7:19 PM | Reply | Report

-5 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
gravy666

Pay once and never have to pay again.

Posted: September 8, 2009 8:02 PM | Reply | Report

+1 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
I_PWN_U_ALL

O RLLY??

Posted: September 8, 2009 8:15 PM | Reply | Report

-1 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
AkitoSohma666

Ok really people, anyone saying it should be free...thats pretty damn selfish....This game is going to be MASSIVE ( according to everything we've heard so far) ..you should pay some sort of subscription...id say a month by month basis..cause even if you get bored 2 weeks in...you're not losing a whole lot really...and really to say it should be free....do you want a mediocre game that you dont have to pay for, or do you want an amazing game thats gonna take a little bit of money?

Posted: September 8, 2009 9:19 PM | Reply | Report

+5 thumbs up thumbs down

1 Reply
JimOfTroy

Asking for a game like this to be free is just unrealistic. They have to pay for servers, internet bandwidth, maintenance and support, etc. A $50 or even $100 fee to buy the game is just not going to cover those costs in the long run, especially when they have already spent a small fortune on the development of the game.

I'd be interested to see how the micro transactions work as I haven't played an MMO with them. If it was like a fee to access each new area that would be interesting. You could choose to skip certain content to save money if you wanted or you could pay a little more and experience everything the game has to offer.

Posted: September 8, 2009 10:51 PM | Reply | Report

+2 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
mcflyboy123

im not a fan of the micro-transactions cause it makes me feel like im paying for little things i dont need. like buying outfits for your character to make him look cooler. id rather pay per month and have access to everything that everyone else has. it might cost the same and mabey even more but mentally, i feel like im getting a deal.

Posted: September 8, 2009 11:26 PM | Reply | Report

+2 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
ColdSilence

A lifetime option like what is available in Lord of The Rings Online would be good. Sort of like: 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, 1 year, and finally Lifetime as the final option.

Posted: September 8, 2009 11:55 PM | Reply | Report

+1 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies