Star Wars: The Old Republic goes free-to-play this Fall
The New Republic
Though it will come as no surprise to most gamers, EA and Bioware have announced today that they are planning to integrate afree-to-playsystem into the existing subscriber-based model of Star Wars: The Old Republic.
They've said the change will be coming this Fall as The Old Republic will become a hybrid F2P game similar to highly successful F2P transition of Lord of the Rings Online. The subscription option will still exist, and those players will be essentially treated as VIPs and given an allowance of money to spend in the online store.
However, players will then able to download and play the game for free up to level 50 if that's the route they choose. They'll also be able to unlock specific restrictions individually.
“Players want flexibility and choice. The subscription-only model presented a major barrier for a lot of people who wanted to become part of The Old Republic universe,” said Matthew Bromberg, general manager of Bioware Austin, which produces SWTOR.
Something tells me we're going to have to amend our list of the best F2P MMOs. The switch to F2P will be coming in November.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
Andrew is a freelance video game journalist, writing for sites like Wired and GamesRadar. Andrew has also written a book called EMPIRES OF EVE: A History of the Great Wars of EVE Online.
"It makes me sick": Skyrim modder with 475,000 downloads, fed up with "daily harassment," abandons modding after "thousands of hours" of work on what she calls "the most advanced follower to ever exist"
BioWare art director is sharing more Dragon Age: The Veilguard concept art, including the very first piece he made for BioWare's latest RPG