In today’s world of MMOG the common expectation is for a title to be released as a free-to-play game. Even massive properties like Warhammer and Dungeons & Dragons haven’t been able to gain enough traction to maintain high subscription number to generate the desired revenue. Star Wars: The Old Republic, TERA and Rift are just some of the latest high-profile games to modify their business model.
Enter WildStar, the upcoming MMORPG from Carbine Studios. The company revealed today that it will require players to purchase game time each month. Yet it’s not as straightforward as that. Players can simply plunk down the monthly fee, yes. In a nod to Eve Online, players can chose to purchase C.R.E.E.D., an in-game item, from others for gold (or, presumably, whatever your friend values) to redeem for game time. This means that WildStar will have a unique in-game economy based upon real-money transactions (RMT).
In essence, WildStar remains a subscription-based game at heart. The ability for one to play the sci-fi MMORPG in a free-to-play method depends on many factors, such as their entrepreneurial prowess, time, supply and demand and the Commodities Exchange remaining hacker free and well managed. Neverwinter’s similar Astral Diamonds system has hit snags in its short life.
Need more insight including graphical examples with Brofessional? WildStar has an official FAQ available as part of the blog post. WildStar is set for release in 2014.