Star Wars: The Old Republic Maybe Going Free to Play

There have been some very confusing messages from Bioware today about the game potentially going free-to-play at some point in the future. The first was a GamesTM.co.uk article that suggested that SWTOR may be looking at free-to-play. This article was quickly deleted suggesting that this was perhaps a mistake. I though a Bioware employee simply misspoke. However Bioware has followed up with another interview that also mentions free-to-play model as a possibility in the future.

"The advent of free-to-play is certainly a change in the dynamic of the PC market... when you have an IP as broad as Star Wars, we're definitely going to look at opportunities to grow that business"

It is hard to say if this is a good or bad thing. In most free-to-play games you still have the option of continuing your subscription and becoming VIP. However I know many hardcore players will stop seeing SWTOR as an AAA MMO as soon as the free-to-play mode is announced. Personally I am not sure it is time yet for this game to go free-to-play. They still have many more subscribers than RIFT and if that game can make a pay model work I think SWTOR can do it as well.

See screenshot of original article:

Source gamesindustry.biz