The move from SWTOR’s pay to play model to the free to play model may be a blessing in disguise for those gamers who want to try the game but who do not want to pay. For the company, BioWare, this switch may not be a blessing for the company or the current players. While the company does want to make money, this is not the sole purpose of offering free to play to the public. What is more important is having the game played by a wider audience.
According to an interview in Game Industry International with Matt Bromberg on Thursday, he stated:
“”’My primary intention is to make as many people play this beautiful game that we’ve made,’ he added. ‘It just so happens that the business will naturally grow as more people come to play the game, but we’re not trying to squeeze every single penny out of it. A lot of other games that have moved from subscription to hybrid haven’t lost as many customers as you might think, in fact a lot of them have gained subscribers.’””
In the interview, Mr. Bromberg did not give BioWare’s target numbers for how many subscriptions this move would generate but it is expected to be huge. It is always “hit and miss” when moving from a pay site to a free one. While the company does expect some growth with this move, they are not looking for a huge attack on the servers in the inaugural day of the F2P model.
