The Old Republic Could Be Microtransaction Based

John Riccitiello, the boss of Electronic Arts, caused a minor stir in the world of MMOs when he seemed to suggest that the upcoming BioWare developed The Old Republic, based on Star Wars, could be using microtransactions as one way to bring in revenue. In an investor call, Riccitiello used terms like "mid-session" and "micro-transaction-based".

He said that "We are continuing to stick to the plan relative to building out our direct-to-consumer models which include micro-transactions and subscriptions. The recent launch of Warhammer is a great example of that. Other initiatives we've announced, for example Star Wars online MMO, are mid-session games which are micro-transaction-based".

This means that the MMO will rely on people paying small sums for various in game objects or access to some areas rather than paying a monthly subscription fee to get access to the whole experience.

Electronic Arts has since told the gaming press that there had been a "misunderstanding" regarding the statements made by Riccitiello. He promised more details sometime in February, so we might have to wait until then to get a definitive statement regarding the business model that The Old Republic will use, but there’s a possibility that Riccitiello was talking about how the game would function on Asian markets, while Western ones would have a traditional model.

BioWare initially pitched Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO as being a big budget title that would create a separate storyline for each character class, while the world would be directly affected by each action of the player. The developer will have a lot of freedom in constructing the world the game takes place in because The Old Republic is set some hundreds of years before the events of the Star Wars movie series. BioWare is insisting that the game will maintain the same emphasis on the story as the Knights of the Old Republic franchise.