14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that with World of Warcraft from Blizzard dominating the subscription- driven MMO market and with games like Tabula Rasa and Warhammer Online failing to do extremely well in the same space, the developers working on new MMOs are looking to new monetization models in an effort to attract gamers.
LucasArts and BioWare, which are working together on Star Wars: The Old Republic, are considering micro transactions and other payment means. This is what Darell Rodriguez, the president of LucasArts, has told Gamesindustry.biz, “Yeah, we're considering it all, absolutely,” adding that “You start looking at how different communities, territories such as Asia, actually play games, and we start to consider it all - especially if we want it to be a worldwide phenomenon.”
His statements indicate that the way the game will be sold to players will probably be different depending on the market. South Korean and Chinese gamers might get a micro transaction model, with a subscription positioned as being a premium offer while those playing in North America and in Europe might get a basic subscription offer, which then can be enhanced by paying for other things through micro transactions.
Star Wars: The Old Republic really seems to be “the next big thing” by looking at the statements from BioWare. The MMO will be fully voiced, which is a first for the genre, players will be able to make a variety of moral choices during the quests that will impact how they branch out, morality will play a central role in character development and the amount of content for each of the classes featured in the game will be equal to that delivered by a fully fledged BioWare role playing game like Knights of the Old Republic. Of course, only time will tell if BioWare can really deliver on these promises.