'Old Republic' May Be Going Free-to-Play

Subscriptions are down to 1.3 million and BioWare hopes to nab back those lost players.

'Old Republic' is one of the few MMOs that seemed like it stood a chance with the subscription model – it offers a different enough experience from 'Warcraft' that it seemed like a lock. As it turns out, subscriptions are down and the game might be going free-to-play.

One of the big markets that BioWare is hoping to recapture by making this move is the group of people who shelled out for the initial game purchase but didn't stick around after the 30 day free trial was up. Not paying the subscription cost, they reason, will make the game much more appealing to these folks.

"The MMO market is very dynamic and we need to be dynamic as well," says Emmanuel Lusinchi, lead designer. "So we are looking at free-to-play but I can't tell you in much detail. We have to be flexible and adapt to what is going on."

Source: Gamasutra