Quote Originally Posted by Namasu View Post
I don't know about that...I feel like western MMO pretty much pushed for F2P model because F2P was trending in Asian MMO so strongly. I've been trying out F2P MMO on and off since my FFXI WOTG days and all of them have been an Asian MMO (Korean and Japanese). I don't know a single Asian MMO that thrived on sub model beside FFXI and recently FFXIV:ARR.

Also, I believe online gambling is still illegal in some form in the US. One of the Japanese F2P MMO I played had to remove any casino themed setup to comply with the law. Just my 2cent.
That is actually incorrect. All of your Asian Free to Play Games are generally the American Ports of Asian MMORPG's such as Perfect World International. For example, Perfect World Beijing is still a subscription based MMORPG, even though the American version of the game is Free to Play. This is because the majority of the American version's cash shop items are actually illegal in China. I am uncertain on Korean Games, as I have not played very many of them. Meanwhile the only really notable Japanese MMORPG (notice I said notable, not that it is actually the only one to get across the pacific) that has made it over to the United States before Final Fantasy XIV, was in fact Final Fantasy XI, and that is still a subscription based game. So stating that Asian Games are largely Free to Play is in fact a fallacy.

Online Gambling for the most part is illegal in most of the United States, though most of the states in which that holds true, do not consider the Mystery Boxes that you can buy in most Free to Play MMO Cash Shops to actually be a form of Gambling. Asia is another matter entirely though.