YoshiP stated that MMOs are trending toward F2P

[Akiza]

MMO's aren't trending F2P they are trending Buy to Play with purchasable DLC content.

[Kosmos992k]

Games are going f2p because that's where the money is.

People are so friggin lazy that they'll open up their wallets for RMT and you wonder why f2p games are so full of micro transactions you can't turn around and fart without having to pay for it.

Not quite true. There has been a massive influx of new gamers who are far less hardcore than mainstream gamers, they have driven the huge increase in mobile and casual games where the F2P model thrives on microtransactions. Treating the gaming market as it it were a single market is a strategy destined for failure. If a game publisher fails to see that The game market is not a single market they end up chasing those new gamers at the expense of there existing market. The trouble is that the majority of the new gamers are not interested in AAA games that the old mainstream gamers favor, nor do they want to pay up front. If publishers see the differing gamer markets as separate they can release products aimed at the specific markets resulting in far greater success.

[Makeda]

Is there a potential plan for FFXIV to go F2P?

I suspect they are considering it. I have no idea how strong subs are for this game, but they have to be noticing that WoW lost more than half its subs this past year, after only gaining 30% from the last expac, and is now about to put another expac on the quick in a desperate move to regain ground.

There are basically two subscription MMOs left in the western market. WoW and FFXIV. Wildstar, the third, will be F2P by this winter if not fall - and being a sub based game has almost killed that game despite it having an amazingly good game engine.

The problem with sub games is the bar is set higher for getting people's attention - and the expectation is unreasonable. With a sub game people expect WoW... and even WoW can no longer compete with itself as it is remembered... it has passed its prime and people are feeling that. You cannot compete with nostalgia.

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You CAN do a F2P game right. The cash store attached to Guild Wars 2 is "almost" acceptable. It still has some 'pay-to-win' features (XP booster potions and such), but its real draw is in the vanity items and minipets. It makes enough for that game to keep going very strong. Strong enough to be in expac territory right now. You can be sure the cash shop Wildstar ends up with will look a lot like the one Guild Wars 2 has, but hopefully minus the pay-to-win elements.

FFXIV has something GW2 lacks: Housing.

If they can alter the housing model here to a point were every single character gets a house... then they will be able to make money off of us hand-over-fist. Not sure on that? Look at the king of F2P games: Second Life. That "game" makes money in the high millions every year by letting people buy stuff off its cash shop for vanity and housing.

Two critical changes would be needed for FFXIV to go F2P:

Glamour needs to be available at level 1.
Housing needs to be available at low to free cost for all characters, unlimited supply.

- Do that, and you open up two massive avenues for people to want to buy your loot... without any need to introduce a single element of 'pay-to-win'.

Yep, this is priciesly why i will forever stay away from 99% of F2P MMOs. because all it ends up being is P2W or "if you want to stop this grind, give us your money to make it easier" and normally people who swear by F2P games never realize they are spending 10x the amount to "keep up" then a paid sub.

Guild Wars 2 doesn't do that. You CAN buy XP boosters, but they are very small, and leveling is the least challenging part of that game so they're also a bit pointless.

[Fendred]

Isn't this the only non-F2P game left on the market? Also, wasn't SE the company that said if this game went F2P they'd pull the plug? How quickly they are changing their tune...

[Lainmyst]

Actually they are some very good f2p games out there still, Tera is one, but The Secret World is still the best MMO out. Like Tera and to Arche Age they still have a sub option with some added benefits. Also Aion is a great MMO that went f2p with still the best f2p model out. There is no sub option and no gear is sold on the cash shop. It is still good though it became so pvp heavy many pve players quit. I get back to The Secret World though, even though it went f2p the only benefit you get with a sub is free credits to use toward cash items along with getting any new expansion. It has one of the best communities there is, though small compared to this game. And there is 0 rmt, never has been and probably never will. I do see a problem with FF14, since people pay a sub many get through everything so quickly they stop subbing once they get bored and stop playing till the next patch.

[Verdan]

He's right, because people are all chasing that whale money. I don't think it'd be the most useful thing for FFXIV to pursue, because they'd need a bunch of changes to move over and I think their revenue stream is solid.

[Nadirah]

Is there a potential plan for FFXIV to go F2P?

Snipped.

EQ2 has housing. Most of the stuff on it's marketplace is related to housing, pets or mounts.

The hell you think all the money comes from since it's gone F2P?

And the RMT is *gone*.

[Kosmos992k]

You CAN do a F2P game right. The cash store attached to Guild Wars 2 is "almost" acceptable. It still has some 'pay-to-win' features (XP booster potions and such), but its real draw is in the vanity items and minipets.

FFXIV has something GW2 lacks: Housing.

I don't think GW2 is free to play done right, personally I dont think it's anything done right. As for FFXIV having something GW2 doesn't, you missed a big one - game play. Honestly I don't see GW2 as being in the same league as FFXIV.

I do see a problem with FF14, since people pay a sub many get through everything so quickly they stop subbing once they get bored and stop playing till the next patch.

Content locusts would starve in the F2P world, they would not slow down, they would exhaust the free aspect of the content and move on to the next free game as soon as they were unwilling to pay for more. F2P works on the basis of whales. The majority of players are not whales and soon tire of the free element before moving on.

[Makeda]

Snipped.

EQ2 has housing. Most of the stuff on it's marketplace is related to housing, pets or mounts.

The hell you think all the money comes from since it's gone F2P?

And the RMT is *gone*.

Why are you giving me the hostile reply when you then make my very point about housing?

[Makeda]

I don't think GW2 is free to play done right, personally I dont think it's anything done right. As for FFXIV having something GW2 doesn't, you missed a big one - game play. Honestly I don't see GW2 as being in the same league as FFXIV.

To me that reads like you are confusing personal preference with the actual substance of the game. There is a LOT of gameplay and substance in GW2. Its not for everybody. Right now its not even for me. But to deny it because one doesn't like it shows a lack of critical thinking.