Quote Originally Posted by Jandor View Post
For the sake of argument, lets say I'm wrong, let's say it doesn't happen to all of them. It is undeniable that it happens to most, why take the risk?
FFXI hasn't got a cash shop as far as I'm aware, and it still exists, and it's older than WoW. It still even receives updates. Basically living proof that FF MMO's without cash shops can last pretty much indefinitely.
XI is a bit of an anomally, not in the cash shop sense, but in the fact that SE decided to keep it sub based. I'd imagine the amount of sub profits far outweighs upkeep since the time subs started severely dropping many years ago. Archaic game tech probably doesn't demand much money to be thrown at it. Probably don't see a point to a cash shop in a game with a low sub base when they don't spend much on new content and upkeep.

I think the point to argue is what examples are there for your "most" statement? As far as sub games go, most, if not all sub games that fell to their cash shop did so after they went F2P, which was also a result of lower subs. SWTOR and Aion are examples of that. Rift too, I think.