So, even Wildstar is going f2p...

[MrSmiley]

That's because the devs can stick to an actual schedule. Being sub based in and of itself doesn't guarantee consistent content.

WoW is sub based. Look at how long Blizzard can (and will) go without adding any content. There are F2P/B2P games that updates more frequently than WoW does...it's insane.

They used to update more often, now they are just preying on their playerbase who cant move on and sucking them dry with additional cash items and character boosts. It's pretty sad honestly.

[Alberel]

They used to update more often, now they are just preying on their playerbase who cant move on and sucking them dry with additional cash items and character boosts. It's pretty sad honestly.

Indeed Blizzard has gotten incredibly complacent with WoW. They put very little work into regular content updates these days. It's funny when you think just how much money Blizzard is making from those subscription numbers yet they release less content than Yoshi's team is on a fraction of the income.

To be totally fair though Blizzard answers to Activision, whose CEO Bobby Kotick is infamous for not actually liking games. This is why Activision milks franchises that it buys from other developers and rarely actually releases anything original of its own; the management has no real passion for the industry. Activision has Blizzard trying to make as much money from WoW whilst putting in as little work as possible. That's the Activision way of doing business.

Conversely Yoshi proved his passion and ability when he turned around the original failure of 1.0 and re-released ARR as a huge success. I think that has earned him a great deal of trust and independence from the higher ups at SquareEnix, sparing his team from the kind of interference that leads to rushed releases and cut costs. Given how SE has been floundering lately with disappointment after disappointment and the public perception that they've lost their spark they need to let people like Yoshi do their thing. I think the business has started to recognise that as we've seen similar changes in approach to FFXV as well.

As long as the execs don't start interfering in Yoshi's work we'll continue to see frequent quality updates to FFXIV.

[Barimu]

snip

Blizzard does not answer to Activision, they may have merged but they are both independent. Little do you know FFXIV 1.0 was released too early due to SE being money hungry trying to get another successful MMO out there.

"Activision and Blizzard Entertainment still exist as separate entities" "While Blizzard retained its autonomy and corporate leadership, other Vivendi Games divisions did not."

[Chek]

Like others have said above, successful MMOs don't go F2P like that. Fortunately I think the Japanese understand how to reasonably gauge their success since even when FFXI wasn't pulling 12 million subs they kept it's model true. They know you don't need ALL OF THE SUBS to make profit.

[Cynfael]

Have to chuckle at people taking pot-shots at the cash shop in this game.

It's soooo very not in-your-face that it's kind of funny. The cash shop in this game kind of boils down to this: "Players, if it pleases you, enjoy these extremely optional items of zero gameplay value for a pittance of your hard-earned RL currency. Thank you so much for even thinking about shopping outside of your subscription. Love, Yoshida and Team." As others have pointed out, they barely update the damned thing; it's kind of obvious that the cash shop is far down the priority list and/or has a very small team supporting it.

Anyway, as long as the developers continue to provide a game service that many people enjoy and are willing to pay for, it's doubtful that the business model will undergo drastic changes.

[Zumi]

Cash shop does well enough in FFXIV I see tons of those paid wedding mounts, odin mount, and minions.

[Thayos]

Cash shop does well enough in FFXIV I see tons of those paid wedding mounts, odin mount, and minions.

FFXIV's cash shop is awesome! If I didn't already know about it, I wouldn't even know it existed just by playing the game.

[Catwho]

LoL is a MOBA, not an MMORPG.

Different genre of game entirely. F2P is so far the best payment model for MOBAs - no one wants to pay a monthly fee for random sparring matches.

[Intaki]

LoL is a MOBA, not an MMORPG.

Try telling that to a bunch of middle-aged baby boomer/Gen X stock brokers and investment agents.

[MrSmiley]

Try telling that to a bunch of middle-aged baby boomer/Gen X stock brokers and investment agents.

They are also a large part of the reason many mmos fail, trying to make them be something they aren't or demanding wow clones cause wow makes money (mmos don't work that way, why not just play wow which has had more time to shine then) or various other examples. Also, that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that LoL being successful means nothing to the mmo market, even if some idiots think it does.

I'm not saying F2P doesn't have its place, but most mmos that fall to it simply stay in the obscurity that forced them into it.