Star Wars: The Old Republic Dated and Priced
by Craig Getting on September 24, 2011 9:24 AM ESTConcrete details on the release of BioWare’s Star Wars MMO have finally surfaced. Star Wars: The Old Republic will release in North America on December 20 and Europe on December 22.
The announcement also illuminated the game’s pricing structure. Simply purchasing the game ($59.99) will net you a 30-day subscription. After that, you have several subscription options, similar to those in World of Warcraft. A one-month subscription will cost $14.99, with three-month ($42) and six-month ($78) subscriptions offering slight discounts.
BioWare’s pedigree and its successful history with the Star Wars license (Knights of the Old Republic) could drive sales this December. But with so many big, licensed MMOs going free-to-play (DC Universe Online, Star Trek Online), it will be interesting to see how long The Old Republic’s subscription model lasts.
Source: BioWare
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Hrel - Saturday, September 24, 2011 - link
If they switched to 60 bucks for the game WITH a full year. THen 60/year after that then I think that'd be fair. Assuming that 60/year included expansions. If you have to pay for expansions as well then buying those expansions should extend your subscription, 1 month/5 bucks.formulav8 - Saturday, September 24, 2011 - link
Many people basically begged L. Arts to bring out a KOTOR3 and yet they ignored the people and bring out this stuff instead. I also hate the you have to buy the game and also pay us to play it.I have two brothers who are happly looking forward to it though. Have fun!
frozentundra123456 - Saturday, September 24, 2011 - link
I totally agree with you. I used to go into a rant every time I thought about being stuck with an MMO instead of KOTOR 3. Now I guess I have just accepted it and have decided that it is not worth getting angry about. Money talks, and LA/Bioware/EA must think they can make a bundle off this.int9 - Monday, September 26, 2011 - link
Bioware devs have called this game "KotOR3" on several occasions. The dialog, worlds, classes, voiceovers, camera, combat, space travel (I think), and (perhaps) story are the same. One of the writers stated that just 1 out of 3+ TOR chapters, each specific to one class, is greater in length to the entire KotOR game.Watch some of TotalBiscuit's videos about The Old Republic: http://www.youtube.com/user/TotalHalibut.
I probably won't be playing TOR though. I'm far more interested in ME3, Skyrim, and ARMA2/3.
FITCamaro - Saturday, September 24, 2011 - link
About time they dated the game.Cannyone - Saturday, September 24, 2011 - link
"But with so many big, licensed MMOs going free-to-play (DC Universe Online, Star Trek Online), it will be interesting to see how long The Old Republic’s subscription model lasts."The thing to note is that DCUO is an SOE title and they had their servers go down, which didn't help their subscription rates. And STO is managed by Cryptic, who expected their game to flop so they sold a massive number of Life Time Subscriptions. Neither one of those things are likely to happen with SWTOR.
Now you can hope it will go F2P. Be my guest! Still don't complain too loudly when that doesn't work out, because most of SWTOR's customers won't be terribly simpathetic.
Craig Getting - Saturday, September 24, 2011 - link
Fair point about SOE. DCUO's development was also incredibly troubled.khory - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
The article also fails to mention that those games really aren't that good. They are ok, but not good enough to warrant a subscription.I thing the subscription model will be fine if the game is a quality product. Based on what I've seen and the little bit of playtime I got at PAX, I have high hopes.
LordSojar - Saturday, September 24, 2011 - link
After Guild Wars 2 comes out, the short stint that SWTOR will have had will be over. GW2 is going to crush this poor excuse for a modern MMO. The market doesn't need WoW 2.0 with Star Wars skins, it needs an entirely new way to play an online game... Oh, and the P2P model is so old... get a clue... F2P + micro trans is the way to do it. Most companies won't though, because they are too afraid they might have to actually continue to offer things that customers want to buy and keep their games content new and fresh instead of just offering NEW AREA TO GRIND 3.0!Here's hoping the MMO community has gotten a bit smarter and SWTOR fails, as it should being an uncreative bucket of regurgitated Star Wars vomit.
Hays - Saturday, September 24, 2011 - link
This is true for the most part, I been playing MMO's for the greater part of 10 years now and I must say im tired of the grind, then an expansion comes out and its the grind all over again, the gear you grinded for so hard in the previous expansion is useless. Although I do hope this new version of a star wars based game has lots of space content involved. I mean really, who wants to just roam planets? I would rather be in space blasting enemies to bits, going from quadrant to quadrant pillaging or battling opposing factions and taking out gunships or capitol ships! Personally I love watching the space combat in the star wars movies!