Sony to release \'free\' online game...

The LINK

Following a model more prevalent in Asian MMOs, Sony Online Entertainment president, John Smedley, has announced that his company will be breaking from a subscription model and releasing a \'free\' game.
ImageThe pitch is this: get the game for free, pay for only for new content (e.g. expansions, item sales, etc.). Ideally, this model will get more people hooked due to the lack of any barriers initial customer acquisition and the benefits is that the costs customer pay are more directly linked to what they consume.

"We\'re going to be launching this quickly," Smedley said, though he declined to reveal the game title. "We see it as a powerful way of getting people in" to online gaming, because many video game aficionados are put off by subscription-based games."

Smedley announced the new model at the Austin Games conference yesterday and the first title using this model is expected in the fall of 2006.

Source: Dow Jones

So, I guess having learned from Asian MMO games and the very successfull Guildwars franchise, Sony will be trying a simmilar model for a game \'very quickly\'.  Smart move, IMHO, I get so turned off by subscriptions, but I don\'t mind buying an expansion pack every 4-12 months, even if that works out to the same amount of money per year.

It\'s not clear if this is going to be a PC, PS2, or PS3 title though.  Have to wait and see.

Wow, that\'s turning the whole game on its head. They\'re making item selling official? That\'s gunna have to deal with play balancing issues and people complaining about the fact that you can just buy your way up instead of doing the hard yards. Still, it is true that people are stingy about paying monthly fees. That\'s certainly why I\'ve stayed away from WoW so far.

Yeah, I missed that little word with my first read.... I REALLY don\'t like the idea of selling items or currency, I was hoping it was more of a pay for content, ala expansions/characters/worlds type money.  I also don\'t mind stuff like \'custom avatars\', names, and other non-gameplay interface stuff being pay-to-upgrade...

bad idea

rich kid billy will have the advantage of gear/levels

expect it to fail

The prophet has spoken.

it will probably do well initially, but will nose dive as more and more expansions are released

[Living-In-Clip]

Failure waiting to happen.
The mass amount of people do not want to pay to play on a console. The PC market is different.

/the second prophet has spoken

People pay to play Xbox Live.

The third and wisest prophet has spoken.

[Jumpman]

I\'m the greatiest poster of all time and sexiest man alive.

God has spoken.

If you\'re so sexy, then why are you still a virgin?

People pay to play Xbox Live.

yes, but where are the "micro payments" that microsoft planned?  paying 25 cents for a faster car, or a dollar for a faster running back?

[Jumpman]

Originally posted by Avatarr
If you\'re so sexy, then why are you still a virgin?

Because I\'m not one?

[Titan]

Originally posted by Avatarr
If you\'re so sexy, then why are you still a virgin?

Come on. theomen popped his cherry a long time ago.

Welcome to the real world.Its called capitalism.We all have the right to enjoy everything but not all of us can.But things still work, even if it costs for many people in society, dont they?

Spare us the learning lesson, Uni.  Just Watch