Today
on Headline RePLAY: Star Wars: The Old Republic
goes free-to-play, Square-Enix provides Ouya with much needed support and
Capcom may be announcing a new title.
Many
interviews later, EA announced today that Star
Wars: The Old Republic is finally going free-to-play this fall, stating
that players want “flexibility and choice” and because the subscription only
model was a “major barrier” who wanted to play.
The
new model provides non-subscribers the
first 50-levels, access to all eight classes and a majority of the game’s
content all for free. However, there will be restrictions to “certain game
content.”
Past
and current subscribers will earn rewards in the MMO’s new rewards program,
which is centered on its new currency: Cartel Coins. The Coins allows players
to buy convenience items, boosts, visually unique gear, collectibles, and more.
Subscribers under the rewards system will get an allowance of Cartel Coins for
every paid month prior to today (July 31, 2012) until the F2P model launches.
The
F2P announcement comes amidst news that subscriptions in SWTOR have declined to below one million, but are “well above” half
a million. According to EA president Frank Gibeau, 40 percent of players left
because of subscriptions. Gibeau hopes that the shift to a F2P model will draw
back players.
Square-Enix
is diving into the upcoming Ouya Android OS video game console as the first
major publisher supporting it by announcing that Final Fantasy III will be available to download on the system’s
launch.
The
publisher also said that it is considering providing “additional content” for
Ouya in the future.
|Source:
Gamasutra
Japan
hosts the Super Battle Opera tournament every year to determine the best
players in a variety of games. Other than the competition, there is another
reason to pay attention this year: Capcom’s “New Work Announcement Panel” that
is being held during the tournament, leading to speculation of a new game being
announced.
The
event was discovered on the SRK forums by user c001357, pointing to the Super
Battle Opera website.
|Source:
SRK
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