SWTOR: BioWare On The Fence About Creating A Free 'The Old Republic'

For those who haven€™t heard, Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is an MMO developed by Mass Effect developer BioWare, based in the Star Wars universe which launched late last year (2011). After an overall successful launch, a series of in-game flaws have plagued the game€™s success ever since, causing their subscription rates to fall into steady decline. As a solution to this problem, many have called for the studio to make the game free-to-play, however BioWare has proved hesitant to commit. Starting in July, BioWare has announced that SWTOR will be taking baby steps towards a possible free-to-play model by waiving the subscription fee until players reach level fifteen. But what about a completely free model? During an interview with PC Gamer, BioWare€™s James Ohlen had a few things to say about the possibility of creating a free republic. "I think it can work for different games," said James when asked for his opinion on a free-to-play model. "It really depends on how you go with your game. Games that have been built to be free-to-play from the start definitely work out. "Now, there have been games that weren€™t free to play from the start and transferred over to becoming free to play that have worked as well. But it€™s definitely not something that€™s super easy to do." Regardless of Ohlen€™s views on a free-to-play model may be, BioWare had better think fast about a solution to their fleeing player base. As of earlier this month, SWTOR has lost about 400,000 players -- that€™s nearly 25 percent of its subscribers -- since launch day, dropping from 1.7 to roughly 1.3 million subscribers. It takes a crew to save a sinking ship, which BioWare certainly has, but only the future will tell what happens to their galaxy far, far away.