Free-to-play has ‘doubled’ income for The Old Republic

EA claims 1.7 million more subscribers since transition to free to play model

EA’s president of labels Frank Gibeau announced during yesterday’s earnings call that after Star Wars: The Old Republic transitioned to a free-to-play model, “the monthly revenue has doubled.” Gibeau also confirmed that the game saw more than 1.7 million new players since going free-to-play, and that subscribers had “stabilized at just under half a million.”

That’s hardly the World Of Warcraft figures that EA would have been aiming for but once again, it shows that going free-to-play isn’t necessarily the death-knell of an MMO. On the earnings call, Gibeau also mentioned that new content would be coming every “six weeks or so.” Whilst I played the beta of The Old Republic it didn’t grab my attention. It would be interesting to get back in and see what the free-to-play hooks are like first hand.