Star Wars: The Old Republic’ Launches With Subscription Pricing

Just when you thought George Lucas couldn’t squeeze any more money out of his Star Wars franchise, he goes and launches a massively multiplayer

Just when you thought George Lucas couldn’t squeeze any more money out of his Star Wars franchise, he goes and launches a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game that aims to sell across generations of Star Wars fans.To say the project is ambitious is an understatement. Players can choose from eight characters, each within a certain “class” story, and each story in contained within a three-part trilogy that requires them to make moral decisions about the path they’ve chosen. And among the smattering of English, German and French dialogue, there’s also 21 different alien languages, sound effects from droids and Wookies, and a soaring musical score that makes the game as emotionally manipulating as any Hollywood blockbuster.The game is employing a subscription billing Model, much like other MMO games. After an initial purchase and 30 days of play, subscribers can continue playing at either $14.99 per month, $41.97 for 3 months ($13.99 per month), or $77.94 for six months ($12.99 per month).  The game has similar pricing models for the UK and Europe.Electronic Arts (and its subsidary Bioware) is taking a big gamble on the game, which cost over $100 million to produce, so we would have liked to see them release the game a bit sooner in order to take advantage of the holiday shopping season.But “Star Wars: The Old Republic” has one draw its direct competitor, World of Warcraft, doesn’t — a huge movie fan base that can enter this emotionally compelling world without any prior knowledge of gaming and easily become engaged.As a non-gamer but long-time Star Wars fan, the game’s 5-minute preview had me hooked. It was the first time I even considered playing a video game, not to mention paying to do so. Which says a lot about how well they know their audience.

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