Free-to-play games may be growing more prevalent, but BioWare's founders believe that even if Star Wars: The Old Republic is going with a subscription-based model the sheer breadth of its content and features will be more than enough to convince gamers to pony up some cash for it.

"The trend for free-to-play doesn't supplant great top quality premium games that support a subscription," said BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk. "Every business model you make, the game has to merit it, in other words a free-to-play game probably has a different standard and different expectation than a subscription based game for example."

Zeschuk's fellow BioWare co-founder, Dr. Ray Muzyka, added, "I think the quality of volume and content that we provide I think fans will say "yeah, this is the kind of game that merits a premium subscription."

Just recently, Sony Online Entertainment boss John Smedley predicted that more and more massively multiplayer online games would be going down the free-to-play route. He even pointed towards Star Wars: The Old Republic as the last big game to adhere strictly to a subscription-based business model.

Both men conceded that the free-to-play model is indeed growing ever more ubiquituous, but that doesn't mean subsciption-based games are going away entirely. Using the gaming market in South Korea as an example, Zeschuk thinks the future will be more of a mixture of both free-to-play and subscription-based games.

For more info on Star Wars: The Old Republic's subscription plans, check this article. The game will launch this December.

Via [StrategyInformer]

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