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SWTOR News
9/14/09 5:11 AM -
Misinformation on Microtransactions 
by sado
, posted September 14th, 2009 at 5:11 AM
There seems to be quite the amount of misinformation making the rounds on the forum as of late and in an attempt to quell the flames I need to reiterate that Bioware has not made any statements regarding a use of a payment model whatsoever. This discussion started way back when EA Boss Riccitiello stated that The Old Republic's payment model would be microtransaction based. EA then sometime after retracted the statement attributing the comments to a misunderstanding. Flash forward to this last week when LucasArts President Darrell Rodriguez was interviewed by GamesIndustry on the payment model, speculation ensued from one quote:

And on that point of business models, he added: "Yeah, were considering it all, absolutely."

"You start looking at how different communities, territories such as Asia, actually play games, and we start to consider it all especially if we want it to be a worldwide phenomenon."

Many people on the forum then took that comment out of context as a confirmation of a microtransaction model being used in the US and other territories even though the quote does not say or confirm anything near that. Furthermore in an interview with TenTonHammer, Blaine Christine was quick to dismiss the rumor:

Ten Ton Hammer: Rumors persist about microtransactions in The Old Republic. Are the rumors accurate or not?

Blaine Christine: The bottom line with that is that its a total rumor since we havent talked about pricing structure or subscription plans at all. So people dont need to worry about anything if that is a worry we will do whatever makes sense for the game.

You can stop claiming that they're using a microtransaction model from those comments as confirmation now ;) .
 
 
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15 Comments
Comment by Could TOR have BioWare Bucks? | Darth Hater - An Old Republic Community made on 9/30/09 5:14:14 PM
[...] few articles on Darth Hater, both old and new, have focused on the possibility of microtransactions being part of BioWare’s [...]
Comment by Dekun made on 9/14/09 3:27:51 PM
"Blaine Christine: The bottom line with that is that it’s a total rumor since we haven’t talked about pricing structure or subscription plans at all. So people don’t need to worry about anything if that is a worry – we will do whatever makes sense for the game."

Go blow that smoke up someone else's arse. EA hasn't talked publicly about it... John Riccitiello knows what he's talking about and what he said, was in fact said on a conference call with investors. A misunderstanding? Possibly. A misunderstanding that he wasn't supposed to reveal that particular piece of info yet? Very likely. Blaine said himself, "we will do whatever makes sense for the game." Not the players? Shouldn't you be doing what makes the most sense for the gamers?

The fact that EA refuses to deny any RMT plan in North America is simply more proof that EA, in fact, would really like to put you, the gamer, in a position that would cause you to want to spend more money than needed. You don't need to pay for this content, but if you dooOooOOOoo? WELL, look at all this new shiny stuff you can have!

This isn't Blizzard or Valve were talking about here. Don't get your hopes up. Underneath all the "It's Bioware" propaganda, it's actually just good old EA and your $15/month isn't enough to curb their insatiable hunger...

I foresee at minimum paying small fees for new content like EQ2's Adventure Packs and at least a one dollar price hike on the monthly fee to put it around $15.99US/month.

/flame on
Comment by TaboriHK made on 9/14/09 11:37:38 AM
This shows the reading comprehension level of people.
Comment by Hewo made on 9/14/09 9:53:46 AM
This is why MMO forums usually make me go crazy. People take one little thing and blow it out of proportion. This is why I never read the WOW forums, however I'm too big of a Star Wars nerd to not read TOR forums :P . My weakness!
DH Team
Comment by sado made on 9/14/09 11:15:42 AM
Oh I know that all too well, I'll be there either way ;)
Comment by Lethality made on 9/14/09 9:05:05 AM
The didn't actually say they're not doing it either... they're doing what's best for the game. So we have to wait and see what that means.

Those interviews in no way discount it as an option.
DH Team
Comment by bjbrains made on 9/14/09 10:03:13 AM
That isn't what this article said. It just said that they weren't confirmed.
Comment by Lethality made on 9/14/09 1:02:16 PM
Sooo... there was a need to create a blog post refuting confirmation? There are a million things just like that from the forums you could pick up on to "refute".

Just not understanding what "clarifying" it on this blog has to do with anything? It's just a posting of your interpretation of what was said.

I don't think it needed any clarification until BioWare comes out and says it one way or another.
DH Team
Comment by sado made on 9/14/09 1:06:48 PM
It does when people are claiming this is a confirmation of the use of microtransaction models for the US when that is nothing near what they stated in the article. It was not meant to refute the possibility but to reiterate the point that they have not confirmed a model used for the game.
DH Team
Comment by sado made on 9/14/09 11:20:31 AM
Exactly, not that they weren't an option just that all of the talk about them being definite. They also mention it in regards to different regions like Asia not necessarily in regards to the US and Euro regions.
Comment by Tasuru made on 9/14/09 8:47:07 AM
I knew this all along, good service to the community right here.
Comment by Frank made on 9/14/09 7:15:11 AM
Heh. This isn't going to stop people from saying that stuff. It's the nature of forums.
DH Team
Comment by sado made on 9/14/09 7:20:09 AM
Probably not, just wanted to at least put it out there ;).

Notice I said attempt :)
Comment by RogueJedi86 made on 9/14/09 6:54:43 AM
A lot of us are investing a lot of obsession and potentially money into TOR, we're taking any excuse we can find to not put our heart and wallet into TOR. We're afraid to love TOR too hard if you will.
Comment by Sedit made on 9/14/09 6:15:22 AM
We can chalk this up to "Growing Pain" on the part of the BioWare/EA team haha. Stuff like this will happen especially for BioWare for creating a monster like SW:TOR as their first MMO; not that I'm complaining, I've very excited actually!

I am relieved the micro-transaction story, was what it was, and nothing more will come of it. I really hate that kind of paying system even though it seems to be popular in the East, I'm just not a fan of it here in the West.