WildStar goes Free-to-Play

And so another titan falls.

I guess it would be misleading of me to call WildStar a “titan” of the MMORPG world; it certainly made a lot of noise when it was first announced, and their advertisements the weeks before launch were unrelenting… and oftentimes irritating. But despite all the clamor and ruckus, the game was pretty much forgotten about not soon after it was released. Self-sustaining, sure, and there’s probably a dedicated player-base, but that’s not really enough to keep the coffers full.

So, in the face of adversity, yet another subscription-based MMORPG has had to make the switch to free-to-play. Introducing WildStar: Reloaded, coming September 29th. Because ‘A Realm Reborn’ was already taken.

Of course, Reloaded is going to bring more change than just dropping subscription fees. Naturally, you can still opt into a subscription fee by joining the WildStar Signature service, which provides a lot of bonuses and access to an in-game store where you can buy a ton of cosmetic stuff for both in-game and real-life money. Oh, and obviously, if you’ve got a current subscription to WildStar, your remaining time is converted into WildStar Signature time.

Over the next few weeks, the WildStar team has promised to show off more changes and reveal giveaways to celebrate the change--almost as if this were something they were actually excited about. It’s sad that this is the fate of all subscription-based games these days, like its the end of an era, but… one has to wonder when the last big holdout will fall?

It’ll happen eventually…