Sony recently said this:

Since ESO is confirmed for PS4 and will have an exclusive Beta on that system, it seems unlikely that ESO will have a subscription fee. Granted, subscription fees are not exactly the same thing as Online Passes, but they are similar. Presumably Sony is discouraging that practice since they will now be charging for some form of PSN.

The developers have also let slip now in multiple interviews the words "cash shop" and "vanity shop." Here is one interview where they've said it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6e4gv_GW5gs @ about 19:50). I know there are others but I don't feel like re-watching every interview at the moment. If anyone links to them I will add them to the OP.

Add two these two bits of information that the game will be on consoles and that they are trying to appeal to traditional Elder Scrolls fans and a subscription model looks increasingly less likely. Could there still be a subscription fee? Sure. They could tell Sony, "too bad." They could have a vanity shop AND a subscription fee. They could make the out of the ordinary move and ask console players to pay a monthly fee.

But how likely is that?

DISCLAIMER: This thread is not intended to be a place to discuss which model is better or which model you would prefer. That topic has been done many times already and I believe there are active threads for that discussion. Instead, this thread is intended to discuss the LIKELIHOOD of the various models based on what we know so far.

So, do you think this information just about confirms a B2P model? Or is a subscription model still possible?

Nope, not at all. Final Fantasy: A Realm Reborn is going to be P2P and it will be on PS4. So if a AAA MMO like FF is going to be P2P on PS4 why does ESO have to be B2P in anyway?

I don't see how that really applies here. That quote I think is talking about games with an off line mode and an online, like FPS' or action games with co-op modes. MMOs are different as obviously there is no offline mode and you won't be able to log in to a game server unless you have a game account, so if ESO has a sub fee and you need to have an active account to login to the game theres really not much a console can do to say otherwise. If the MMO requires you to pay to access the game then thats that.

Also there is already MMO's on consoles and they have had sub fees, so not at all out of the ordinary. Cash shops also don't really have anything to do with it, because having a cash shop isn't an indicator of the fee model, WoW has a cash shop and is a sub fee game.

You're reaching.

I agree it's probably too early to tell.

While I for one hate the F2P model, and would've said it was an impossibility a month or two ago, now that we know ESO is going to be on consoles, I can't be so sure. I'd find it hard to imagine a significant share of console players (whose gaming habits are distinguished in part by having an 'affordable' gaming platform, vs. shelling out $1,000+ for a decent PC) would really be interested in the monthly subscription model, especially since most of these gamers would also already be paying a $15 a month charge associated with Xbox Live or the Playstation equivalent (at least I think it's $15...).

But then again, I would've also thought that an MMO on a console in general would've been nearly impossible too. As I understand it, consoles run their games entirely off the disk, at least for the most part, and this obviously wouldn't be possible in an MMO - you'd have to devote a significant amount of your machine's hard disk storage to your MMO's files. Though, maybe the next gen consoles allow for this with greater ease. Plus I haven't been a console gamer for probably six years or more.

So while this thread is hardly a confirmation on F2P, it wouldn't surprise me if that's what they eventually end up doing.

I'd say Sony's stance might not apply to MMOs, but I guess we'll see. I wouldn't mind if it was B2P. Even though GW2 is a deeply flawed game, their dev team have been keeping monthly updates going quite well and while there is little or no customer service to speak of things seem smooth enough not to really need it. We shall see if the same stands true for ESO.

Not so much reaching as asking.

I don't get why people think consoles means no subscription. lol

Asking who, exactly? Your thread is titled "Evidence Suggesting B2P", and then you quote an article from Sony (not the makers of the game) and stating how you think it will be B2P because of consoles for some reason even though MMOs on consoles has never explicity meant B2P or F2P.

Mayhaps you might elaborate a bit, because yeah it appears as if you're reaching for hints about your preferred pay model, even though pretty much every sign is pointing in an opposite direction.

Have to disagree. Yes, the evidence presented here is quite flimsy, but he's not saying that all console MMOs are ftp. He's just saying that one half of the next-gen has made a statement hinting at that being the case in the future.

We've seen a lot of payment threads come and go. I think this one has more validity than the vast majority of them.

I'll be shocked if this game launches b2p and there is zero chance it will launch f2p.I dont see them dumping the coin in devolpment to not recoupe fast

It's more like Sony saying they would like it if game developers/publishers didn't charge for server access, because Sony itself is going to be charging for server access. Even in the quote, he notes that Sony and MS can't explicitly tell the developers/publishers not to charge.

On a side note, it sounds more like Sony is addressing online passes as a form of DRM than subscription model MMOs. Apples and oranges, I think.

Like Xover said, I don't think they were even talking about subscriptions, and they outright state they simply prefer developers not to do certain things, not that they're barring them from it, and even if they were trying to bar them from it, like I've said a dozen times, its a good thing its not their product and they have no say over it. At all.

I think its likely that ZOS was approached for the game on the consoles, not the other way around. Sony and MS don't run the show and people need to keep that in mind.

I don't see it.

Hmmmm.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cgbZqR2AGI