No, World of Tanks has 40 million accounts. All you need is more than one email address (which are also free), and you can make multiple accounts. You're still only one user. Not every 360 owner bought Skyrim. Same for PS3. Same for PC.

Also, if free to play is so much more profitable, then how is a subscription (which must be less profitable) being greedy? The hole in that logic is big enough to drive a world of tanks through.

180 a year, 15 a month, 50 cents a day, cheap entertainment imo.

Or they will see the posts from "the public" who appreciates the fact they went with a sub plan. I'm one of them. Right now I'm planning on a multiple month subscription, actually.

LOL... I think you are losing something in the translation there - just chill a little no one is calling anyone stupid

The statement wasn't about all the differences between a single player and a mmo but rather willingness to pay monthly for new content when we are so used to getting free modding content daily or weekly

I've been really looking forward to ESO and have always imagined they would do a sub

World of Tanks, huh? You mean the e-sport that's literally nothing more than a bunch of arenas, and who only recently announced that they're going to remove all "pay to win" features from their cash shop? I have to say, I'm rather puzzled by this "free to play is proven to make oodles more money than sub-based models" attitude. If this were the case, you'd think Bobby "Hi! I'm so hated by gamers for my ability to soak up money from them that even EA is looking at me and bowing in awe" Kotick would've turned WoW into a free to play game years ago.

And yet, he hasn't.

Buy a pokemon game (IMO) or a single player elder scroll game. Have hundreds of hours of entertainment for $30-$60 bucks so depending on how long you play the game, it can be more expensive. Yeah, it is still cheap when you think about it, but the illusion is you're paying a lot more then you really are.

There is no hole in the logic, you simply didn't think. At first glance people thought subscription based gaming was the way to go. That it is the most profitable. Then free to play models came out and it turned out that with such immense populations comes great profit in the long run. We've known this for quite some time.

Okay. I have questions. I have never played an online game before, and just love Skyrim. I also have never played a multiplayer game. I have pre-ordered the Elder Scrolls Onlline, and intend to play it as a single player on the xbox 1.

How does this monthly fee work?? Is it like paying for Xbox Live, where if you pay monthly it cost $120 a year, where if you pay it by the year, it only cost $50??

What happens after the 30 days, if you do not pay the fee?? Are you shut out of the game, or is it that you can only have access to part of the game??

I am not up to date on all the tech terms, but would like to know please.

THANK ZOS for subscription model !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This model guarantees a pretty steady flow of income for the most part, which guarantees jobs. Results: Quality content + Quality customer service. Timely maintenance. Good server upkeep. = WIN.

Yes other models can grant the same things, it is not impossible. Other models would not fit this game without sacrificing quality content and the feel of this game.

Not saying I hate other model types, but I am very happy with this model. Sorry for those of you who want a free game or freemium game, I wish you the best in your search for a game.

Pokemon isn't fun to me...also the console games get a few DLC's and they are never bothered with again...this MMO will have constant updates/content/expansions for months and YEARS as long as the game is a success. You eventually get bored with the console games or burnt out from never getting anything new. You never get new content again, it's over.

Each month (depending on the day you bought the sub) you have to pay another $15 bucks or you get shut out of the game completely. some games have a special where you can buy multiple months in one go for a slightly less payment. (ie $30 every three months instead of $15 each month). IF the sub dies you have NO access at all until you pay another $15.

Why oh why do we keep getting these threads.

You have it exactly. So long as you're paid up, you have access to the game. If your sub runs out and you haven't re-newed, you are locked out of the game until you pay again. And the more time you buy at a time, the more of a discount you receive.

I'll try this again. You assert two things:

1) Free to play is more profitable.

2) The decision to make ESO pay to play (subscription) is motivated by greed.

These two statements conflict. If they'd make more money by not having a subscription, then how is it greedy for them to have a subscription?

That is the hole in your logic.

Mods, and if you think you will get enough content all the time to keep you busy all the time, you have never played an MMO.

Don't the profits for free to play come from milking the whales? Those people who spend thousands on buying hats or other random drops - the free players just give the whales someone to play with and fill out the world

I'm pretty glad ESO isn't going down that questionable ethical path

A subscription game might have less players but I expect they will be a great community - hmmm... hope we get extra content drops on the Lore holidays

I'm glad I can correct you there in saying it's actually 8.99 sterling. ￡14-15 would be absurd.

It is a mistake, there's too many people on these forums looking through rose-tinted glasses to notice that though, so don't look for anyone to agree with you lol. It'll kill the population just before it goes F2P in like 6-9 months.

Thanks. I understand. I do not mind paying $60 for a game, but I do not know about the monthly fee. Being retired and on a fixed income, if they give a big discount for yearly subscriptions, like xbox live does, then that is okay.

Another question is what is the difference between playing online for free and paying for it??

See you in 6-9 months when it's still p2p

How are those rose-tinted glasses fitting?

Nobody looks at MMO history now days

Just an example. Find more if you like. “Mobile anolytics company Flurry reported on July 7, 2011, that based on its research, the revenue from free-to-play games had overtaken revenue from premium games that earn revenue through traditional means in Apple's App Store, for the top 100 grossing games when comparing the results for the months of January and June in 2011. It used data that it anolyzed through 90,000 apps that installed the company's software in order to roughly determine the amount of revenue generated by other popular apps. They discovered that free games represented 39% of the total revenue from January, and that the number jumped to 65% by June, helped in part by the fact that over 75% of the 100 top grossing apps are games. This makes free-to-play the single most dominant business model in the mobile apps industry. They also learned that the number of people that spend money on in-game items in free-to-play games ranges from 0.5% to 6%, depending on a game's quality and mechanics. Even though this means that a large number of people will never spend money in a game, it also means that the people that do spend money could amount to a sizeable number due to the fact that the game was given away for free.[11]"http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-to-play

I have played/tried pretty much every MMO paid and those fail F2P games that you people like, A few MMO's that still to this day get content.....WoW gets content to keep people busy, SWTOR gets content to keep people busy, LOTRO gets content to keep people busy....ya, I have played MMO's.

Hey your first "mark it" statement about this game being f2p was wrong. Yep I'm sure you are wrong here too.

See you in 6-9months and still have it p2p

NWN is f2p. But, http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Zen_Market

I'd rather not find out I want or need to pay for items in game.

Well, we'll all see. Despite all the opinions you gave in one thread, the devs still made it p2p.