http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/08/29/the-secret-world-underperforms-funcom-refocuses.aspx?SortOrder=desc#comments

I personally can't say I'm surprised by this development as "Fail"com has a history of developing incomplete and poorly-made titles. Not to mention TSW did not have the staff, money, name recognition, or the marketing to build any sort of acceptable level of hype and anticipation for the title. Certainly SWTOR and GW2 did not help in matters as they both were highly-anticipated. I am, however, curious by the potential ramifications this game's failure could have and how it could impact future MMORPGs. With the recent disappointment of this game as well as SWTOR to compete with a subscription-based model, it makes the argument stronger that F2P is the direction to go and monthly fees are surely being obsoleted.

TSW was only able to sell 200,000 units, under-performing greatly, and will likely go F2P by next year. SWTOR had the most successful launch of an MMO to date selling nearly 2 million units. But due to lack of endgame content, poor management, and utter incompetence on BioWare's part, the game is slowly being picked apart and will be joining the already over-saturated list of F2P MMORPGs only 11 months after it's release. This does not bold well for the future of MMORPGs at all, as I still personally and firmly believe that monthly fees develop and maintain a better quality of MMORPG.

GW2 is one I would consider an exception to the rule as it is better than ones typical F2P MMORPG. Even still with all its hype and anticipation, it has currently only sold over 1 million units in pre-sales and we will have to see its developments later down the road. It certainly is a promising title, however, it does have shortcomings as all MMORPGs of this caliber due, and being F2P certainly won't help in its development and growth for the future. I am ever cautious of how the game will turn out from six months to a year down the line.

The only other MMORPG in the foreseeable future that will likely have a monthly fee and has the potential to succeed will be The Elder Scrolls Online. It not only has the name recognition with the fame of the Elder Scrolls IP, but it has the funding with $300 million dollars invested into developing the game and the studio, and it has a large world-class development team of over 250 employees who have been working on the game for the past five years. There is of course a chance their payment model could change with recent developments as it just seems monthly fees are no longer viable. I personally disagree with this sentiment and believe monthly fees are still viable. But success with a subscription-based model is hard to achieve as you really need a solid game with the capacity to reel in a wide audience of consumers and KEEP THEM HAPPY.

What are your thoughts on these recent developments? How do you think the disappointment of TSW and SWTOR could affect ESO? Without knowing what kind of payment model ESO will have (although if it was F2P ZOS likely would have already said that), it's hard to tell how the MMO industry could affects it's release in 2013. Do you believe subscription-based MMOs are a thing of the past like Sandbox MMOs? How should ESO respond in return if this is true? A lot of pressure is being placed on ESO and I am curious as a fan of TES and MMOs of how this will all turn out.

Uh...maybe you should take business models into account. Funcom actually knew this was a niche game which is how another certain game started. But were counting on the people who would enjoy the niche staying...and many have. In fact the game has been growing, but I can see how someone so biased could miss that. Because they used their already made engine, and probably invested in making up several months of monthly updates before the game has come out, I would say that they actually gave themselves a good buffer to be able to quickly fix things like the pvp and make better content for their updates. You know, unlike most games. How often is GW2 or pretty much any other game putting out new content? Yeah. (granted it isn't a WHOLE lot, but it still is more consistent)

Besides, how do you define a game as a failure? If a game is shut down then it has failed because why else would you pay for keeping up a money sink of YOUR money? Along with it going F2P potentially would mean it is going the route that many consider the future of MMOs. In other words it would be keeping up with the times. Games like World of Tanks is already spawning spinoffs, and that started out f2p and is making the company lots of money without a pay to win business model. Why is a game going to f2p models such a 'sign of failure'?

You clearly did not read the linked article. Your vicious attack is also unnecessary and inappropriate for this discussion. All I am providing is the facts that TSW has under-performed, Funcom has cut half of their development staff, and they have stated they are out of the big budget MMO business. They are going to focus on smaller, interactive games such as League of Legends and World of Tanks. Niche or not, TSW has not done well for Funcom and we are seeing the affects of that by the layoffs happening and the restructuring of the company.

I have never been a fan of Funcom, having played AoC myself and seeing their track record. But, this will likely in the long run be a good decision for them as they just cannot compete on this level. As in regards to the "failure" remark, that is in response to subscription-based models as being viable. As a monthly fee game, TSW is a disappointment and it is inevitable that it will likely go F2P, otherwise the entire project will go under and the game definitely will be a full-on failure.

I digress though as this is topic is really about whether monthly fees are still viable or not. SWTOR is going F2P and TSW is surely to follow soon. How will this affect ESO and how should it respond? Please stay on topic and actually read the OP next time.