ROCKVILLE, Md. August 21 - Choosing to defy game industry norms, Elder Scrolls publisher, Bethesda, has decided to charge players a monthly subscription fee to play their upcoming MMO iteration of the franchise.
Confirmed via an interview with GameStar, general manager of Bethesda parent company Zenimax Online Matt Firor stated that the cost will be $15 a month following a 30-day trial period. The reason to forgo the free-to-play model, according to Firor, is because the monetization method so prevalent in modern MMOs have both pros and cons with cons that outweigh the pros.
"The Elder Scrolls games are all about allowing the player to go where they want, be who they want, and do what they want," he said. "We feel that putting pay gates between the player and content at any point in [the] game ruins that feeling of freedom, and just having one small monthly fee for 100 percent access to the game fits the IP and the game much better than a system where you have to pay for features and access as you play."
The only MMO that has been able to succeed through monthly subscription fees in recent times is Blizzard's World of Warcraft, although the studio is looking into possible alternative monetization methods.
SOURCE: GameStar
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