At this year's Paris Game Developers Conference, Blizzard executive vice president of game design Rob Pardo revealed that the company's World of Warcraft was originally destined to be a free-to-play, advertising-supported massive world.
"We didn�'t want to charge a subscription, but as we researched market conditions, we realized that wouldn'��t support us," Pardo told GDC executive director Jamil Moledina.
Pardo revealed that while the free-to-play model would have been very successful in Asian markets, it wouldn't have worked as well in other territories. To avoid fostering jealousy between territories, the decision was made to charge a standard rate worldwide.
Paris GDC: The Rob Pardo Experience [Gamasutra]
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