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It hasn’t been a good week for news about massively multiplayer online games.
Activision Blizzard said that World of Warcraft subscriptions had dropped off yet again, from 10.2 million in May to 9.1 million as of August 2. Electronic Arts said that subscriptions for Star Wars: The Old Republic had dropped below one million, and that it would introduce a free-to-play option in the hopes of attracting more users. Square Enix had a lot to say about its flailing Final Fantasy XIV , noting that it had 300 people in-house working on the reboot of the game that is set to drop later this year.
In the age of free-to-play, does the monthly subscription model have a snowball’s chance in hell? Fortunately for us here on the Game|Life podcast, Wired.com managing editor and MMO expert Marty Cortinas returns this week to offer his opinion on the subject.
Other topics covered include the Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset and Final Fantasy III on Ouya. We also stick our hands blindly into the Phonebag again and listen to your comments. If you want, you can leave us a voicemail or text at 567-694-5326 (56 POW! GL FAN) to have the chance to have your voice heard and also potentially win a piece of swag off Chris Baker’s desk.
Game|Life’s podcast is posted on Fridays, is available on iTunes, can be downloaded directly and is embedded below.
GameLife Reboot: Episode 041
https://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gamelifeaudio/gamelifereboot_041.mp3
