This isn’t so much a post of what’s right or wrong about subscription and pay to play games versus free to play games as much as it is a look at the change in a market. I was thinking about a discussion we had on episode 22 of the podcast. We briefly spoke about Allods Online, and how for a couple of us, it would replace a subscription game (at least for a while). There are so many similarities, yet so many shiny new differences to the game, that it makes a strong case against something like World of Warcraft. To me, someone who is always on the fence about WoW, it’s ultra appealing. I don’t mind WoW in small bursts, but it’s never been something I could see holding a long term subscription for. With Allods we have a game that looks like WoW, feels like WoW, smells like WoW (maybe that’s me), and tastes like WoW (ever stuck your tongue in your Ethernet socket? It’s the same for both games). Allods has, for most appearances, those same qualities, but for free. Sure, it’s not already a known quantity like WoW. It’s not had the 5+ years of post launch development, but it’s going to launch with most of the traits that people want in a classic MMO, for free. Just like how Global Agenda is tripping my trigger because it’s fun, fast paced action in easy to swallow chunks of time, Allods could easily fill an MMO space in my library because it has that WoW style vibe that I like to revisit from time to time. But I’d be able to revisit that at the drop of a hat, because it’s free.

Looking at other markets like the auto industry, we’ve seen smaller manufacturers like Hyundai and Kia come from obscurity, bringing us mostly unreliable econo-boxes, to making cars that were slightly more stylish and slightly more reliable, to cars that are beginning to compete with many of the other big name auto companies. All while keeping their consumers costs down considerably. There looks to be a similar trend in gaming, namely the MMO market right now. In the past there’s been developers coming from countries not known for producing top shelf games. Now the games aren’t looking so bad, and for the great price of free.

This brings me to my question: Will Allods be the game that really makes people question why they should be paying a sub? On top of that (and perhaps the real question) what will developers need to do in the future to convince you that you should pay to play?