Star Wars: The Old Republic director on what subscription games need

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Subscription MMOs aren’t out-of-style, according to Star Wars: The Old Republic’s game director James Ohlen.

In an interview with IGN, Ohlen explained that despite the onslaught of free-to-play titles on the market, subscription titles can still be successful as long as studios make them worth users’ while.

“There is a place for subscription-based games and if you’re going to build a subscription-based game it’s got to be huge in scope,” he said.

“People have to feel that it’s worth paying a subscription fee every month, so the scope of the game has to be much bigger than the free-to-play games.”

In order to be successful, a subscription title needs to be able to offer users what free games can’t – largely polish, in Ohlen’s words.

“The quality, the polish has to be very, very high, and then you need to have a plan to continue to deliver free content on a regular basis. If you do those things, I think you can succeed as a subscription-based game.”

However, regardless of what these games can offer, he admits you won’t find a high number of successful subscription MMOs as the market doesn’t offer enough players to warrant their existence.

“Obviously, there can only be a few subscription-based games. There is a limited MMO audience and not a ton of that audience is playing more than one MMO, but I still think there’s room for more than just one really successful online game.

“I think Star Wars: The Old Republic can coexist with World of Warcraft and other successful games like Rift. You can have multiple MMOs with a subscription being successful as long as those games fulfil the requirements of high quality, good polish, lots of content, and continuing to do high value updates on a regular basis.”

Prior to the release of Star Wars: the Old Republic it was rumoured this MMO would be the first legitimate “WoW-killer”. Despite the drop in WoW’s subscription numbers, it’s clear Ohlen believes there is enough room for both powerhouses.

Don’t forget to check out our ongoing Star Wars diary, offering an in-the-trenches look at the MMO.

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