The age of the subscription-based MMO may very well be behind us, as Blizzard, the king of this particular model, has decided to abandon subscriptions for their upcoming MMO, Project Titan. “We’re in the process of selecting a new direction,” Blizzard president Mike Morhaime said on a recent Activision earnings call. Titan was originally supposed to require a subscription, just like World of Warcraft, and Blizzard did not give reasons for the change, but it is possible that they do not want to split their own MMO fanbase.
This isn’t the first change that Project Titan has encountered, though. A few months ago, the entire project was rebooted, with a far smaller team. Several members of the original Titan team were shipped off to other Blizzard franchises such as Diablo and the upcoming Blizzard All-Stars MOBA. Reports said that the Titan team may have had as many at 150 members at one point, but since the reboot, the team has been chopped down to 30.
Will Blizzard still be able to make an awesome MMO with such a small team and no subscription service? We will have to wait and see.
Source: Kotaku