Blizzard working on a free-to-play title - report

By Fred Dutton Published 23 February, 2012

Will Project Titan ditch subscription model?

World of Warcraft developer Blizzard is working on a free-to-play title, according to a Develop report.

The site's anonymous source added that the studio is looking to expand business opportunities and develop both subscription and freemium titles, but didn't offer any further detail.

Blizzard declined to comment on the story.

If true, this wouldn't be the first time that Blizzard has dipped its toes into free-to-play - you can currently play World of Warcraft until your character reaches level 20 without opening your wallet.

However, at Blizzcon last year CEO Mike Morhaime spoke up for its tried and tested subscription model.

"For us, and even for EA with the Star Wars game, I think that the value that you get for the $15 a month is just unmatched. I don't think you can get that amount of entertainment value anywhere. I'd put the $15 up against anything," he told Eurogamer.

Aside from Diablo 3, new WOW expansion Mists of Pandaria and the next two chapters in the StarCraft 2 trilogy, Blizzard has confirmed work is underway on a brand new MMO codenamed Titan.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (13) Latest comment 3 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Lemming81 #1 3 months ago

    For all intents and purposes, it's Diablo 3 surely?

  • darkmorgado #2 3 months ago

    How is it Diablo 3 when you have to buy the game at retail before you can play it?

  • Fluffin #3 3 months ago

    This is not the already revealed Blizzard free version of DOTA is it?

    Edit - When I say Free I mean not yet stated as free but stated as "working on a new pricing model" - DLC I guess
    Edited by Fluffin at 23/02/12 @ 23:25

  • darkmorgado #4 3 months ago

    Isn't DOTA a SC2 mod?

  • Fluffin #5 3 months ago

    @darkmorgado

    "Isn't DOTA a SC2 mod?" yes but they are making a new version

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx1JDEnrVK8

    Edit - Now I look at it you may be right. Who knows? Not me obversely :-)
    Edited by Fluffin at 23/02/12 @ 23:30

  • Nasty #6 3 months ago

    "For us, and even for EA with the Star Wars game, I think that the value that you get for the $15 a month is just unmatched. I don't think you can get that amount of entertainment value anywhere. I'd put the $15 up against anything,"

    I suspect those words may haunt him within the next 12 months.

  • Kami #7 3 months ago

    @Nasty; Problem is, he's right and there's a reason that WoW still has 10 million subscribers - it's had years worth of development and content and tweaking. That's often the reason other MMOs get such a hard time - competing with WoW is hard. Like, really hard, and the only game to be remotely successful at that was Rift last year.

    We will see - the next 12 months brings of course Guild Wars 2 (Yes please!) and The Secret World (Oh lordy lordy lord yes please yes yes yes yes YES!). There'll be others too.

    But you can't blame Blizzard for being a little cocky. After all the smack talk from EA and BioWare, and the focus on how rough Cataclysm has been for WoW, suddenly it's EA and BioWare and The Old Republic in a heaping pile of problems - and Blizzard aren't being scrutinised anymore.

    I think Blizzard have earned this moment of schadenfreude. But it's nothing to get complacent over - there'll be more. And they all want to be like Rift - competing with the big boy.

    Like it or not, Blizzard are the ones to beat. And they know it.

    edit; On the flipside, the F2P market is also crammed with pretty good games, and Blizzard themselves will have a fight on their hands to make any F2P fit in. It will be interesting to see just how the market reacts to them muscling in on titles that once tried to compete against it on the subs model.

    But based on how much money many are making in the F2P arena, duh. It was only a matter of time...
    Edited by Kami at 24/02/12 @ 01:05

  • Lemming81 #8 3 months ago

    @darkmorgado I was making a joke at the expense of the game referring to the 'always connected' status. I assume the negs are from blizzfans who just went for me on autopilot.

  • Srift #9 3 months ago

    I think Blizzard get bashed way too much. I mean sure WoW has gone downhill in some respects but I think Diablo 3 and Heart of the Swarm will be great.. those two games will determine if I support blizzard in the future for their MMO's.

  • tangoownage #10 3 months ago

    I think it's WoW f2p. Isn't that blatantly obvious to anyone else?

    WoW f2p just before Titan comes out (3-6 months), to give that the best possible chance of success.

  • FortysixterUK #11 3 months ago

    @tangoownage

    Could also be why Blizz are pushing their 1 year subs model with a free Diablo 3, to help maximise profits before wow goes micro transactions?
    ...nahh...who are we kidding, wow will be subs based for another decade yet.
    Edited by FortysixterUK at 24/02/12 @ 07:18

  • Jorendo #12 3 months ago

    I hope Titan won't be "free" to play. That would mean i won't play it simply because "free" to play games tend to be a shitload more expensive then the pay to play model when you want the same experience. But hey since Activsion made blizzard their bitch i wouldn't be surprised if Bobby forces them too just so he can put another zillionmilliontrillion dollars on his private banking account. Unless they go the guild wars way, pay once and thats it until expansions. Truly free to play, i hate cash shops, they are the biggest scame in MMO history.

  • chrisola #13 3 months ago

    free to play. pay to enjoy.