What business model will the pirate MMORPG Sea of Thieves announced at the E3 gaming fair be released with?
A job posting from the developer Rare reveals that the developers are currently looking for an employee for Sea of Thieves who is familiar with the Free2Play business model. This has sparked a discussion about whether the pirate MMO will be released as a Free2Play game.
Subscription on consoles?
Looking at the current developments in the market, it seems only logical that Sea of Thieves should be released with a Free2Play model. On the one hand, more and more MMORPGs are switching from subscriptions to this model – recent examples include The Elder Scrolls Online and WildStar – and a subscription model makes little sense on a console. Sea of Thieves is also expected to be released for the Xbox One. If it were to be released with a subscription, the game would face a problem – namely, the fees for the Xbox Live Gold service. Anyone wishing to play online games on the Xbox One requires an Xbox Live Gold membership, which comes with a monthly fee. If additional subscription fees were added, it would become an expensive affair for players.
Developer Rare has not officially confirmed that Sea of Thieves will utilize the Free2Play model. However, it would definitely be a surprise if a subscription model were to be announced. The developers are likely to have closely monitored the market and recognize that very few MMOs with a subscription model can survive. The question remains, of course, how the Free2Play model of Sea of Thieves will look. Many gamers will surely see the term “Pay2Win” highlighted in red in the background. Let’s just hope that Rare makes the right decisions for their pirate MMORPG, because what has been shown of the game so far looks very promising. We have already introduced Sea of Thieves.
