LONDON: While EA is shutting down some of its free-to-play games, NCSoft is rumored to be taking the free-to-play road with its MMO Wildstar.
The rumor started circulating after major Australian retailers EB Games and JB Hi Fi took down purchasable copies of the game from their shelves. According to a report, the stock for Carbine Studios’ sci-fi MMO was returned to the distributor as requested. Also, it was removed weeks ago according to a source at EB Games.
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At the time of this writing, the game is still available for purchase via the official Wildstar store for $39.99. However, the removal of this game from other retailers indicate that we may see it go free in the near future. So what about those who just bought the game? Will they be refunded? We don’t know yet.
There isn’t any official word from developer or publisher of Wildstar but there could be an announcement soon.
Wildstar going free-to-play is good news but as we all know, free games come with strings attached. They feature in-game purchases and sometimes even pay-to-win models that are highly unethical and annoying.
Something similar happened with The Elders Scrolls Online as well, when it was removed from storefronts before its introduction as a pay-once to play game.
Personally, I’m not really a big fan of free-to-play games as I like to pay-once and enjoy the game, without any restrictions or limitations. However, not everyone feels that way.
