Wildstar will go free-to-play

Rumors have been flying ever since someone datamined some suggestive hints out of a Steam update a while back, but today the developers of Wildstar made the official announcement: the game will soon be free-to-play.

The announcement is unsurprising, given that Wildstar is - despite being a highly-rated game - struggling to attract and keep new players. In the current MMORPG market it's hard to justify a box price up front plus a monthly subscription fee. 

Wildstar's development team will be working hard to ensure that the transition happens fairly, and that free-to-play customers don't experience a crippled version of the game. At the same time, they are trying to ensure that players who have been paying for the game all along don't feel shortchanged. It's a tall order, and I hope they are able to maintain this difficult balancing act.

Image courtesy Flickr/Matt Avinger