World of Warcraft tokens launch April 7

Blizzard has announced that they will release the new token system on April 7th. This system gives players an alternative to paying a monthly subscription fee. WoW tokens will be available for purchase in the store, and they can be traded and sold on the player market as well. Blizzard will sell the tokens for $20 each, and is setting the starting price at 30,000 gold in the in-game auction house.

Considering that Warcraft is the biggest MMO in the western world, and has been for some time, every MMO is going to be watching Blizzard carefully to see if this venture succeeds or fails. MMOs are struggling to make subscribers, and this is an interesting alternative to either going free-to-play (like The Secret World) or pay-once-to-play (like Guild Wars 2).

Image courtesy Flickr/Stacina