Elder Scrolls Online - Should It Go Free-to-Play?

IGN wonders if The Elder Scrolls Online should go Free-to-Play, and debates the pros & cons of doing so. So what do you all think are they right about the MMO game?

From the moment it was announced the next entry in The Elder Scrolls series would be an MMO, the prospect of the game demanding a subscription fee has been an intensely debated topic. Huge swathes of people proclaimed ESO was dead in the water if it launched requiring a monthly fee, while a smaller subset quietly countered that such a move was needed for the title to succeed. When it eventually was confirmed that, yes, the game would require a monthly subscription, the debate seemed to intensify rather than lessen, and has continued to do so ever since launch in the face of console delays and a mixed reaction to endgame design.

The truth is, I don’t know if ESO will ditch its sub fee. No-one does. Steering toward the issue in a recent interview with creative director Paul Sage I was told “no comment”, so unfortunately I’ve no more official insight than you guys. But as Star Wars: The Old Republic’s first crack at its free-to-play conversion shows us, such a change is far from straightforward. To that end I spoke to Trion Worlds CEO Scott Hartsman and Gameforge CEO Carsten Van Husen - two gentlemen with a wealth of experience in both MMOs and F2P conversions - to find out whether ditching the sub fee really is the right path for The Elder Scrolls Online to take, or if it’s a fallacy that such a move can change the game’s fortunes.