Wildstar Developers Reveal Their Business Model

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Posted August 19, 2013 by Tom Collins in Announcements, Gaming News, PC

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Those clever chaps over at Cabrine Studios have just released their business model for us to piss and moan talk about constructively. Unsurprisingly, it is of a hybrid nature.

Firstly, you have the option of a normal subscription fee. The rates go as follows:

Suscription $ Per Month $ Total € Per Month € Total £ Per Month £ Total
1 Months 14.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 8.99 8.99
3 Months 13.99 41.97 11.99 35.97 8.49 25.47
6 Months 12.99 77.94 10.99 65.94 7.99 47.94
12 Months [Best Deal] 10.99 131.88 9.99 119.88 6.99 83.88

Pretty standard stuff so far, but here is where it gets a little different. Carbine Studios have come up with something called C.R.E.D.D. This apparently stands for “Certificate of Research, Exploration, Destruction and Development”.

Confused? Yeah I was too, so here is some information from the official site explaining it a little better…

“C.R.E.D.D. is an in-game item that, when consumed, extends an account’s subscription by 30 days. C.R.E.D.D. can be bought from other players in-game via the Commodities Exchange (CX) for earned in-game gold, or you can purchase C.R.E.D.D. online at the WildStar website. If you go for C.R.E.D.D. you can use your first month of gameplay to earn gold while playing WildStar. Next month, instead of paying the monthly subscription fee, you can use gold earned in-game to purchase C.R.E.D.D. from other players through our in-game Commodities Exchange. You can then redeem your C.R.E.D.D. for another month of WildStar game-time. You can continue this cycle over & over again, enabling you to “play to pay” for WildStar.”

If you’re still at a loss, there is an FAQ down the bottom of the linked page that may help.

On the surface, it seems like a good idea. The only problem I can think of is that the economy on MMO servers tends to go a little haywire once people have gotten the hang of the game. So would that then mean that the C.R.E.D.D.  system becomes way more expensive? Causing you to have to play every waking moment to earn your months subscription? Who knows; still, I like the thinking and I do prefer to see developers offering options. it’s better than them enforcing a payment plan then buckling and going F2P when hardly anyone subscribes.

There is no real way to know if this will work until release, but we still have no official release date, so until then, or until we get a chance at the beta, we will have to wait.

Finally, just in case you missed the reveal for the last two races, here is a video featuring the Chua and the Mordesh.


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