EA: Subscription model in a F2P world is “challenging”

Electronic Arts’ CEO John Riccitiello told CNBC that it’s “challenging” to have a game based on a subscription model in a world dominated by free-to-play. He added that there’s a lot of power in free-to-play, and when we look at the recent statements from Crytek, THQ and Epic Games, it’s easy to understand.

Riccitiello is obviously speaking in regard to Star Wars: The Old Republic, the latest MMO that had a nice start but that is now struggling with subscription decline and BioWare is even going through some lay-offs. While EA is currently exploring “different models to bring more users” to SWTOR, there’s no word about free-to-play yet. However, we bet that this MMORPG will end up joining names such as The Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan: Unchained and Star Trek Online, by adding a F2P model a few years after it was released at retail.