据国外游戏媒体网站报导，Blizzard 开发副总裁 Itzik Ben Bassat 曾于英国伦敦《魔兽世界：燃烧的远征》全球首卖会上透露，他们的下一款 MMO 游戏将不是像《魔兽世界》那样的游戏，而是一款将娱乐带到另一种层次的游戏。
暴雪
由于 Blizzard 如此宣佈着，网路上已停不住网友的热烈讨论，网友甚至是举出了数个例子来证明自己所猜想的结果：EA 已经开始往免费游戏的领域进军，例如《战地风云：英雄》的 MMOFPS 免费制度、战略游戏《BattleForge》；SONY 的免费 MMORPG《自由国度》（Free Realms）等…
现任 EA 首席执行长 Peter Moore 表示，免费模式已是我们未来营运线上游戏的方向。包括即将在明年推出的《RF Online》、《魔咒编年史：Arch Lord》，这都是采取免费模式营运。此外，Funcom 的《科南时代》也传闻将改为免费模式。
国外媒体的报道原文：
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New Blizzard MMO Rumored to be ‘Free To Play’ Rumors of Blizzard’s new MMORPG have leaked! Blizzard Entertainment, the folks behind the enormously popular fantasy MMORPG World of Warcraft, have been working on a new MMORPG for the last few years now. Blizzard even confirmed that they were working on a new MMO back during the Burning Crusade London Launch event when Itzik Ben Bassat, the vice president of development, said “When we announce our next MMORPG it’s not going to be another WOW–we’re not a company that tends to tread the same ground,”. He also added that this new MMO would “…be something innovative and new that really brings entertainment to another level.” Since Blizzard announced that they’re working on a new MMORPG, the internet has been rife with speculation about the project. According to the rumors we’ve heard the new MMORPG may be free to play. We have confirmation from several sources that there have been serious discussions about implementing a free to play model with optional micro transactions but until an official announcement is made, this story remains a rumor It wouldn’t be an unprecedented move if Blizzard’s new MMO really were free to play. More and more major game publishers are jumping on the ‘free to play’ bandwagon. Electronic Arts for example just recently entered the free to play market with their online MMOFPS Battlefield Heroes and strategy game BattleForge. Sony has had enormous success with their free MMORPG ‘Free Realms’. Many prominent individuals in the gaming industry have already praised the ‘free to play’ model as the future of gaming. Peter Moore, the current CEO of Electronic Arts, has already stated that free-to-play was absolutely “the future of where our key franchises are going”. Many old pay to play games have already gone free to play including RF Online and ArchLord with Chronicles of Spellborn confirmed to go free to play by next year. Funcom’s Age of Conan is also rumored to go free to play soon. MMOHut will continue reporting on this story as it develops. Hopefully, Blizzard will make an official announcement on this issue soon, as a free to play MMORPG by Blizzard would certainly be big news. |
