The Elder Scrolls Online Dropping Subscription Fee on March 17, 2015

The Elder Scrolls Online announced on January 20, 2015 that they would be dropped their subscription based business model on March 17, 2015 for PC and Mac. The Xbox One and Playstation 4 versions of the game will be available as buy to play titles as of June 9, 2015. Despite the transition, Bethesda's Elder Scrolls MMO won't be entirely free to play, as users still have to purchase a retail copy of the game. Upon transitioning from pay to play to buy to play, the game will be relaunched as "The Elder Scrolls Tamriel Unlimited. A subscription won't be required to access any of the game's main content, but a premium optional subscription will be available which offers DLC such as optional adventure content and zones. The subscription, called "ESO Plus" will be available in 30, 90 and 180 day payment plans. Much like EverQuest 2, premium paying users will get character progression bonuses (think faster XP gain) as well as an X amount of crowns, the new in-game cash shop currency. Crowns can be used to purchase premium in-game mounts as well as DLC content. Given that Bethesda is a Western developer and publisher, there's no chance that they'll sell any game breaking pay to win items found in some Asian titles. Expect the store to be filled with largely convenience / cosmetic items.

Will The Elder Scrolls Online ever be free to play? Who knows. I suspect that Bethesda will follow in the footsteps of publishers like Sony Online Entertainment and Turbine in embracing the free to play model. Games like Dungeons and Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online saw enormous success upon converting from pay to play to free to play. Tera Online and RIFT also did the same thing. They launched as buy to play + subscription games, and upon generating a ton of retail sales, they dropped the subscription and went free to play. No word on Bethesda if they plan on ever going free to play, but with more and more games embracing the free to play model, I wouldn't be surprised if The Elder Scrolls Online did eventually drop its subscription, especially since the game never lived up to it's hype since its original release. Given that the Bethesda poured over $100 million into the game, they aren't going to give up on it any time soon. Free to play may be the key to boosting the game's popularity.

See the game's official FAQ for additional information on this announcement.