launch-model
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The Nexus Telegraph: The price of doing business in WildStar
Now we know what WildStar's business model is, and it's not any of the options I had predicted. That's to be expected, but it also means that we have to evaluate it very differently than if it had fallen into a tried-and-true pattern. You don't know how a new business model will work until you see it in action, and we haven't seen this in action yet. The reality is that WildStar is a buy-to-play, subscription, and free-to-play title all at the same time, and that's without even dipping our toes into the muddy water of microtransactions. There's exactly one item to be bought in the cash shop, and it serves exactly one purpose, but it also opens up a complicated economic interplay that we've seen in only one other game. And I don't think we can just draw on that one game for comparison because they're just not the same.
