During the early days ofMMORPGs, a game that required a monthly subscription fee was a new idea that nobody thought would work. It wasWorld of Warcraftthat broke that tradition, making the concept work with great success, and other games have tried to copy their model but haven’t enjoyed the same popularity.
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The subscription-based MMOs without a free-to-play version are few and far between these days, and many that tried reverted to free-to-play mode. Often, it was because the marketing department had decided that in-game monetization was more lucrative. Most of the time it only took a few months before a free version was released or the whole game changed over completely.
6Rift
Riftwas launched in March 2011 as part of the WoW-killer trend, and given that it had a similar aesthetic and was also a fantasy-based MMO, it seemed to have a good chance. The game has retained its popularity and still exists, but someone saw the potential in a free version, andRift Litelaunched in the spring of 2012.
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This was a free version of the game that ran alongside the subbed version and changed once the player reached level 20. The game went completely free-to-play in June 2013 and still retains this status, but the option is available for extra perks and rewards for Patrons, who pay a monthly fee.
5Wildstar
It was an ambitious project that blended the genres of fantasyand science fiction into asingle game, including the lore and storytelling that made other games successful. The game was released on June 30, 2025, and the price to play included a monthly subscription fee.
The game got mostly positive reviews for design and combat, but some negative ones for the generic storyline. Despite the positive reception, it continued to lose players and changed to free-to-play on September 2015 with the introduction of some other design features. It wasn’t enough to save the game from its ultimate fate, however, and the underpopulated servers went offline permanently in November 2018.
4Dungeons & Dragons Online
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Ownership of the property changed in 2016 when Standing Stone Games took over but promised to continue its development. The game continues to this day with the same payment structure as 2009, with paying and free-to-play gamers side by side on theD&Dservers.
3Star Wars: The Old Republic
No other MMO in this era was released withthe same level of expectationasStar Wars: The Old Republic. It was poised to take over the MMO world, and the fanbase that was dedicated to the IP was part of the clout the game brought with it. LucasArts launched the game in December 2011 after all kinds of hype and fanfare that included a very exclusive open beta.
The game didn’t live up to the hype, to put it mildly. Massive zones seemed unfinished and the space combat was simple rail games.SWTORwent free-to-play less than a year later in 2012 and is notorious for the number of in-game micro-transactions currently available.
2DC Universe Online
The timeline of the development of theDC Universe Onlineis a convoluted one, with the game being released on several different platforms at a variety of different times. The only version that included a subscription was the earliest launch for the PlayStation 3 and Windows in January 2011.
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The game went free-to-play, with the addition of a variety of microtransactions, in November of the same year that it was released. Versions of the game for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch followed, and all of them continue in the free-to-play model.
1The Lord Of The Rings
One of the few other games with an IP to match big titles likeSWTOR,The Lord of the Ringswas a subscription-based game when it was first released in 2007. It had a good run of three years and several expansions, some of which were free but others that required a one-time payment, until it went free-to-play in 2010.
The ownership changed from Warner Bros. to Daybreak Game Company in 2016 and continues to thrive and develop. The game is still going strong, as one would expect because ofthe popularity of the subject matter.
