After a lot of hinting, Carbine and NCSoft have finally announced that their upcoming (and much anticipated) MMO, Wildstar, will be subscription-based.

Given how other MMOs, including recent additions like Star Wars The Old Republic, have faired using the subscription model, only to turn to Free-2-Play later on, this is a little surprising.  Only the likes of World of Warcraft and EVE have managed to stick with subscriptions and survive (although WOW does appear to be losing subscribers at an alarming rate recently).

Once you've bought the game (for around £34.99) and played through your free 30-days, you'll then have the choice of either one, three, six or twelve month subscriptions, costing £8.99, £8.49, £7.99 and £6.99 respectively.

There is, however, an alternative way to pay... C.R.E.D.D. or Certificate of Research, Exploration, Destruction and Development. C.R.E.D.D. can be bought either from the game's website using real cash, or via the in-game Commodities Exchange, and used to extend you subscription by 30 days (similar to PLEX in EVE Online).  As with any market, the price of C.R.E.D.D. can fluctuate over time which could lead to some interesting scenarios.  Curiously, it would appear that the cost of C.R.E.D.D. from the Wildstar website appears to be more than a month's subscription (£11.99) to encourage it's use as something to trade for in-game gold rather than a way to extend your game time.

This does, however, rely on players wanting gold enough to pay real money for it and sticking to official channels.  Should the gold sellers make an appearance, remain unchecked, and offer a better deal it could have quite serious consequences for the market.

You also have to wonder how far the developers will go to ensure that there is a high enough desire for gold that you're willing to pay real money to get it.  Will it result in some of the best items being so expensive that paying real money is the only viable option?  At this point, it's starting to sound more and more like a Free-2-Play model.  Just my personal opinion, but I don't really fancy paying out for the game, a subscription and gold to cover the upkeep of my in-game house.

Of course, it's difficult to know how this will all balance until the game is released, which is now slated for "Spring 2014", but this news has me now doubting Wildstar as a day-one purchase when I had previously been really excited for it's launch.

Time will tell...

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