Wildstar to use monthly subscription model, plus EVE style "play-to-pay" system

In all the gajillions of Wildstar videos released so far, one thing has remained a mystery: how will players be funding their journey through the colourful MMO? Will it require a monthly subscription, or will it be free-to-play, or pay-to-play, or pay-to-win, or cash-for-gold? Or, will there be some new, hideous and barely descriptive phrase to explain how you'll buy a computer game? Spoiler: I'm looking at the announcement, and it contains the words, "play-to-pay".

What does that mean? Well, buying a boxed or digital copy will secure 30 days of "free" game time. After that, you could pay a monthly subscription, or you could use in-game gold to purchase C.R.E.D.D.

What does that mean? Basically: EVE's PLEX. You can buy these "Certificates of Research, Exploration, Destruction and Development" from other players, then redeem them for in-game time. Buy enough CREDD, and you should be able to skip the subscription entirely.

So while it seems the primary method of payment will be a user subscription, there is a workaround for those spending enough time with the game.

Wildstar is planned for release Spring, 2014.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.