In the age of Free-to-Play, it's common to think the subscription model is dead. With games like Age of Wushu and League of Legends being offered for free from the get go, AAA titles like Star Wars the Old Republic moving from the subscription model to free, or games such as Guild Wars 2 and Defiance that require a one time purchase and no subscription, it's hard to see a need for a model that requires users to pay a fee each month.
Despite that, Steam's latest addition to its services includes Subscription Plans. Starting with Darkfall Unholy Wars, players will be able to purchase the base game as well as a subscription model straight from Steam.
The recent press release from Valve stated:
With Subscription Plans, Steam offers gamers the ability to sign up and manage payments for subscription-based games on Steam. The launch title for the new service is Darkfall Unholy Wars, with additional subscription-based games to follow.
Steam customers may now sign-up for, manage, cancel or renew game Subscription Plans at any time, online directly through Steam.
So there you have it, Subscription models are still very much in, and Steam is very much embracing them.
