SW:TOR to be "microtransaction-based"

Just got the following from Kotaku:

The brand name for BioWare's upcoming Star Wars MMO may be a familiar one, but EA's plans for tempting you to part with your hard-earned cash are not.

Rather than asking for a monthly subscription fee, ala World of Warcraft, EA boss John Riccitiello has strongly hinted that the game will instead be "microtransaction-based".

To us, that sounds less like "pay as you go", more like "pay as you go for new GIANT LIGHTSABERS". Riccitiello also said that more on the game's payment structure will be revealed in February, so I guess we'll all be staying tuned.

Hmm, I'm not sure what to think of this. To begin with I must say that I'm rather shocked if they indeed don't go with the traditional monthly subscription fee. I also think that it depends a lot on what exactly you do and don't buy with these micro-transactions. But overall it doesn't sound good.

I guess we'll have to wait until February to hear more, but so far it seems to be yet another strike against Star Wars: The Old Republic. At least it should make the whole discussion on lifetime subscriptions moot.

[UPDATE]

Shacknews has some updated information on this:

Update: Electronic Arts has responded to Shacknews, reiterating that "no statements have been made about the Star Wars business model," and attributing Mr. Riccitiello's comments to a misunderstanding.

Of course, I'm sure that they said the same thing when Mr. Riccitiello let slips that BioWare was working on a KotOR MMO months before the official announcement. But at least this brings back the traditional subscription model back as a possibility. Or perhaps they'll do something completely different; I guess we'll hear more come February.