Tom Chilton lead designer of the popular World of Warcraft game has suggested this week Blizzard may eventually move the game to a free-to-play model.

Chilton says "At some point, it may not make sense for us to have a subscription fee." Chilton was quick to note that his suggestion was on a very long time frame, if it was to happen at all. "We’re not spending a lot of time thinking about it. It’s not something that’s a reality for us in the near future."

Other major MMO games (massively multiplayer online games) such as The Lord of the Rings Online, and Dungeons and Dragons Online have recently moved to a free-to-play model, making money from weapon and clothing upgrades for characters as well as other digital items.

When asked about their motives, Chilton responded: "I feel like they’re doing that to compete with other games that are on a similar subscriber level to what they were at. I imagine that when one of them went free to play it cannibalised some of the other subscribers. I can definitely imagine that being the case with World of Warcraft. If another game comes along and blows us away it may not make sense for us to have a subscription fee. Or even further down the line, when we have another MMO out."