WildStar's game design producer has defended MMO subscription fees, likening them to paying for premium cable channels like HBO.

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“ If it wasn’t good, they wouldn’t pay for it.

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In an interview with IGN, Stephan Frost explained that MMO subscription fees are justified, but only in instances where the product is great and fresh content is regularly added."We decided to go with the subscription fee because we are a triple-A game," Frost said of the upcoming WildStar. "We are one of the most feature-complete MMOs to be coming out in the past 10 years. HBO, for example, is premium content. It has great shows like Game of Thrones and True Detective. They don’t charge extra for those things, they’re just charging that sub fee and people gladly pay it because it’s good. If it wasn’t good, they wouldn’t pay for it."We may do an expansion at some point in time, but right now the only thing we’re doing is trying to keep people in the game and keep them happy with new content. Of the sub models you’ve seen out there, we’re extremely fair and nothing’s hidden behind paywalls. What you see is what you get. There’s nothing blocking you from having fun and, you can even pay for your fun using your in-game money. We think it’s a fair system."Frost also spoke about the game's CREDD system, which is set to give the more hardcore players the option to play the game without spending real-world money, instead buying game time using in-game cash. As an added bonus, the business model is also hoping to cut down on gold trading."Yes you have to buy the box and yes you have to pay $15 a month, but if you’re a hardcore player and you play a lot, you can use your in-game money to purchase a subscription and that way you can be playing for free after you buy the box," he said. "The great thing about it too is that if I don’t play that often, but I come in and I buy some CREDD, which is effectively a subscription, I put it on the auction house and somebody buys it for a ridiculous amount of gold, I can then take that gold and buy whatever I want because I don’t play as much as that hardcore player. To me that seems extremely fair for having a subscription fee."WildStar is set to enter open beta tomorrow . For more information, check out our in-depth Wiki and previews on WildStar's expansive end game content and player versus player

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK News Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on Twitter