Cryptic Studio’s MMO Star Trek Online will be going free-to-play by the end of the year, following in the footsteps of other MMOs that have recently switched from the upfront payment model to the free-to-play model.
Cryptic was recently bought by Chinese game publishing company, Perfect World, who also publish Champions Online (another MMO that switched from the subscription model to free-to-play) and have the exclusive global publishing rights to Runic Games’ Torchlight.
“I think free-to-play model [has]a bigger potential in US market and also in China market,” said Perfect World chief financial officer Kelvin Lau.
Perfect World also have a large catalogue of MMORPGS that they have launched themselves, with most of their success coming from the eastern market. They are best known for the MMO self-titled Perfect World, and less well-known titles such as Legend of Martial Arts, Zhu Xian, Chi Bi, and Pocketpet Journey West.
Will you be checking out Star Trek Online when it goes free-to-play? Did the original price tag put you off playing the game? Let us know!
Star Trek Online Going Free-To-Play [GamesIndustry.biz]
ThaJman
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 9:48 AMLast year i got the gold edition for $4 on GAME’s mega sale. I completely forgot i had untill now.
Might be worth an install….
Matthew K
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 9:49 AMI generally don’t play MMOs because they have a time commitment, and if I’m paying a subscription on top of purchase price, I feel like I HAVE to put in that time commitment or I’m not getting the most out of a game.
I am more likely to try an MMO casually if it’s free to play, and I was very interested in Star Trek Online pre-launch, so hey, maybe.
Still pretty meh on the whole MMO thing. Plus I don’t know if my wife would forgive me.
Klutar
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 10:08 AMIt depends how you look at it.
I find it easier to justify paying $20-$50 for an MMO (usual price, which comes with a month time) than $80-$100 for a new game I might get 8-30 hours game time from.
lichbane
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 9:50 AMFINALLY! Now some of my mates will finally get into the game!
Esspytood
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 9:56 AMwhat does it mean for all the silly people who got lifetime subscriptions, I wonder?
Braaains
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 10:02 AMThey’ll get a free hat for their avatar.
Rocketman
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 10:06 AMGreat coMment mr braains
Esspytood
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 6:17 PMyay~
SOX
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 10:37 AMWonder if the Giantbomb guy will bring it up next week lol.
Aliasalpha
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 12:02 PMI remember reading something about this on their forum a few months ago, I seem to recall that the general consensus was that lifetime subs would get all the premium content free or super cheap
Glenn
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 10:27 AMNot surprised really, F2P is becoming the new model for online games. League of Legends has 15 million subscribers.
Aliasalpha
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 12:08 PMSTO was the only MMO I played for more than a few days, it had some moderately interesting missions and one or two that were really cool and the game was pretty easy to solo which suited my misanthropic nature.
The main thing that stopped me playing it was a weapon bug that gradually killed off each wepoan I had by getting them stuck in a loop, they’d sit at 99% recharged but never tick over and be useable again. Lets just say that when you’re already outnumbered 3 to 1 by ships a class larger and tougher than yours and your only weapons are one forward firing phaser and one rear firing quantum torpedo, fights could take a LOOONG time (or be over very quickly indeed). Once it goes FTP, I’ll definitely give it another go.
Will free to play mean the entire thing is free with microtransactions or do you still buy it and play it free like most other multiplayer games?
Warlok
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 12:55 PMExcellent, I need some sci-fi gaming. I bought the game when it released but never played it after the first month or 2.
Koppenflak
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 12:59 PMAs a current sub for STO, I’d highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t looked at it since the (and Ill admit it) awful launch.
The revamp of ground combat, the new mini series and other changes since around July this year have completely turned it around.
:)
Reoh
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 1:32 PM“Perfect World … are best known for their game Perfect World”
luls. :)
Dan
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 2:34 PMCool, have to dust off my ship. Played this for 2 months but got bored with it. Wouldn’t mind jumping in every now and again.
RichardH
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 5:55 PMI just bought a month’s subscription to the game. Now this. SONOFABITCH!!
Jake
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 6:30 PMWell, it’s free, so I don’t feel too obligated to point out how terrible the game is, but please go into it with lowered expectations despite the fact that a few obviously mentally imbalanced people gush about it.
On another note, I think this is a great model for this game. It can’t really hold most people’s interest past a month or two, so the subscription model is worthless. In this particular case I think people will try it, spend some money on the cash store, then get bored and leave. They’re will probably be more people splurging on cash store items in the short term than there would be long term dedicated players.
Smart move in that respect.
AerintheADEQUATE
Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 12:44 AMI was there for the STO Beta and Launch and stuck around for a good 6-9 months afterwards and had a good time with it.
This and AoC are the MMOs I’ve actually had fun with… but my current laptop can’t handle AoC and up until now I could no longer afford the subscription for STO… :) Glad I’ll get to play again.
The good ship Bebop will sail the stars once more… (well that and my 3 or 4 other ships that I can’t remember the names of… which seems like something terrible for a captain to say…)
Sam Timmins
Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 8:05 PMWake me up when Trek flips back to normal – exploring with a dash of action and not 99% action, 1% thinking.