Cryptic announced today that Champions will be going free-to-play.
Here is their web page about it.
I honestly have mixed feelings on the issue, but I've a bit of an investment (i.e. Lifetime Account) in CO so I hope it works out well.
What do you guys think.
I spoke to Miria recently about games going free to play and we also both have mixed feelings on the topic too.
If an A grade game is free then where is the money coming from to pay the developers to continue the content or to keep up maintenance of the game?
But I guess with DDO and a couple of other A grade free to play games actually being able to sustain themselves and keep their player base going for years at a time I think many now see this a viable business model.
It's funny that we as MMo players feel unsure about games being free. I guess we grew up on the concept of paying for it.
Obviously, I would like to not have to fork out money to keep playing Champions. So if they can do what they would normally do while not charging me Ill be happy.
I guess its a matter of wether they will keep it an A grade game or let it slip.
I recently read an article from the Devs of cryptic and was kind of a little disapointed with their attitude to both Star Trek and Champions Online. They kind of had the attitude that the games didn't work commercially, so they are almost writing them off and going on to greener pastures. I hope this is just the way I read it and isn't the case.
Personally, I still think CoX is a masterpiece and they did slightly drop the ball with Champions. But I would prefer they worked on it to make it what CoX is and we get many more days of fun in the game.
I guess we will just have to wait till then.
It seems it's just getting trendy. Maybe. As MMOs go more and more mainstream, and so many f2p worlds are becoming available, guess the big companies feel they just can't compete.
But now that I've really had a good look at the details of CO's upcoming f2p, it seems to me that it's not really going free-to-play so much as it's simply adding a free-to-play option.
It's not like the free players are going to have much when going in ;) (can't even use the chat channels :party: ), especially in comparison to the subscribers (or lifetimers). So it's really like there is this f2p option at the sidelines, but the full games is still there as the main option for the rest of us, exactly as it was before, but maybe with a few extra perks even.
I like the way Cryptic is handling this one: rewarding its paying player base for their faithful service, while nodding to the freeloaders as well. :p ;) 0:)
Dungeons and Dragons online went free to play and has been doing well with it from what i read. they make their money by allowing you to buy vanity objects and purchasing new area content. I think this is a good way. i never liked the idea of people being able to buy uber weapons and armor.
that was a fun game when we all played it a few years back.