Sony Online Entertainment announced that Pirates of the Burning Sea would go free to play. The announcement came in September, 2010 – just a month or two after EverQuest 2 went free to play as well. It looks like Sony is really beginning to embrace the free to play space – but what made them do it? I think their success with Free Realms really got the ball rolling. Free Realms was their first truly free to play MMORPG and within a year of launch, the game reached an audience in the millions. How successful EverQuest 2 or Pirates of the Burning Sea will be as a free to play title remains to be scene though. It’s too soon to tell right now. I suspect that once Electronic Arts launches Star Wars: The Old Republic – Sony will have to make Star Wars Galaxies free to play too – as there’s no way the 7+ year old Star Wars MMO can compete with the latest and best from Bioware. It’s just not possible.
So what pay to play MMORPG will go free to play next? Turbine really got the ball rolling with Dungeons and Dragons Online a year or so ago and raised the stakes by making The Lord of the Rings Online free to play too. Unlike Dungeons and Dragons – The Lord of The Rings Online was successful as a pay to play game. It didn’t have to go free to play to survive – the same way Archlord, RF Online, DDO and Rose Online did. These MMOs were failing so bad as pay to play MMORPGs, that they HAD to go free to play in order to survive. Unfortunately, some MMORPGs failed so fast they didn’t even have a chance to try the free to play model – most notably APB. Ragnarok Online also recently went free to play. Gravity launched an official free to play server called Valkyrie. It’s not too popular, but it’s cool to see the game as a free to play title.
So which pay to play MMORPG will go free to play next? I feel that Warhammer Online is it. Warhammer Online will go free to play before other games because Electronic Arts has already begun embracing the free to play genre with Battlefield Heroes, FIFA Online and Tiger Woods Online. They’ve already launched numerous free to play titles and they will likely convert Warhammer Online to a free to play game within a year or so. Especially if the playerbase declines further. NCSoft will hopefully do the same with Lineage 2. Why do I think so? The playerbase for Lineage 2 has been in decline in the U.S. For years. The game is also free to play in Russia and South Korea already – so going free to play in the West wouldn’t be such a huge event. I suspect Lineage 2 will go free to play within 2 years. So with so many free to play games, why pay for pay to play MMORPGs?
With so many games going free to play and so many triple A free to play games launching (Think Vindictus), 2010 has been a great year for F2P. I suspect 2011 will be even better though.
No comments:
Post a Comment