TERA MMO going free-to-play
After a while, yet another MMO with subscription is choosing to go the free-to-play path before opting for turning off its lights for good. No, we are not gloating; even though nobody likes paying subscription, an MMO that has to switch from sub to F2P model is clearly one that is having problems, which affect all their employees and their families. It remains to hope that the switch, as it has in several cases, will bring some good to the game and that they will actually make profit form this and gain a lot of happy players.
As for the model switch, it seems that the En Masse Entertainment is doing it the right way; here is the gist of it, straightforward and a true music to our ears.
Our philosophy is to add to what we already offer instead of restricting existing content. We’ve added an in-game shop where players can choose to buy costumes, mounts, and consumables, but the core of the game will be 100% free.
Now, that is the right way to do it. No, no restrictions on running or anything else what the regular players are already experiencing. Instead, they will be adding more to the game and let player to pay for extras in the ingame “cash shop”if they like, but there will be no “pay-to-win” options. I can easily think of an MMO or two that botched their transfer to free-to-play, casting away their life-saving rope. Good luck, TERA and fans, let’s hope you will stick around for a while still.
If you would like to learn more specific details about the free-to-play conversion of TERA, check out their FAQ. TERA is scheduled to go F2P in February 2013.
First off.. your wrong. Most of these games are going free to play due to cheap consumers period. How can you expect to have a game that requires a payment method when the people you expect to play your game are being cheap penny pinching hobos that just want to get everything for free. As a strategy you [ mmo company ] have to go the free to play route in order to make some of that money back. These cheap hobos that we call gamers now a days are killing the mmo coummunity.