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LEGO Universe: Going F2P in August
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
The LEGO Group has announced that LEGO Universe will be headed into the free to play market in August 2011. In addition, the game will be available via digital download rather than requiring the purchase of a boxed edition. Players will be able to enjoy the "Free Zone" for an unlimited amount of time or can purchase a monthly premium membership for $10/month.
The LEGO Universe free-to-play experience will offer a limited selection of game content, including two adventure zones and one player property area for building their own virtual LEGO models. Paying members will have access to all areas in the full game, along with membership benefits such as competitions and community events. In addition to the 15+ robust adventure zones and instances as well as 5+ property worlds currently in-game, access to new expansions, like major Ninjago content coming later this year, will require players to register for full membership.
Find out more about LEGO Universe.
Comments
Why is it their Web site labels the game as a mmo, when their CEO recently went on that rant about how badly he thought of mmo's as an industry? Talk about being a hypocrit...
BEST. NEWS. EVER.
Your actually wrong. He did not say he doesn't like MMO's, he stated that it is too much work and he doesn't enjoy the lengthy developement times as it gets boring to him.
Another one . They are coming thick and fast now .
Now just got to wait for the likes of Darkfall,swg,warhammer,daoc,vanguard to follow suit.
I predict within 5 years the subscription model will be quite rare and will be replaced by the freemium model or guild wars model even with new games .
Those argueing for pay to play have lost .
This is the way things are going .
I have a feeling this will be overshadowed by Age of Conan and City of Heroes going free to play this summer. Those two games are offering a lot more for free, what Lego Universe is giving away is essentially a free trial rather than actually going free to play.
I doubt it will be that way from the initial launch as that is how many of these half-assed games recoup much of their initial investment. Without the initial box sales I don't think (though I have no hard proof) that many of the recent releases wouldn't have even approached profitability.
I feel like wow will lose players since games are going f2p
Wow , second artical today about a game going free.
First was CoX
Another subscription model bites the dust!
How long until WoW goes F2P? I guess that will happen shortly after SW:ToR, when their player base starts to fall away. Just imagine the QQ in the war-crack forums if this does happen. Gold farmers will rejoice at WoW F2P, as they can easily create spamming characters free, in that case WoW will become F2Spam.
hmmm....
Freemium most of the time really is a subscription model... it's just a marketing coating that makes it look like it's this new model...
WAR in it's second year had a free trial that ran forever but limited you to level 10... is that Freemium? Yeah it kinda is... but no one called it that. So what if instead of limiting players to level 10 you limit them in other things they can do... is that not the very definition of Freemium? Yeah... it kinda is...
The only reason these companies are announcing "Freemium" instead of "eternal trial" is because they get more coverage out of "freemium" and it gives em a pretext do stuff like re-launch the game...
The reality is in many Freemium models, you still have subs and you are just driving people towards subs.
...that's quick... within the year iirc
This is what happens to games that are not strong enough to compete in the subscription market.
It really should have been f2p at release, but companies keep dreaming of the subscriber money.
EvE will die before it goes F2P. Its simply not designed to support that way of doing buisness. The game would fall apart in a F2P model.
You answered yourself. "MMO's as an industry". I think the MMO industry as a whole is in a rut and so currently don't play one. But I hope to some day. Does that make me a hypocrit??
I wonder how detachable limbs and body parts will play into the cashshop.
Maybe we start off as only a head able to roll around, or just a hopping torso, or maybe can only select 2-3 body parts for free, and must purchase the rest lol.
Obviously it won't be that insane, but in a lego setting everything is part of a smaller piece, and the CS could easily be over abused because of that.
Their problem was that they limited the release of this game. I was so excited to play this game but when i saw that the initial release excluded Australia I was very dissappointed and lost interest. I will definitely look at this game now when the F2P and digital download are up.
"Not meaning to anger anyone with this thread, though I know in these forums its quite impossible. You can say "I enjoy vanilla ice cream" and still have 50 posts of angry, hot-tempered people who have nothing better to do than argue with you." - Dirkzen
Sounds like a scam to me, how big is this so called "Free Zone"?
"Game XXX will kill WoW" threads got old back in 2005
why am i not surprised
anyway, it's scary that all game industries are going into f2p, FE, this, and what next? prolly all the big ones like WoW will at some point
So What Now?
Free to play is what happens when the original game sucks or the devs are smart and greedy.
LU sucked.
Anyhow, the f2p model is used more and more often because it actually generates more income. Certainly there are some players who go f2p and never spend a cent, but more get sucked into the "Oh, I have to have this shield for $2 and this extra bank slot for $15 and that cool mount for $10" and then they repeat that pattern the next week, etc. I've been in f2p games where people brag about spending hundreds a week.
Having done both models though, I find the f2p model to be something to avoid. In addition to the nickel and dime charges for damn near everything, you also get the worst types of players. The ultra-pathetic who want everything for free and constantly beg for help/money and the ultra-priveledged who think that they should be treated special because they spend so much every week.
In p2p, I find the vast majority of players actually have a vested interest in the gameplay and the willingness to work for their rewards. Obviously there will always be some players in all games who detract from them overall, but in f2p you get much more of them.