Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Shadowbane: Free
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
Sometimes, when you read something, it takes a minute or two to kick in. Your mind just isn't expecting it, so you don't really believe it. That's what happened to me when I read that Shadowbane was now going to be FREE:
|
Many members of the Shadowbane Community have already noticed that a change has occured to the Billing System today; one that allows players to play for free! There will be a more in-depth announcement coming soon but, in the meanwhile, I wanted to let our community know that this is not an error. Existing users can now open up their Account Manager and their accounts will now be working, allowing them to play Shadowbane for free! This does include those who had previously canceled accounts! In addition, those who wish to try out Shadowbane for the first time will also be able to. All you have to do is create a new ubi.com account and then click on Add a Subscription, and you will have free access to the lands of Aerynth! This is not a Free-Trial subscription and it will not run out in 15-days. This is completely free! If you are looking for a place to download the Shadowbane client, you can get it from FilePlanet by clicking here for the PC version, and here for the Mac version! While these version are labeled for the "Free Trial", they are full versions of the game client and any active accounts can be used to play using them. No longer will players, existing and new alike, be charged to adventure in the lands of Aerynth! If you happen to be a new player or have not adventured in Shadowbane for many an age, makes sure you check out the Getting Started guide. You can also view the Shadowbane Version and Patch History to see what has changed over the last few years. |
For more on Shadowbane, click here.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
Just FYI, there is a long thread on this at the The Pub at MMORPG.COM:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion.cfm/load/forums/loadforum/51/loadthread/71197/setstart/1/loadclass/35
Sean "Ashen Temper" Dahlberg
http://www.seandahlberg.com/
Wolfpack is getting ready to announce Shadowbane 2 at E3 in less than two month. The problem is that lots of peoples read bad reviews of Shadowbane based on its state on release day. Now that Wolfpack improved it, they want everyone to try Shadowbane for a month to get a better opinion on the game, find out the great concepts this game has, but also the problems it has...and then "surprise!": Shadowbane 2 is announced. Great marketing I say ::28
OK - nice idea and I will bite and give it a go - just to have a look. Something to do and it is FREE.
SO I pop along to my local ubi.com website... log in as a good customer - I have have an ubi.com login for a long time.
Can I find any information about this free trial - NOPE.
Can I find anywhere to 'ADD A SUBSCRIPTION' - NOPE.
Is this only for new accounts? Can anyone post a link to the ubi.com website to the add subscription page?
Cheers.
Just follow the link from the news pieces on their official site, then log in and you'll see an add suscription button. It worked for me.
Yes,, it should patch up and download all the expansion packs and everything you'll need.
It's always something...
hmm, anyone else getting an "error, we are experiencing technical difficulties" message when trying to add a subscription?
i tried last night, got that, i try again now, and I am still getting that... i tried making a new Ubi account, but it seems that all three of my email addys are already in use (funny, eh? I only know of one account i have made).
Free or not to be a free? I tried and got this message: Subscription
No? This is the truth boys and girls! Aamen.
Well I do not know how long this will last. As a business marketing graduate I can see some reasons behind it, but none for offering it perminantly free.
There are huge costs for developing further content and if not that, just maintaining the servers. You need to pay for labor to maintain the servers at all time and keep specific standards and the huge bandwith it consumes. Your laternative is to pay a company to do the server management and hosting part at a preimum.
With need to buy a box copy and no need to subscribe this game would be a great white elephant for Ubi which consumes large amounts of money and offers no revenue operating at a defecit.
Obviously I must not have the whole picture from the business side so I really want to know how they expect to make a profit. Will they be introducting advertising into the game, or are they using this as a setup for the next launch of a Shadowbane 2.
Advertising would make fiscal sense and this strategy of free MMO would be important if that where the case because they must have large traffic to bring value to selling ads.
However if its to promote the launch of the next game its a high cost route with a small chance of success. Lets face it, the game is pretty dated in terms of graphics and like most MMO's will not be totally bug free. It might be much better then it was, but thats not the point. Furthermore I am not convinced that a free subsricber base if defeloped for this game would translate to SB2 subscribers in significant numbers. If this is their strategy they should cancel SB1 and finish SB2 then use similar tactics to promote trail in SB2 by offering a free month via digital download.
Overall, I really do not see why they made SB2 to begin with. The game failed pretty bad and to make a sequel succeed will be an uphill battle. It would have been more effecient to create a new game world with similar concepts and a diffrent title as there would be less need to regain the trust of those MMORPG gamers whom tried SB1 and hated it or its bugs with its awful release and the ability gather a fresh new user base.