Here at MMO Fallout, I don’t think it is any surprise that Turbine is essentially my deity, and for numerous reasons. The one I’d like to get into today is what I call The Great Safety Net, not invented but popularized by Turbine. Before Dungeons and Dragons Online went free to play as a saving grace, an MMO losing its subscription was generally accompanied by an announcement that the game would be shutting down. The company couldn’t sustain the title anymore, and hell since the game was shutting down in a few months why not let everyone enjoy it while it lasts?
Dungeons and Dragons Online is a perfect example of a game that was falling down hard, and moved to what was, at the time, a fairly experimental system involving Turbine points, a VIP system, an allowance, and the contents of the item shop itself. Of course, communities saw this and immediately called the impending death of the game. After Turbine launched the free to play effort, Dungeons and Dragons increased its paying subscribers by 40%, with a 500% increase in sales over the first year.
So why do I say Turbine saved the industry? With Dungeons and Dragons Online, Turbine has proven that there is an option other than simply shuttering a title. Following Dungeons and Dragons Online, Turbine has proven that even a healthy title can become an even bigger cash cow when Lord of the Rings Online went free to play. Since Dungeons and Dragons Online, we’ve seen Everquest II move to free to play, alongside Pirates of the Burning Sea, and upcoming Champions Online, Global Agenda, Alganon, and more. Even the normal banter has changed. In many of the forums I visit, the phrase has changed from “I wonder how long until it shuts down” to “I wonder how long until they go f2p with a cash shop.”
Granted, taking the plunge into free to play cash shop is not a guarantee at success, but rather it’s like putting a cast on your horse’s broken leg in hopes that it will heal, rather than outright shooting it. In the case of Chronicles of Spellborn, well you can’t go free to play if your developer goes out of business. Perhaps if Turbine had popularized this just a year or two earlier, we might still be playing Tabula Rasa, The Matrix Online, and other titles.
More and more we can see companies experimenting with or thinking about the Turbine model. Sony is getting into the system with Pirates of the Burning Sea and Everquest II. Funcom and Mythic have discussed such moves with Age of Conan and Warhammer Online respectively, noting that the option is not off the table but not being considered at the moment. Cryptic is taking Champions Online to such a model. The option is no longer cake or death.
Of course, there are some companies that would rather shoot the horse than risk the cast, although with the popularity of Dungeons and Dragons Online, more of those companies might start seeing the light. I’m looking at you, NCsoft.
Which MMOs would you like to see go free to play? Drop us a comment below. Want MMO Fallout beamed directly to your email account? Sign up in the sidebar. Follow us on Twitter: @mmofallout.
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