I’m not entirely sure that “freeer” (the comparative term for “more free”) is a word, but if it isn’t a simple phone call and bribery of my glass D&D dice should get that added into Webster’s Dictionary toot sweet. Global Agenda technically went free to play back in June last year, following its February launch. In a post today, Hi-Rez announced that Global Agenda will be going entirely free to play, removing previous restrictions on free players. For a one time fee of $20 (with those who had purchased the game already receiving this bonus) players are upgraded to Elite Agent, and receive bonuses to experience and loot.
Free players are not entirely devoid of restrictions, however. Going by the news post, free players will have limited or no restrictions to various features, including the auction house, mail system, chat, agencies, and will also receive ads over the in-game voice feature, as well as being lower on the login priority list.
“Global Agenda has never required a monthly subscription to play and, for a while now, we have offered a generous free trial for the game.” said Todd Harris, Hi-Rez Studios COO. “Our experience with the limited free trial has demonstrated to us the great demand among free-to-play gamers for a AAA-quality Shooter MMO like Global Agenda. We believe this latest change will further broaden the game’s popularity and appeal.”
This comment from the news article confuses me, unless Todd Harris is spinning words. On second thought, I get it now. Global Agenda never required a subscription, in the sense that my crab legs at Red Lobster didn’t require me to pay, if all I wanted was the free water. The side of the game no one would have paid a subscription for anyway, the lobby-based shooting, was free. With restrictions. It does remind me of what I said last year, however:
I do get the hunch that, much like a certain Cities XL game that came out in 2009 and shut down in March, Global Agenda’s paid MMO side is not doing as well as the company had hoped. Oddly enough, this seems to be a trend with games that release with one half free, one half paid content, unless the game’s name is Guild Wars of course.
If it is any consolation, I still stand by that Global Agenda is a game worth getting into, and if you want to get into the game, the best time to do so may be before the game goes free to play. There is no guarantee that the coupon codes will still work after the game transitions, so you still have an opportunity to purchase the game (and obtain Elite Agent status) for $10, using one of the 50% coupon codes below.
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MMO Fallout 