Earthrise is one of those MMOs that journalists (or myself) look at and cringe. We’d love to see it succeed, because we support indie developers, but since we can’t cherry pick the news coming out of the title to put it in a better light without compromising our integrity, the end result is the perception of a group of writers forming a circle and kicking the company to death. On the other hand, my biggest problem with such MMOs is when the developer charges premium rates for a product that is not, by any means, premium quality. Look at Runescape, which could never have gotten away with a $15 monthly subscription back in the old days when it looked like this.
Then again, I consider any announcement of free to play to be a good thing, and that is exactly what we are here to discuss. Masthead Studios announced that Earthrise will be making the big dip into free this December. The actual transition does not take place until early next year, the December 1st date is for current and former players who had already purchased a copy of the game to play for free.
“The free-to-play model will offer convenience for players, it will not be ‘pay to win’ with items that ruin the balance of the game.”
The team plans to roll out the free to play system in a manner in which players can access without the servers crashing, and rather than opening the floodgates will be allowing players in intervals.
“Meanwhile Earthrise will be used as a test for the new free-2-play model and Masthead will limit the creation of new accounts. Invitations will be sent to selected new players and a new sign-up option will be provided. All existing subscribers will receive a number of invitations to bring their friends in the game. “
MMO Fallout 