pay to play – MMO Fallout

Black Desert Online Hits Steam: 40% Off This Month

Black Desert Online is available to purchase on Steam, right now! To celebrate the launch of the action MMO on Steam’s platform, players can snag a copy for 40% off for the rest of the month. That means getting in on the action will cost as little as $6. There will also be several in-game sales as well as a few drop events going on until the end of the month. In anticipation of a flood of players, Kakao Games has set up extra servers to share the load.

To better support the additional influx of players, Kakao Games will employ extra Olvia speed servers, some of which will be exclusively reserved to cater for new players that are coming through Steam. Users can choose to play on the exclusive servers or to jump into the greater community straight away. Special “Olvia” servers will help players to level-up quickly and catch up with the existing Black Desert Online community.

For more information, check out the link below. While you’re here, take a gander at Black Desert Online’s latest trailer.

(Source: Steam)

Wildstar Recalls Point Toward Impending Changes

EB Games and JB Hi-Fi have been ordered to recall all copies of Wildstar from shelves in Australia, increasing the likelihood that the game is in the process of either changing its subscription model or shutting down entirely. As of this publishing. Wildstar is still available for purchase from the official website, as well as at game stores internationally.

While this is speculation at best until NCSoft/Carbine Studios make an official announcement, there is precedent. Copies of The Elder Scrolls Online were recalled shortly before the game’s transition to buy to play was announced, as well as retiring its six month subscription package.

(Source: Games.on.net)

Free to Play Drew $2.8 Billion In 2013

Super Data Research is a group that provides market intelligence in the online, digital, and mobile games industry. The numbers for 2013 have been released, detailing the estimated sales for mobile, free to play, and subscription based titles. Free to play was dominated by Crossfire and League of Legends, bringing in a combination of nearly $1.6 billion.

Social games dropped 21% over last year, with the US hitting an average of $50 per paying user spent. Free to play games brought in $2.8 billion, an increase in total revenue despite a decrease in monthly active user count. Pay to play, on the other hand, brought in $1.1 billion in 2013, down nearly 20% from 2012.

Unsurprisingly, the top free to play earnings chart was dominated by the usual titles: World of Tanks, League of Legends, Lineage, World of Warcraft, The Old Republic, and Crossfire.

(Source: Super Data Research)