Funcom, developers of The Secret World, one of the coolest MMOs to be released in ages, has finally ended its monthly game subscription model which means, once you’ve bought the game, The Secret World is now free-to-play forever. All I can say is “Yay”.
After all, the business model Funcom chose — pay for the game, pay for a monthly subscription to play it, pay, pay, pay — was just destined for failure. And fail it did, considering how few people actually played it. But, from now on, you’ll pay a one-time payment to buy a boxed copy of or a download of The Secret World and, from then on, you won’t pay anything else. Unless you want to, that is.
Even more interesting, Game Designer and Director, Joel Bylos, gave an in-depth interview to IncGamers this week and explained exactly why they made the free-to-play decision they did, and what’s in store for the game in the future. (And yep, I’m excited).
One new thing will be increased DLCs, which you will have to pay for but, as they’ll be between $5 and $10 a shot they’re easily affordable for most.
Plus, as Bylos says in the interview, as time goes on the DLCs will be bundled at a cheaper price and will eventually become free the older they become, so gamers who can’t afford them will still get access to them eventually.
For a lot more on the new business model for The Secret World, you can check out the full Joel Bylos interview at IncGamers. Or you can buy the game at Funcom’s website and just get started.
And, if you haven’t yet played The Secret World (I’ve seen it in action and highly recommend it), you might want to check out the quick video trailer to see.
I am a Brit-American journalist, former radio DJ at 97X WOXY, and Founder/CEO of Leo Sigh. I’m also obsessed with music, anime, manga, and K-dramas. Help!