It’s no secret that most free to play MMOs and MMORPGs come out of Asia. When it comes to f2p, countries like South Korea, China, and even Japan have been ahead of the West for years. There is a reason why Asian countries adopted the free to play, micro transaction supported business model while America and Europe largely stuck to the subscription model. Asian citizens were simply not affluent enough to afford the subscription, and many didn’t even have personal computers. Instead, gamers traveled to internet cafes where they paid to play on an hourly basis.
Even though most of the major economies of Asia have since prospered, the habit of making dozens of small purchases rather than lump-sums has stuck. Even games that are pay-to-play in the West like Age of Conan and Lineage 2 are free to play in South Korea. Oddly enough, free to play seems to be better for business than the monthly subscription method. More and more Western developers are starting to realize this. There are now a ton of Western developed games that are free to play or have been converted from P2P to F2P.
Turbine was one of the first pioneers of the MMOPRG industry with their 3D title Asheron’s Call. They’ve also been one of the quickest to adapt to the new realities of the market. Both The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online are now free to play, though they still maintain optional monthly subscriptions. Its very likely that their future releases will stick to the new f2p model. Another veteran studio that has embraced free to play is Sony Online Entertainment. Admittedly, ‘Sony’ is not exactly a Western company, but SOE is based in America and has operated some classic Western MMORPGs including EverQuest, and Star Wars Galaxies. They launched a free to play alternative to their EverQuest 2 title under the label EverQuest 2: Extended. But even before that, they have been testing the f2p waters with games like Free Realms and Clone Wars Adventures.
But its not just MMORPG industry veterans switching their tactics. Large publishers of traditional retail video games are also under threat from the Asian model. Its not just MMORPGs that f2p in Asia, but shooters, racers, sports game, and all the rest. Companies like Electronic Arts and THQ have started coming around to the free MMO future. Lets start with EA. They have a number of free titles now including the third person shooter Battlefield Heroes, the real-time strategy game BattleForge, and the racer Need for Speed World. As for THQ, their famous World War 2 themed strategy franchise Company of Heroes now has a free to play version called Company of Heroes Online.
There are a lot more Western developed MMORPG and MMOs that are free to play. But this is only the beginning. I expect almost all PC titles to eventually convert to the microtransaction model.