APB Reloaded MMO. A look at Pay to Play Games as F2P Games

This news is a tad bit old now – but GamersFirst announced last month that they would be re-launching APB as a free to play game called “APB Reloaded”. Firstly, It’s cool to see a dead MMO like APB, which cost some $50 million to develop relaunching as a free to play title. Secondly, It’s awesome that GamersFirst is bringing back a dead game. The fact is, Real Time Worlds, the bankrupt studio behind APB, launched an incomplete game that was doomed to failure. Instead of their work being “wasted”, the game is revived as free to play. I suspect in the future, less and less pay to play MMORPGs will actually “shut down”. Instead, they’ll re-launch as free to play games just to see if the game will catch on. Dungeons and Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online from Turbine were smashing hits as free to play games. In fact, both of these games made MUCH more revenues as free to play games than as pay to play ones. I would have loved to see NCSoft relaunchTabula Rasa as a free to play MMO instead of shutting the game down outright. I’d of course like to see games like Final Fantasy 11 and Age of Conan to eventually become free to play too – but seeing games become free to play instead of shutting down will prove to game publishers and developers that free to play really works.

Unfortunately, even with the success that Turbine has had with their free to play games, most game developers aren’t convinced that free to play is a viable business model for triple-A high budget titles. In reality, it is. Just look at the success Nexon has been having in North America. MapleStory, Dungeon Fighter Online and Vindictus have proven to be super popular (and profitable) for Nexon. Vindictus is easily a triple A action MMORPG with graphics that rival that of any “pay to play” game. Sony Online Entertainment is experimenting with free to play as well. They recently made Pirates of the Burning Sea free to play, and since doing so, the playerbase in the game has increased significantly. Back when the game had a free trial, I logged in to check it out and each of the game’s three servers had “ight” population. They now have “heavy” and “very heavy” population. It’s too early to say whether Pirates of the Burning Sea will do well or not as an F2P title, as the game became free to play a few days ago on November 29. I don’t think Sony Online Entertainment saw the success they expected when they made EverQuest 2 free to play 2-3 months ago. I think the reasonEverQuest 2 didn’t do that “great” as a free to play game is because it’s way too restrictive. Free to play users have shown that they dislike Mmos that are too “cash dependent”. MMORPG Cash Shops are a delicate thing and can’t be too overpowered. Gpotato learned the hard way with Allods Online that trying to milk their playerbase for every last dime they have is not a good way to keep their playerbase happy. Luckily, Pirates of the Burning Sea is much more “free” than EverQuest 2 – as there are only a handful of restrictions for free to play users. Those who end up subscribing at $15 a month receive some nice benefits, but nothing game-breaking.

I remember back when Electronic Arts released Need for Speed World, the game had some absurd level 10 cap for free to play users, and had the balls to call itself a free to play racing game. How can a game with such a level cap call itself free? It’s more like a free trial than anything else. Several months after release, EA removed the level 10 cap for free members due to player outrage. So I think any pay to play game that went free to play will eventually become more and more “free” as companies realize that they can make more money pleasing their users than angering them. Hopefully the new Battlefield MMOFPS game isn’t too restrictive, the same way Need for Speed World was when it launched. I think EA has a decent grasp on the whole F2P concept though, as they already have numerous F2P games including Battleforge, FIFA Online, Lord of Ultima and a bunch of other games.

Where are all the Turn Based MMORPGs?

Turn based RPGs on the Playstation 2 were big business. Single player RPGs like Tales of Vesperia and Final Fantasy 13 on the Xbox 360 were fairly big games too. As an avid MMORPG gamer, I’m a bit disappointed that there are so few turn based MMORPGs available. I’ve looked for quite a while and I’ve only found a handful of decent ones. I think Atlantica Online from Ndoors is probably the best one. The game has great 3D visuals and a ton of playable characters. Like Sword 2 from GamersFirst, you can also control 3+ characters at once, which gives the game some unique dynamics. The only other remotely popular turn based MMORPG is Wonderland Online from IGG. It’s a 2D MMORPG with awful graphics. I actually like the 2D graphics in WonderKing and Grand Chase, but the visuals in Wonderland Online are bleh at best. Graphics are important, but its not a deal breaker for me. After all, one of the best MMORPGs if you ask me is Ragnarok Online from Gravity Interactive, and it doesn’t have very good graphics, especially compared to newer games like Iris Online from gPotato.

If you’ve never played either Atlantica Online or Wonderland Online do yourself a favor and play Atlantica Online. Of if you want to lower your exceptions before playing either, try Myth War 2 Online or Zodiac Online. Those are both pretty low tier turn based MMORPGs. WeMade Entertainment has Digimon Battle – which is also a pretty bad game. The only reason Digimon Battle is bad is its a really old MMORPG. The game is like 6+ years old. But if you were to only play ONE turn based MMORPG definitely make it Atlantica Online. I think Ndoors did a phenomenal job with it the game. It has some 10+ playable classes, top notch 3D graphics and a huge game world. I can’t imagine why there aren’t more games like it. Ndoors has proven that turn based MMORPGs can be successful – so why are so many game developers still releasing very generic 3D anime MMORPGs? Iris Online for example from gPotato is a really sleek game, but it brings nothing new to the table. The same thing applies to Zentia from ChangYou. It’s a fairly solid title, but it brings nothing new to the table either. I had a chance to play Loong: The Power of the Dragon from Gamigo the other day and I was really surprised by the game’s visuals. Too bad even though the gameplay is fluid, there aren’t really any special gameplay mechanics which would make the game unique.

One thing I can’t quite figure out is why game developers keep churning out MMOFPS games. Ijji just released Genesis A.D last week on Nov 8 and plans on releasing their World War 2 themed Karma: Operation Barbarossa later in the year. I think aside from fantasy MMORPGs the second most popular genre is MMOFPS games. Sci-fi MMORPGs are probably less popular than turn based MMORPGs, as the only sci-fi MMORPGs I can think of are RF Online and Megaten. That’s it.

Anyway guys, I know I got super side tracked with this one, but I’d like to see more turn based MMOs out there. More specifically, more games like Atlantica.