It’s not the first and it certainly won’t be the last to jump from a subscription-based model to the free to play one, but Rift held out for a surprisingly long time.
Numerous MMOs emerged and subsequently went F2P while Rift stuck to it’s pay to play guns but now it goes to join its brothers and sisters in the idyllic world of F2P gaming.
From the 12th of June Rift will be a Free to Play game.
Creative director of Rift Bill Fisher said on Rift’s official site, “the market has changed dramatically over the years. Some of the first online game services charged by the hour to play, next came the age of monthly subscription games, and we are now well within the age of Free to Play. These changes have brought more freedom, choice, and flexibility to the player.”
“We are not selling power. We are not pay to win. Every piece of stat-granting equipment that you can buy from the store can also be gained through play.”
Hopefully Fisher’s words will act as an effective reassurance that the quality of Rift will stay intact, but there’s always a worry that a game’s community will be undermined when you open the floodgates. You only need look as far as League of Legends to see how aggressively unpleasant free to play communities can become.
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