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Dow Jones in reporting that Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley, speaking at this year’s Austin Game Conference, revealed that the company is soon to release a subscription-free MMO. It has for a long time been the norm for MMOs to charge a monthly subscription fee and this has been the way these games made money. It now appears that SOE are confident this is not required, with the sale of optional add-ons, such as new levels and weapons being the new way to make money from MMOs.
Smedley didn’t announce any further details on the game, but did say that the company is “going to be launching this quickly.” This decision has no doubt been helped by the success of the Guild Wars from ArenaNet, which charges users for the game, but does not charge a monthly subscription. Over a million gamers have bought into the subscription free idea since the game’s launch in April 2005, and ArenaNet plans to sell new chapters for the game soon.
