Dungeons and Dragons Online went live back in 2006, and a number of my friends took part in the beta, enjoying the game immensely. Then the product went live, and they never played again. The reason was simple: the game was $50, the monthly fee was $15, and for many gamers that's a hard sell. Then suddenly, a week or so ago, everyone was playing again. A thread about the game popped up on our forum. Where did this buzz come from? Simple: the game was once again free to play.
You can still buy a subscription, and that comes with a number of benefits, but you can also download the client for free, and play a huge chunk of the game without paying a single cent. We caught up with Fernando Paiz, the Executive Producer of the game, to explore what might be the next big thing in online gaming: not charging.
"We're hitting and exceeding our internal targets, so far we're very happy," he told Ars when we asked how the game has grown since becoming free. "All aspects of our business are growing. Hundreds of thousands of new players in the world are playing for free, with a very high percentage using the store." The internal projections for growth were doubled. Even more surprising, subscriptions have gone up 40 percent since the game has gone free-to-play.
Here's how it works. Anyone can download the client and create a character and start playing. As you level up, you can buy everything from hair dye to new adventures and dungeons using Turbine points, which can be bought with either real money or earned in the game. You can still subscribe, which gets you more character slots and a monthly allotment of Turbine points, as well as some other perks.
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