Hey, Trekkies, did you want to boldly go where no man has gone before, but got put off by the fees for playing Star Trek Online? Fresh intelligence from Starfleet has informed us that by the end of 2011, STO will be switched to the free-to-play model.
Cryptic Studios, the developer of STO, was purchased earlier this year by Perfect World, a games company based in China. They bought it from Atari for a cool $50.3 million, and according to CFO Kelvin Lau, they are currently at work on the free-to-play model with the intention of launching before 2012.
“I think with the free-to-play model, we have bigger potential in the U.S. market and also in the Chinese market,” said Lau.
The announcement of this plan for the online MMO was made during Perfect World’s Q2 2011 earnings conference call on September 1st. Currently, the game is available for a subscription rate of $14.95 per month, with price breaks offered for multiple month payments.
Full details of what will be offered as part of the switch, along with a FAQ and other information, will be available at StarTrekOnline.com sometime next week. Set phasers to stun.
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2 comments
Tk
September 5, 2011 at 6:07 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Awesome Info
Maddarilke
September 6, 2011 at 7:11 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Thanks for the info!