Shadowbane becomes free-to-play
by Jennie Lees 
{ Mar 16th 2006 at 5:00PM }
Ubisoft's MMORPG Shadowbane
recently made a fairly subdued announcement regarding customer billing--or, rather, the lack of billing.
Shadowbane follows in the footsteps of MMOs like PlanetSide and Anarchy Online, allowing
previously paying customers to enjoy the game for
free.The low-key nature of this change means we don't know if the subscription fee will be replaced with other revenue streams such as in-game ads or expansion pack-based charges. Hopefully we'll have more news soon. For the time being, it seems fairly straightforward: download the game client, activate a free trial, never pay.
[Via digg]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
PsyClerk @ Mar 16th 2006 10:15PM
Interesting. I never gave Shadowbane a chance since it had so many problems at launch. Incidentally, the other MMO that went from pay to free, Anarchy Online, followed the exact same pattern. Over-hyped before release, extremely troubled launch period, eventually offered free accounts.
Ted @ Mar 17th 2006 12:03AM
FYI: when shadowbane closes a server, they dump every one onto another server, WITHOUT their bank accounts (any and all object stored at the inn), and without any of their gold. Plus you end up on the most desired, town-less area. It's like salmon swimming up river to spawn, with pks camping, killing all the migrators, as they're dumped onto the server.
It's a really alienating experience. I had a character on a server, back when it was a pay game, I logged in after finals week to find out I had been migrated to another server. The years worth of gold, that I had saved up for building a city, was gone.
After a migration, it is common to have to run for 6 or 8 hours to get to a town. It's only an hours to town, but the player killer mobs usually kill most of the migrators, before they can make it, so they have to start over again.
boneyard @ Mar 17th 2006 4:52AM
you do have certain restriction in anarchy online though (not all content is available free and such). for shadowbane it seems you can do everything.
Nico @ Mar 17th 2006 1:10PM
So Anarchy Online, PlanetSide and Shadowbane are all free now? No BS? Well if these games are free, are they worth playing? If they're are free I have a feeling it's because they suck. The problems that Ted mention about Shadowbane makes it sound like it's not worth playing even if it is free. So are any of these games any good? Are any worth playing? Give me your opinions. PlanetSide sounds kinda cool, maybe I'll check it out.