Star Trek Online producer 'could easily see' the game using Turbine freemium model
by Alexander Sliwinski 
on Jul 12th 2010 9:50PM
Star Trek Online's
new executive producer Daniel Stahl recently stated that he "
could easily see" a hybrid free-to-play model working for Cryptic's MMO. Stahl specifically mentions (
recent Warner Bros. acquisition) Turbine's
Lord of the Rings Online and
Dungeons & Dragons Online as "interesting plans" worth taking note of.
DDO went freemium last year to create a
dungeon full of gold for the developer;
LotRO will roll the die for the same fate
this autumn.
Stahl expressed that Turbine's model creates a "robust way to demo the game" and allows those wanting more to pay for a subscription or purchase items á la carte. With Cryptic's parent-company Atari
operating at a loss, ways to beam up revenue would appear logical. It's unclear if it's a sign of the future, but Cryptic did conduct a
free-to-play away mission back in May.
