Age of Empires Online freemium model not looking to 'nickel and dime'

Age of Empires Online may be a freemium title, but Microsoft Game Studios General Manager Dave Luehmann tells us "it's not a nickel and dimey microtransaction thing." During an interview at Gamescom today, the executive expressed that the studio doesn't want it to feel like some other freemium titles where "what you don't want to do in the game is what you pay for," or "that you pay to skip the parts you don't like." Luehmann explained, "I don't like to pay for things I don't like to do, that seems kind of backwards. So how about we produce things that people actually want?"

Robot Entertainment Designer Jerome K. Jones, who is working on the game chimed in, "So it would be like paying for an expansion pack. ... You won't buy one thing at a time. You might buy an entire civ or another region with a bunch of quests in it."

The game is currently in Beta and will officially launch in the first half of 2011. Both Robot and Microsoft are trying to figure out how much to eventually charge for content. The duo told us the game currently has over 25 hours of free stuff available, which kind of stops making the game sound "freemium" and makes it sound more, um, free?

Reader Comments (13)

Signed up for the Beta...have not heard back yet. I hope I make the cut!

If it';s just expansions you pay for, like Guild Wars, then I'm okay with this

The concept of the game is very interesting with a 24/7 world but this isn't really what I wanted to see the next AoE game to be. I was somewhat hoping for a more modern one, but then it would start to fall into modern age RTS's which I'm not a huge fan of. Although I am interested to see if this move will change how RTS's will be made and played, if only on a small scale

Doesnt seem like AoE i came to love to me. :/

Faenix, Another negative comment on a Microsoft article.
Before you protest and claim my fanboy roots are clouding my vision, check your comment history - you might be doing it subconsciously.

@Faenix

Read was going to be more like AoE2, but it's missing the farm/fields around the town center, which is where everyone builds their farms until they tech to granary.

Also missing palisade/stone walls.. wasn't AoE2 all about evolution of feudal/siege warfare?

Freemium is a synonym for nickel and dime.

They *will* make the "expansions" more desirable, and put in a pyschological incentive for you to buy them.

For example, they'll tie in your "free" content, and bait you into buying 3-4 expansions for ~$10 a pop.

Long story short, it's "smart" nickel and dimeing: create a free dumbed down baseboard to launch your content. It's a strategy that has been used before.

@Magnalon

Exactly, I was able to distill this article to a single sentence..

"We're not looking to nickel-and-dime you guys, we're going to dime-and-nickel you."

Really robot, this is the best AoE you've got? Sigh. I'll sign up for the beta anyways.

The art style reminds me of Civilization: Revolution.

So does the whole game now that I think about it.

@Brockobama123

As a huge Age Of _ fan, I don't think that this is destroying the franchises. I am fine with the art style, as long as the gameplay I love is still there. And if it is free? All the better.

I don't like that they're making it an MMO.

I don't like the kiddie look.

I don't like it.

No one liked Wind Waker before they played it.

Give it a shot before you put the title down, you literally have nothing to lose.