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Joystiq

Need for Speed World shifts to free-to-play model, as user base passes 1 million milestone

by Randy Nelson on Sep 9th 2010 2:30PM

EA has announced that Need For Speed World, its MMO racer, has surpassed one million registered players since going live on July 27. With this milestone comes word that the game will soon be adding a co-op pursuit mode and expanded customization options (in addition to the already-promised new gameworld areas). Oh, and it's gone completely free-to-play.

Originally free only up to level 10 -- requiring a $20 investment for the "full" experience -- Need For Speed World has removed its base cost, although the purchase of items, power-ups, car rentals and other premium content will remain an option under the F2P model.

Source: EA

Tags: ea, ea-black-box, Electronic-Arts, free-to-play, mmo, Need-for-Speed, need-for-speed-world, pc

Reader Comments (15)

A racing mmo? Never heard of it. Sounds interesting though.

HAHA wow cue rage from people who payed.

@Damanx

The best part is all the horrid spelling in the comments over there.

Well that's certainly all the encouragement I needed to give this game a shot. BRB downloading.

As a fan of the Need for Speed series in general (up til Carbon, actually) I've wanted to give this a shot, but it seemed a little too limited with as much as I could be playing it. I wonder if it's more Pro Street or Most Wanted...

@Marzz
Oh man, this is fantastic actually. As much a fan of Most Wanted as I am, the first few races are STRAIGHT OUT OF MW. Seriously.

I'm pretty impressed. For a F2P model, anyhow.

I forget this exists and I'm actually an NFS fan. It's a shame that EA milks this franchise on a yearly basis. Higher hopes for Hot Pursuit in November.

@Imperial,
this isn't too bad though. Free multiplayer races with friends on the fly, it's pretty fun. What ruins part of the experience for me though is traffic AI and how cars react when they hit each other.

@Imperial Played Hot Pursuit at PAX and wow, it's like the previous open world games never existed. A return to the oldschool way of how the series used to play. Maybe playing it on a giant LCD screen colored my impressions just a bit, but it was fun.

Unless you are from UK or US lagg shouldn't be a problem.
Its a shame really, a free mmo that limits you to lv 10 till you buy it.

@Spoof Meister
oh nevermind just the article

It is interesting the lack of hate for the free to play model. Most MMO players think it is the worst thing ever as it automatically means.. to them at least.. that the cash shop will offer items that give an unfair advantage to players who pay.

If this game offers "power ups" in the cash shop it will be adding fuel to that fire.

I say people who pay and support a game's very existence.. the game these people claim to love but won't pay a dime for.. SHOULD get something that the ones who do not pay are not given.

That it should be something that affects the "balance" of the game is up for debate but cash shops are how free to play games survive.. or not.

I love racing games for some reason even though I am not a car person. I can change my own oil and just recently replaced my car battery. That is about as far as my car knowledge extends lol.

I'll be checking this one out.

And I'll be wishing for a stronger PC

Downloaded it when it came out, then stopped playing two days later. It's not bad, I was just too busy with StarCraft 2! :D

I didn't know this existed, is it good?

The purchasing of items is not an "option", it's basically a requirement. I've played a couple of weeks in the beta, and between insane rubberband AI for the singleplayer events and speedhacks in multiplayer races, without items you are not getting anywhere. Yes, the game is hacked ALREADY. Best stay clear, this is one of the cases where EA is REALLY after your money, folks. F2P my ass.

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