The Secret World may be headed to Free-to-Play

Michael Dunaway
By Michael Dunaway, News Editor Posted:
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The new CEO of Funcom, Ole Schreine, spoke recently to GamesIndustry.biz about development in the world of MMOs and the future of The Secret World. Schriene stated, "That said we definitely have the tools to turn The Secret World into a free-to-play game - or even hybrid - should we decide to do that somewhere down the line." Something Funcom did with Age of Conan that resulted in significant success, gaining over 600,000 new players in a span of only 4 months.

Speculating on the future of The Secret World, all signs point to the MMO going F2P. The MMO has already had issues delivering it's promised content updates on time, a usual sign of internal trouble for an MMO. We have seen countless times in the past a sort of "structure" used when pursuing the F2P route with a previously P2P title.

It all starts with less then expected results from sales and subscription numbers reported, it then moves on to reports and talks of F2P being an "option" for the developers to consider, from here it moves on to free trials, and lastly we get the full conversion to a Free to Play model. On top of this, Funcom already has experience with converting Age of Conan to the F2P model, making this familiar territory for the developers, and perhaps speeding up the decision process as to whether or not the model will change.

What is your thoughts on the matter? Do you think we will see The Secret World go F2P by the end of the year? Would you play it? Let us know.

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In this article: The Secret World.

About the Author

Michael Dunaway
Michael Dunaway, News Editor

Michael Dunaway has been part of the MMOBomb team for years and has covered practically every major Free-to-Play MMO title since 2009.

More Stories by Michael Dunaway

Discussion (58)

taliss 11 years ago
ok so is it a purchase to play or complete Free To Play

MaxHavok 11 years ago
ive wanted to play this game since it was first announced...just couldnt afford it...if it goes f2p i may not leave my house for awhile,lol

Jamie 11 years ago
No MMO is worth a subscription fee. Even if it cost them 1 mil a month to support their servers (which it absolutely doesn't), think of how many million people pay $12 or whatever a month. That's millions, MILLIONS, of dollars a month with some going towards servers and content releases. Simple math.

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kalashnikov 11 years ago
if its going to be f2p me and my friends will play it for sure!

RonanX524 11 years ago
I agree in the fact that this will go F2P, the game is by far the first of its kind to be classless and having the opportunities it has. I myself have participated in the Beta and each day I would go on the game and play for hours on end. Its awesome how you can use the internet to solve mysteries adding to the excietment. The game is going to be big if it does, I saw Age of Conan and played it and I did have fun playing. If The Secret World goes it most likley to be the game with over hundreds of thousands of players in just a few short months.

SimonF 11 years ago
I think its time we start defirentiating between F2P and F2Try. Calling EQ2, AoC or Swtor F2P is the same as calling WoW f2p the only difference is up to what level you can play the game. Examples of real F2P is LOL, DDO and LoTRO. This game is managed by Funcom, if it goes "F2P" it will be some sort of F2Try yet again. Major point i am making here is MMOBOMB needs to get get ahead of the competition and call these companies on their BS instead of steering their readers into the wrong direction by calling these Free to Try games F2P which is just false.

erterte 11 years ago
I don't even know why these noobs make games for P2P, since they all go for F2P after a few months.

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Andy2761 11 years ago
Hm seems fun

Takerukun 11 years ago
Yep, they already have a trial out. got emailed about it since i was in closed beta months ago. You get 3 free days of play, do 30 missions and get an extra 2 days plus 10 bucks for the cash shop. Defeat the first boss and you will get a skull ring with xp boost. lol.

Okoice 11 years ago
EvE Rule this :D

luh 11 years ago
soon if you have a lot of restriction can u call it F2P ?
And om not interessed in this game some friends talk bad 99% im gona no try

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lilfighter 11 years ago
This game wasn`t even a success for a second while it was pay2play, why would free2play be anything else than fail?

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PsyMike3d 11 years ago
Failcom

blackjoker86 11 years ago
companies might as well stop the p2p stuff cause some of them never work out as plan b2p and f2p is whats up

rockmeo 11 years ago
LOL!! i just lol!! because if this game goes pay to play , its going to be a comunity as world of warcraft was or is , i find it stupid to make this game pay to play , i saw the oficial trailer and stuff and how the creators of the game explain the game , i dont think is going to be pay to play ... anyways ... even if the story line and the gameplay looks good if it goes pay to play wont be worth to even try it .

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IHateMMOs 11 years ago
Wow, what surprise (sarcasm).

Decassa 11 years ago
Yes should go to ftp especially if there a cash shop in game already, that is just plain greedy imo! I understand that there are cost to be made i.e servers e.t.c but i play a few mmorpg that are free and running successfully and get their support from item mall e.t.c.

I personally would not ptp as to me its just a game, but using item mall/cashshop i fully support

Kocain 11 years ago
they better do it
if they want more player to know about this game

Casualslacks 11 years ago
I bought The Secret World during an Amazon sale for $25 and now I plan on paying the sub for at least a couple of months. Nevertheless, it's really difficult to encourage other people to buy the game at $60 because I wouldn't. Also, I'm skeptical that a 3-day trial can even display exactly how TSW is not just another cookie-cutter, theme-park, western MMORPG and does not want to be. The developers had a ton of ambition and it is doubtful that the game will pan out exactly as they planned with a couple million of player and monthly updates. Additionally, TSW beta had a high number of players and Funcom used that number to pin their sales expectations on. It's now clear post-launch that those millions would only play TSW for free. All signs point to F2P. Now they need to get on the ball with their cash shop and make it happen.

Unlike so much else in the game, the cash shop feels tacked on. It feels like one camp at Funcom really wanted the subscription model and despised F2P cash shops and another camp insisted that not including a cash shop was leaving money on the table. The second camp won, but couldn't get first camp to help them build assets to sell. Which is unfortunate because I totally agree with the second camp (assuming it isn't fictitious). I think that they need sell more sexy, more thematic clothes and costume pieces and weapons that are no better than those currently available in-game, but look super f*** awesome. If Champions Online has taught me nothing else, I will buy cosmetic crap if it makes my characters look cool.

I think the changeover needs to be slow. The minute they announce that TSW is going F2P all sales of the game will stop and boxes will sit uselessly on the shelves. I think if that they move too fast, they will lose more money than they will make. I'm still not clear how profitable DDO, LOTRO, and even AoC are today despite the boost they all received at their respective F2P transitions. Therefore, in the long haul, it may be best to hang on to subs for as long as possible or at least until the cash shop is improved. TSW devs want to add content to the game frequently and I can't help but think that they will be severely limited under the F2P model. Although, I'd definitely keep subbing as long as they keep the content coming.

TheGodReaper 11 years ago
and now what shall i do with my lifetime sub?

Arcuz123 11 years ago
If this agme goes f2p it will be probably best MMo in country

Psycho07 11 years ago
This a joke? really a joke?

TheGamer 11 years ago
Dammit, what's next?Guild Wars F2P?Let me see my list:

LOTRO:Check;
Age of Conan:Check;
City of Heroes:Check;
Lineage 2:Check;
Aion:Check;
Champions Online:Check;
Star Trek Online:Check;
SWTOR:Check;
Blade and Soul:...Maybe...
DDO:Check;
Global Agenda:Check;
Team Fortress 2:Check;

And other games...So i think its official, F2P is the future, and when i saw The Secret World trailer i was like "Hmm, ok i will wait a little bit, it will be f2p in the end...", looks like a good game, the problem is that people try to compare new MMO's content, to, well, another MMO (*cough*WoW*cough*) that have a 10 years of content advantage...So screw this, who knows?Maybe now with GW2, NCSoft releases GW1 F2P, since they closed CoH, just in the moment i was going to try it out...And remember, GW2 already have a cash shop...Maybe in a year or less...Maybe not...

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Inflictious 11 years ago
No offence to anyone, But i Payed for this Game and bought time even though i Had to use a Credit Card !

I fear free to play would just make it a P2W, I'd rather have it as a B2P, Unlike Conan this game Is a really well made AAA game.

They also would have kept a decent Fan Base and Active community if they MADE TIME CARDS !
I felt bad for anyone that bought it and never had access to a CC ( That was just money wasted for them)

Peace

Inflictious

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Snowwww 11 years ago
oy, who didn't foresee this?

Nexzu 11 years ago
OOOOHHHH!!!! Now you want to be f2p! When I saw this game and played the beta... I knew it was going f2p anyway. But its to late for you, you should have originally came out as a f2p or at least b2p. But no I'm to deep into guild wars 2 to play it. It a great concept but... but... Im sorry its to late.

iggy pop 11 years ago
this game made big mistakes
if only the quest did not feel like resident evil online .it would have been a great game
i mean perfect if only it had normal quest and did not expect u 2 check google every quest u do .
also as magic man said the cash shop on p2p is not cool

Sunny 11 years ago
I was very excited when this came out, but the price was to much for me (yeah, yeah but with a 3yo and hours being cut and one income its not easy sometimes). I loved the look of it, if its f2p I would love that. But as long as it doesn't turn into a p2w type game.

Draugen 11 years ago
if they make it free i hope it's not gonna be the Age of Conan model

FeddeWilliams 11 years ago
It SHOULD be free :P yaayyy!!!

┼ Church ┼ 11 years ago
YEA BABY!! This is how The Secret World was MEANT to be released!!

Bayhas 11 years ago
I thought it was a F2P with a subscription for the exact reason Magicman posted. lol

Atengen 11 years ago
There is no question that it will go f2p, but the better question is, will it survive as one. Like Magicman said, it already has a cash shop, i can only imagine how p2w the cash shop will get after converting to a "free" model

Rinor 11 years ago
Man thats kinda nice but sad at the same time knowing that games no cannot for any reason go p2p meaning a lot less funding will be put into games i mean look at dark millenium (my most awaited game) but they have to turn it into a singleplayer / multiplayer game instead of the original MMO game play they wanted ... but yea i guess more games for me 2 play.

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Magicman 11 years ago
Not to mention that the game already has a cash shop in it.
-Magicman

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