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Lord of the Rings Online To Go Free-To-Play

Posted by Soulskill on from the has-a-nice-one-ring-to-it dept.

darkwing_bmf sends word of Turbine's announcement that Lord of the Rings Online will become a free-to-play game this fall. 'The move is another validation of the free-to-play business model, where gamers can play for free and pay real money for virtual goods such as better weapons or decorative gear for their game characters. The business model has been popular in Asia but only recently took off in the US. This move shows the pressure is building on game publishers to shift to the new business model or face declining audiences.' According to a post on the official website, LotRO's micro-transaction system will be "very similar" to how Turbine's DDO store works, and current subscribers will maintain all of their privileges.

7 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Validation or desperation? by DrXym · · Score: 1, Funny

    Hah beat you to it

  2. How much is a ring? by Animats · · Score: 4, Funny

    So how much is a ring?

    1. Re:How much is a ring? by Silly+Man · · Score: 3, Funny

      Your soul.

    2. Re:How much is a ring? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      one does not simply walk into zales...

  3. Re:Validation or desperation? by Commander+South · · Score: 1, Funny

    shucks, well at least I feel good about myself as I googled always ran to make sure there wasn't some phrase I didn't know about :)

  4. Past is Prologue by Itninja · · Score: 1, Funny

    Is not every fantasy-based MMORPG essentially LoTR Online?

    --
    I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
  5. Re:Validation or desperation? by prionic6 · · Score: 2, Funny

    You know, in Korea...