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YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Star Trek Online switches to free-to-play model

    By Mike Flacy | Digital Trends – Tue, Jan 17, 2012

    Originally debuting  during March 2010, the online Star Trek collaboration between Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios has moved to the popular free-to-play model as of today. Following the lead of DC Universe Online as well as Lord of the Rings Online, anyone can download and play the Star Trek MMORPG for free. While players get to experience the majority of what the game has to offer at the free Silver level, players will also have the option of continuing to pay $14.99 a month for Gold status.

    Several of the Gold status perks include a larger item and bank inventory, a higher energy credit cap, another character slot, more officer slots, free veteran rewards, priority login to servers, greater privileges on chat, mail and forums, advertisement-free Vivox voice chat and a monthly stipend of promotional points. A full comparison between silver and gold levels can be found here on the Star Trek Online site.

    By shifting to the free-to-play model, the company hopes to increase the player base as well as the amount of micro-transactions that are conducted within the game. The silver level is also setup to encourage more purchases and potentially entice new users to upgrade to gold level as they become more involved in the game. According to chief executive of Cryptic Studios Jack Emmert, he stated “Updating Star Trek Online to the popular free-to-play model removes those barriers of entry that previously kept fans and casual gamers away. Anyone can download and play Star Trek Online at no cost. There’s no better way to see how sitting in the captain’s chair feels.”

    Despite the unique Star Trek theme appealing to many trekkies, Star Trek Online initially struggled with average critical reviews and wasn’t able to gain an enormous number of subscribers after the 2010 launch. Alternatively, Electronic Arts and Bioware’s Star Wars: The Old Republic currently has over one million registered users just after one month and peak player usage clocks in around 350,000 people during the heaviest times.

    This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

    More from Digital Trends

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    5 comments

    • 43 fan
      43 fan  •  3 mths ago
      Thats got to suck for all the poeple who paid for it already especially the ones who got the lifetime subsrciption packages LMAO. I'm glad I waited
    • Spartan Joe
      Spartan Joe  •  Southfield, Michigan  •  4 mths ago
      In the world of Star Trek, civilization has advanced beyond the need for monetary gain and wealth. What an irony, that the game requires MONEY to be PLAYED. LOL
      • Randolph
        Randolph 4 mths ago
        Maybe the game was made by the Ferengi?
    • Hogfather
      Hogfather  •  Brookline, Massachusetts  •  4 mths ago
      I think its a pretty sweet game. Decent squad-based fights, great space combat, and its especially fun if you have some friends to group up with. Its kind of easy though, I recommend playing all missions at Advanced or Elite settings.
    • Hector
      Hector  •  4 mths ago
      Star Trek is an okay game, I quit paying about a month before they went free to play and had a mid level avitar. I was invited back at the gold level but it was a pipe dream since they deleted my Main avitar and a lower level Klingon that I had started. In other words they lied to me to get me back Cryptic sucks.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  4 mths ago
      Star Wars started as a feature film and had a better story line. I think the big screen saga of Star Wars pulls people in better than the rebooted Star Trek.
     Post a comment
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