Champions Online Going Free-to-Play

Turbine has had a lot of success recently in breathing new life into older MMOs by making them free-to-play. Now, Cryptic hopes to achieve similar success with its superhero MMORPG Champions Online.

In a State of the Game update, Cryptic Executive Producer Shannon Posniewski explains some of the changes coming to the game’s advancement system, powers and content, and details how subscriptions will work under the new business model.

“If you continue to subscribe (and become a ‘Gold Member’), then what you get doesn’t change from what you get today,” Posniewski writes. “You still get all the zones, all the levels, all existing and future adventure packs, and all the costume parts available today (plus a bunch of new ones). You still have complete control over what powers your hero has (as well as their color), just like today. The only difference you’ll see is that there will be more things in the C-Store to buy, if you are so inclined.”

Current lifetime subscribers, Posniewski says, will automatically become Gold Members for life and get all the same benefits.

Non-subscribers (or “Silver Players”), however, will not have complete control over what powers their heroes get and can only create heroes by choosing an Archetype.

“Though the power progression is predefined, the player can tailor the powers with their choice of Advantages,” Posniewski explains. “Silver Players are also limited in other ways such as inventory, bank and marketplace space. Of course, Silver Players retain full control over how their character looks using the costume editor. They also get access to all the zones and levels.”

A “restricted beta” for Champions Online’s new features will begin next month.