"Free" Lord of the Rings Online Triples Revenue

[Andy Chalk]

"Free" Lord of the Rings Online Triples Revenue

Six months after making the game "free," Turbine says Lord of the Rings Online [http://www.lotro.com/] is earning triple the revenue it did as a subscription game.

Lord of the Rings Online wasn't a train wreck when Turbine decided to make it Dungeons & Dragons Online [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101110-Lord-of-the-Rings-Online-Going-Free-to-Play], which made the same transition in 2009, eliminating the mandatory fees in the Middle-Earth MMO has made a very big difference in the game's fortunes.

In a Turbine [http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live/30] is "super-pleased" with the growth of the LOTRO player base since the game went free.

"This really echoes a lot of what we've seen throughout the entertainment industry in general," she said. "It's really about letting players make their choices about how they play. People are like, 'I own my choices. You give me the power and I'll decide if you're cool enough for me.'"

The free Lord of the Rings Online allows players to buy optional quest packs and other virtual items on an "a la carte" basis, while serious fans can still pay a monthly subscription fee for unlimited access to everything.

Source: Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/32322/Turbine_Lord_of_the_Rings_Online_Revenues_Tripled_As_FreeToPlay_Game.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraNews+%28Gamasutra+News%29]


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[nathan-dts]

I don't have much love for Turbine; after they always sent their players over to the Escapist every year for March Madness. I refuse to believe anyone considers these people as the games industries best developers.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

I don't have much love for Turbine; after they always sent their players over to the Escapist every year for March Madness.

I have yet to see a company who hasn't, but I hold my judgment over less petty things than internet popularity polls.

 

[Delusibeta]

I don't have much love for Turbine; after they always sent their players over to the Escapist every year for March Madness. I refuse to believe anyone considers these people as the games industries best developers.

Zynga. Your argument has been trumped.

On topic: Ultimately, that's the beauty of microtransaction based free model: people come in for a try, some people are willing to pay to get more, and then you start rolling in the dosh and wonga.

 

[nathan-dts]

I don't have much love for Turbine; after they always sent their players over to the Escapist every year for March Madness.

I have yet to see a company who hasn't, but I hold my judgment over less petty things than internet popularity polls.

It's not the fact that they win that bothers me, it's that they bring over a couple thousand people to the forums that don't react to well when they're told that their game sucks. While it may be good good for Themis to have more traffic on the site it isn't good for the community.

 

[tomtom94]

I get the feeling that if this trend continues, TOR will be the last purely subscription-based MMO.

 

[xDHxD148L0]

I'm surpreised that many other western MMos haven't switched to the microtransaction business model, especially since it works out very well for korean MMos.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I don't have much love for Turbine; after they always sent their players over to the Escapist every year for March Madness. I refuse to believe anyone considers these people as the games industries best developers.

Seriously, dude, just let it go.

 

[Senor Smoke21]

I get the feeling that if this trend continues, TOR will be the last purely subscription-based MMO.

What about WoW, do you really see Blizzard making it free to play?

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I've been looking for a good F2P MMO, since I got some time on my hands. I guess it's time to take the plunge into LOTRO.

 

[The Wooster]

Bit of advice from a LOTRo player. If you're planning on going up to 65 or you're a heavy mmo player. Find a retail box of the Moria Expansion (they cost around $9.99 as opposed to almost $30 on the store) and subscribe. When you factor in the quest packs, trait unlocks, mount skills and other junk you need it ends up cheaper.

 

[Piflik]

I think one of the reasons these free-to-play games make money at all is vanity...the items/options you can buy aren't that much different to those you can get for free, but they look different and everybody can see that you have bought it, making it some kind of status symbol...not the same level like a sports car or yacht, but still...the nerd's status symbols

 

[tomtom94]

I get the feeling that if this trend continues, TOR will be the last purely subscription-based MMO.

What about WoW, do you really see Blizzard making it free to play?

WoW came before TOR and, eventually, yes I do...based solely on the belief that people dislike paying for something they can get for free.

If we get a properly good MMO that can drain WoW's fanbase.

Very if.

 

[RonHiler]

I think LOTRO probably is that game. It is, essentially, a WoW clone set in the LOTR universe. And it's now FtP.

There is a lot of resistance to leaving a game you have played for years (heck, even UO is still going I think, and how outdated is that game?), so it's not like WoW is likely to shut down overnight. But I think you can safely say that given a choice between paying $20 a month or paying nothing for what is essentially the same game, new players are going to tend to go for the free one, unless they have a reason to chose otherwise (e.g. friends play on WoW). I think LOTRO is very much draining the incoming player base from WoW as we speak.

All IMO, of course.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

It's not the fact that they win that bothers me, it's that they bring over a couple thousand people to the forums that don't react to well when they're told that their game sucks.

Not even noon, and already I've struck gold! Thanks for brightening my day.

 

[Rad Party God]

I liked LOTRO, I may give it a reinstall whenever I find a copy of Mines of Moria, because I hate when they limit you the content and have to grind a lot to get it.

 

[Fursnake]

So the revenue is up by a good percentage, but one has to wonder what the revenue was like before the change. Frankly I would wager the game was doing very poorly subscrition wise and not bringing in much revenue at all, so the triple increase may not be saying much but it is something at least. It is good that the f2p model worked for LotRO like it did for DDO.

I played since beta for over three years and now I do not enjoy the game much at all at this point in time. The game now feels grindy, repetitive and unfun; it lack any sense of adventure or soul that is once had. It has largely become a grind for tokens and trade ins for gear or the lottery-like Lengendary Item system. The content cycle is nowhere near as well paced or often as it was in the early days of the game and I wonder if there will be any major content updates before Isengard releases late in 2011. Isengard is touted as a full expansion, but numerous factors including the piddly 5 increase to the level cap makes it sound more like a mini-expansion; if it has anywhere near the scope and amount of content as Mines of Moria then I will be suprised.

The bottom line is I just don't enjoy LotRO anymore, at all. Not a case of 'I don't enjoy it as much as I used to', but I just find anything fun or interesting about it anymore. I don't blame it on the f2p thing, in fact it is just the opposite the f2p element is the only reason I haven't uninstalled LotRO. Maybe the Isengard (mini)expansion will bring back the sense of fun and adventure I once had in LotRO, but it's just not there for me right now.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

DDO since it went free has only gotten better, the last two updates fixed all of the interface clunkiness that has been plaguing the game since launch.

I spent more than $150 on the game since it went "free", money I never would have given them if I hadn't been able to try the game first.

 

[dragonslayer32]

I didn't know this was free, I'm installing it now although it is going to take 3 hours