Evolve Returns to Steam as a Free-to-Play Title

[ffronw]

Evolve Returns to Steam as a Free-to-Play Title

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1334/1334668.jpgEvolve: Stage 2 - the free-to-play version of Evolve is launching its beta on Steam today.

Yesterday, Evolve disappeared from Steam [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167878-Evolve-Pulled-From-Sale], and a countdown appeared on the game's official site. This morning, we found out what that countdown was for. Evolve is returning to Steam as Evolve: Stage 2, and it will be free-to-play.

The announcement comes through a post on the game's official forums [https://talk.turtlerockstudios.com/t/a-message-to-our-community/87816] from Turtle Rock co-founders Chris Ashton and Phil Robb. The post explains the changes that are coming, and what prompted them.

Evolve: Stage 2 will be launching a beta of its new free-to-play model today. The beta will be used to test servers and features, and the post says that the process will take place "over a period of weeks and months."

If you own the retail version of Evolve, your first question is probably, "What does this mean for me?" The official word is that anyone who owns "classic" Evolve will be given "Founder" status in the Stage 2 release. You keep all content that you own, and there will be future gifts, rewards, and special access.

There's no word on what will happen with the console versions of the game, but my guess would be that if the shift to free-to-play goes well on PC, we'll see something similar on consoles as well.

It sounds like the transition to free-to-play will be time-consuming, but honestly, I think this is more in line with what people wanted Evolve to be. The main complaint with the retail game was that it felt too expensive for the game you got, so this will certainly address that. Let's just hope that Turtle Rock doesn't get carried away with the microtransactions.

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[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Turtle Rock got carried away with DLC when the game was not free-to-play. Somehow, I think the word "restraint" is not in their vocabulary, or if it is, it's superseded by "MONEY!"

 

[Devin Barker]

oh... yay... now I totally feel like I didnt waist $60 on this game. I honestly dont even have it installed anymore.

 

[Strayal]

I think I would be more excited for this overall if there hadn't already been massive content paywalls attached to the full-price pay version. I can't even imagine what kind of anti-consumer blasphemies they have planned now that it's "free" to play.

I say it every time I see something like this though - maybe they'll actually figure it out and get it right. Then, like every other time, I burst into a fluctuating mix of both sobbing and manic cackling.

 

[Micah Weil]

I think I would be more excited for this overall if there hadn't already been massive content paywalls attached to the full-price pay version. I can't even imagine what kind of anti-consumer blasphemies they have planned now that it's "free" to play.

Honestly, that's the only reason I'd download it and take a look.
Nothing like first hand witnessing of horrors.

 

[thewatergamer]

I'm sure that Turtle Rock, the company that had a cash shop and tons of DLC plans on day one, will totally NOT get carried away with Pay 2 Win mechanics and excessive DLC!

Yeah...the ship has sailed, I don't give a fuck about evolve anymore

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I guess Stage 3 is Microtransactions.

 

[Nazriel]

I guess Stage 3 is Microtransactions.

And Stage 4 is blaming the consumer market for not being "ready" for their genius new economic model.

 

[Viper114]

As a fan of the game who still plays occasionally on PS4, I think this is a step in the right direction. The game is lackimg a strong playerbase, and perhaps by going free, it will help bring more into the fold, at least enough for matches to be made up without bots. I hope they stsy smart about this and not get overzealous on the microtransactions, or it might hirt things in the long run.

Also, word is they are bringing this plan to the console versions AFTER things on the PC launch and stabilize. Hopefully that's sooner rather than later.

 

[MoltenSilver]

I wouldn't bet on this helping much, mostly because I'd say there's probably 4 categories of people relative to this:

People who already play Evolve (of which they obviously aren't helped by this)
People who already played Evolve and got their fill of it (So likely won't come back)
People who pretty much consider Evolve to be a dirty word and likely won't let go of the perceived sins of it (so likely won't jump in now)
And people who just don't care about Evolve (self-explanatory)

If anything this reminds me of the end days of City of Heroes, where it went free to play just long enough to try and drain out the last few cents it could under a false facade of it continuing only to kick legs out under it and run with the money.

 

[MonsterCrit]

Bet all you sots that pre-ordered and bought the season pass feeling real smart right now hmm?
Dear heavens it's one thing to give the paying custiomers the middle finger and another to stick it up their bums.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

So how does this change the fact the game is still boring as hell?

 

[Valkrex]

Holy shit the cynicism in here... this version doesn't even have microtransactions. At all. You get like 500 keys per game, and characters cost between 5-10k keys. Any P2W stuff was fixed MONTHS ago.

And if you own the game, you get a "Founders edition" with everything you bought already unlocked, a bunch of skins, and 3,000 keyes right of the bat.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Hahahahhahahahhhahahah, holy shit, this is great!

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Nope.

Holy shit the cynicism in here... this version doesn't even have microtransactions. At all. You get like 500 keys per game, and characters cost between 5-10k keys. Any P2W stuff was fixed MONTHS ago.

And if you own the game, you get a "Founders edition" with everything you bought already unlocked, a bunch of skins, and 3,000 keys right of the bat.

But nobody plays this game anymore. The only MP game more dead than Evolve is Battleborn according to SteamSpy. This game is a decent game that good bad marketing all over it. People complain about Overwatch's lack of content, but outside of skins, Evolve at launch was pretty bare in that respect. A squad game with 3 monsters to hunt gets old quick. Making it free with only 2 more monsters isn't a long term solution. I hope to hell they have more maps and content on the way. Soon.

 

[Valkrex]

Nope.

Holy shit the cynicism in here... this version doesn't even have microtransactions. At all. You get like 500 keys per game, and characters cost between 5-10k keys. Any P2W stuff was fixed MONTHS ago.

And if you own the game, you get a "Founders edition" with everything you bought already unlocked, a bunch of skins, and 3,000 keys right of the bat.

But nobody plays this game anymore. The only MP game more dead than Evolve is Battleborn according to SteamSpy. This game is a decent game that good bad marketing all over it. People complain about Overwatch's lack of content, but outside of skins, Evolve at launch was pretty bare in that respect. A squad game with 3 monsters to hunt gets old quick. Making it free with only 2 more monsters isn't a long term solution. I hope to hell they have more maps and content on the way. Soon.

Before today that was true... today alone we had just under 12,000 players. More maps, monsters, and hunters are on the way as well. People are interested in the game, TRS just handled a LOT of things wrong at launch and got the backlash appropriate for their mistakes. Then they come back with this, in the announcement post on the forum literally say "we fucked up, sorry, here's how we're trying to fix it, and for those who bought in here's something to thank you for it."

If anything its worth giving a try right now since its free and the progression isn't mind-numbingly slow like other F2P games I've played.

EDIT: http://steamcharts.com/app/273350

If even half the new players stick around, then we'll have a strong playerbase going forward. Nothing wrong with at least giving it a chance, even if you don't end up enjoying the game itself.

 

[Buizel91]

Holy shit the cynicism in here... this version doesn't even have microtransactions. At all. You get like 500 keys per game, and characters cost between 5-10k keys. Any P2W stuff was fixed MONTHS ago.

And if you own the game, you get a "Founders edition" with everything you bought already unlocked, a bunch of skins, and 3,000 keyes right of the bat.

My god, a member of the Escapist who does his research? I'M SHOCKED!

Jokes aside, i may give this another shot, see what they have done for myslef before jumping on the "They killed the game" bandwagon

 

[Metalrocks]

lets see if i may get it. but downloading 50gb is a lot and i share the modem with others that it may exceed the limit. i have already done that and someone wasnt really happy about that.
well, since i havent missed it at all, i stick with overwatch. having lots of fun with that. the only game i rather see getting more players (especially for australia) is ghost in the shell first assault. for over a week i havent found any players active. joining europe or even the US are all active, but my ping is so high that there is no smooth play.

 

[Chareater]

I just want to point out that right now there are no micro-transactions in the game as its still in the "testing" phase, gaining keys (In-game money) is the only way to unlock hunters/monster and it is pretty fast compared to some other F2P games.

I'm sure after testing they will add micro-transactions but i'm hopeful they will learn from their mistakes and NOT charge 14.99 for one monster!

 

[Comic Sans]

So how does this change the fact the game is still boring as hell?

They actually made a few changes that make the game a lot more action packed. They made the arena usable by everyone with a global cooldown, and gave the Trappers a new ability they shows the direction the monster is from you for 5 seconds. It's a huge buff to the Hunters that allows you to find the monster more often and have more fights. With everyone being able to drop the arena it's a lot easier to trap the monster and force a fight, and the monster can't just single out the trapper to escape. It's actually a pretty action packed cat and mouse game now, rather than the monster saying hidden with no action until they are Stage 3 and just wiping out the hunters. As someone who was kind of lukewarm about it before, I think it's a lot of fun now, especially with friends.

Overall I am impressed. I did get the game on a Steam sale a while back so having the character no doubt changes things for me, but the unlock system seems totally fair. Points come in pretty quick, so you can quickly unlock a few characters. As of now there is no way to unlock things with money, so it's yet to be seen how that pans out, but as of now the system seems pretty fine. I'm impressed.