Free-to-play LOTRO doubles revenue

By Oli Welsh Published 8 October, 2010

A million new accounts in a month.

MMO developer Turbine has said that The Lord of the Rings Online has doubled the amount of money it's bringing in and earned a million new account registrations since it relaunched as a free-to-play game last month.

The news came from a presentation by executive producer Kate Paiz at GDC Online in Austin, Texas, yesterday, reported by Joystiq.

Paiz rolled out several more impressive stats, including the return of 20 per cent of lapsed players, a 300 per cent increase in peak concurrency (the maximum number of players online at any one time), and a 400 per cent increase in total active players. Paid subscriptions are up, too.

It's consistent with Turbine's experience moving Dungeons & Dragons Online to a free-to-play model last year, which massively increased revenues on its way to becoming the third most-played MMO in the US.

LOTRO's free-to-play relaunch in Europe has been delayed by local operator Codemasters, with the company unable to supply a date for the relaunch, originally planned for 10th September.

"We are continuing to do our best to overcome the challenges still facing the launch of Free to Play in Europe. As soon as those are resolved we'll have a clear and definite date for when the update will be applied to the European service," Codemasters said a week ago.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • berelain #1 2 years ago

    Thats good to hear. Shame Codies are being utterly useless with the EU version, though. I wish Turbine would just take over running the game over here :/

  • levitate #2 2 years ago

    I would reinstall my copy in a heartbeat once Codie gets their shit together.

  • nuanimal #3 2 years ago

    Forgive my ignorance - but out of curiousity, are the revenues from advertising? Or Microtransactions? Or what?

  • Sharzam #4 2 years ago

    I have a lifetime sub which i got back in may when it was half price (£75) but funnily enourgh only played for a few months till the world seamed to drab and lonley mean while reactivated my wow sub as i like my mmos to be busy places.

    When it does go F2P that should solve problems as will be alot more players and i will be vip win win

    edit: to above, the revuneue will come mainly from microtransactions (useless bits of crap) and subs, for example there are certain areas which can only access if subscriber or pay for a package althourgh all the pre expansions leveling content is not restricted.
    Edited by Sharzam at 08/10/10 @ 09:58

  • iamian #5 2 years ago

    Good news and will hopefully send out a message to other MMO operators.

    Anyone wanting to play, download the US version and play through Turbine. Have had a much better experience playing DDO online this way than I ever had playing LOTRO with Codies.

  • misinformed #6 2 years ago

    Codemasters seem to be the bargain basement of the publishing world. Theyve never had their act together.

    Gotten to a point wheres its silly its taken this long whatever the reason, tell me it isnt a legal issue with turbine, CM go on.

  • butler` #7 2 years ago

    I'd love to know what's going on behind the scenes with this EU launch. There's blates a story there EG, go journalism their asses.

  • butler` #8 2 years ago

    Just email ress@codemasters.com">press@codemasters.com

    "Sup?"

    See? I've done the hard work for you.

  • Rack #9 2 years ago

    Be careful what you wish for berelain Turbine have been completely useless taking over DDO over here.

  • swisstony #10 2 years ago

    i don't believe it's entirely codemasters' fault either, the playerbase has protested and made their concerns vocal on the forums over requests for clarity regarding why the delay is taking place. Turbine have deleted at least one thread on their forum (saved elsewhere, it was a perfectly reasonable opening post) that was requesting information, which only fanned the flames further.

    The cynics are pointing to the number of people in Europe going off to play on American servers, which Turbine run.

  • iokthemonkey #11 2 years ago

    Codies are going to kill this game if they don't resolve this soon: everybody is signing-up for the US servers.

  • swisstony #12 2 years ago

    oh and news of a skeletal mount in the autumn festival will probably see me log off for good. No, you can't have my stuff :)

  • Dexter2015 #13 2 years ago

    well how many of the 100000 are still playing now!? :D I try this game its not good at all!

  • organica #14 2 years ago

    @swisstony

    I believe the mount is a black horse painted with a skeletal pattern, rather than some kind of undead horse. It has a historical basis and certainly isn't lore-breaking.

  • Lunatic4ever #15 2 years ago

    Well that isn't really suprising news ,is it?
    It's for free and everyone wants to try it at least.
    Same with me but i already quit it because the beginning already and
    the game mechanics just weren#t very impressive.
    Many other games to play out there.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #16 2 years ago

    Not surprising. If more MMOs were free to play, more of them would survive. Too many still make the mistake of doing the opposite.

  • craziii #17 2 years ago

    it isn't free :p you pay for quests after level 20 or so. or you grind enough points for them. plus everything else. but it is unlimited trial for like everything in the first 3 zones. then everything afterward can be grinded if you got enough patience for it. if you like it after lvl 20, sub for it, much better then buying from the store.

    edit:spacemonkey, not really. alot of f2p mmos got shit for quality. lotro got the quality of a p2p mmo, that is why it works. same with ddo.
    Edited by craziii at 08/10/10 @ 18:14

  • Kropotkin #18 2 years ago

    The credibility of Codemasters is plummeting by the day. First we have this inexplicable delay to LotRO Free to Play, then we have the bug ridden piece of garbage that is F1 2010. Who is actually in charge over at Codemasters, because they are very much 'doing it wrong'.

  • Vergis69 #19 2 years ago

    European service? anyone who really wanted it is already on the US one so just give up codemasters lol

  • WJF #20 2 years ago

    'There's blates a story there EG, go journalism their asses.'

    Yeah. Why isn't the (completely controlled by an external PR company with years of experience making sure only the right message gets out) publisher not telling you (things that are marked 'DO NOT DISCUSS AT ALL OR YOU /WILL/ BE FIRED') information freely?

    Write them an email! I'm sure that'll help.

  • Trikk #21 2 years ago

    DDO is a much better game. LotRO is just another EQ clone.

  • Rorsch #22 2 years ago

    Free? Still says my subscription has expired...