Champions Online going free-to-play

By Robert Purchese Published 26 October, 2010

Take superhero to max level for nothing.

Atari Europe and Cryptic Studios have announced a change to superhero MMO Champions Online: from Q1 2011 the game will be free-to-play.

In practice, that means anyone can download the game and play up to maximum level for free. There is no subscription and no upfront charge.

There will be a complimentary web-based and in-game C-Store, though, where you can grab things like items, powers, costumes and Adventure Packs for real-world money.

You can also upgrade to Gold status should you decide you want to stay a while. This membership unlocks "most of the game's content and includes extra features".

Cryptic will beta test the free-to-play model starting 9th November. Current players will have preference of entry.

Champions Online will follow in the footsteps of Turbine MMOs Dungeons & Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online, which both turned (or are turning) free-to-play. DDO had great success in the US: the switch to F2P attracted one million users and boosted revenues 500 per cent.

Turbine may have proven the model, but Sony Online Entertainment is also keen for a piece of the pie. EverQuest II has turned free-to-play and Pirates of the Burning Sea makes its move this autumn.

Champions Online launched last September and was, by Cryptic's own admission, not as good as it had hoped. As a result Cryptic has decided to focus on online multiplayer games rather than massively multiplayer online games. The first product of this will be Neverwinter, a D&D adventure to succeed BioWare's Neverwinter Nights.

But Cryptic boss Jack Emmert promised Eurogamer that Champions Online and Star Trek Online would not be forgotten. They will continue to "chug along", Emmert promised in September.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • DFawkes #1 2 years ago

    Thats good news, I'm a fan of CO but always thought get it'd have a stronger user base with a free-to-play model. I'm glad people will be able to give it's go and stick with it for free.

    I'm still curious to see what they separate off into paid content though. If they get it right, it should help make the game a bit more lively.

  • Skandalle #2 2 years ago

    I'll give it a go now, like an extended demo! Im sure i will have a laugh with the character creator.

  • iokthemonkey #3 2 years ago

    I enjoyed CO in small doses but not enough to justify a subscription. I may well come back. Too bad I uninstalled it a couple of months ago, as it took ages to patch...

  • dudefella #4 2 years ago

    Champions didn't launch "last September", it was September of last year. I played it for the duration of its free Month and found insufficient reason to keep paying to play. I enjoyed it for a solid 80 hours, but once the novelty of your custom-designed hero wears off, it's far too grindy.

  • Benno #5 2 years ago

    Interesting :)

  • Cosquae #6 2 years ago

    Was there a 'lifetime' subscription available with CO and if so, how do those people who paid a large sum of money (I'm guessing between £100 and £200?) feel about having got an expensive gold membership to a free game?

    Also I wonder if this is a signal for STO to start to go the same way. Wait long enough for the 'lifers' to have gotten the same value from their sub as those paying monthly before making the game free to play? (about 16 months was the math last I saw until the cost of the lifetime sub reaches parity). After all, it uses the same C-store microtransactions, I doubt they're getting much revenue from boxed sales anymore so I can see it happening.

  • DFawkes #7 2 years ago

    Here's some more specific information for people wondering what will be free:

    <a href="http://www.champions-online.com/f2p_matrix">Free to Play Comparison</a href>

    It mostly seem to be custom archetypes that are being locked off, so no making an Iron Man/Iceman combo. But as far as missions go, it's almost everything except the 2 extra areas (including the recent Demonflame). That's certainly a lot of game for free, the sub seems more about making your character more customised to your needs. You still have totally free reign in the costume creator though, which is always fun :)

    I do have a lifetime sub, which given I've played on and off since release was the right thing to do for me - I'd have paid more in monthly subs by now and it's still of some use in free-to-play. But the value of subscribing is lower now, since you get almost everything.
    Edited by DFawkes at 26/10/10 @ 14:58

  • DanForinton #8 2 years ago

    @Cosquae

    Those who paid up for a lifetime sub to CO may just get their money's worth, but it's a close thing. However, CO never had the lifetime subs available post-launch. STO still has lifetime memberships available, so it's unlikely to flip anytime soon.
    Edited by DanForinton at 26/10/10 @ 14:44

  • DDevil #9 2 years ago

    There was a lifetime sub. I wisely didn't go for that. Although I am tempted to reinstall and give my characters a run around.

  • TheTingler #10 2 years ago

    If Star Trek Online goes free-to-play I will be one very happy player. I bought it and really enjoy it (despite it not being as good as it could have been), but the subscription is way too high to justify. If that goes I'll be on there like a shot.

  • Scimarad #11 2 years ago

    I'd just like to say this is AWESOME news. I really rather enjoyed playing Champs but just didn't get on there enough to keep up my sub.

    I hope STO goes the same way.

  • Kostabi #12 2 years ago

    Is it even worth buying an MMO these days? Eve and Warcraft aside, it seems like if you wait 12 months you can play your MMO of choice for free.

  • Kami #13 2 years ago

    "Is it even worth buying an MMO these days? Eve and Warcraft aside, it seems like if you wait 12 months you can play your MMO of choice for free."

    I think this attitude is frustrating more than anything - if you like an MMO, you have two options. One, you buy it when it is released and subscribe to support the developers through the difficult... ahem... "birthing" process. Or you wait for 6-12 months and see where it goes, and if it goes tits-up you got no-one to blame but yourselves.

    Champions Online is, by any stretch, a riot. But that said, of any of Cryptic's games, CO is perfect for F2P - they launched it right away with the option to buy custom costume parts. You could of course argue this was the main meat and two veg of where they could make their money (and I fear you'd be right) but hell. I've enjoyed my year in the game. It's a nice change from the monotany of WoW, and tbh, with all the apathy and pre-expansion blues in WoW... it's kinda nice to have a light, frothy alternative for a little while. Allows me to get my head clear.

    And hey, it's Cryptic. I know of people predicting this months ago. I've done my part though, I have played and enjoyed CO. Heck, I'd probably still subscribe. I've not been one to buy too many of the costume parts (I will confess a weakness to last years Halloween stuff but meh) so getting access to more for basically no extra cost to what I pay now is, shall we say, rather tempting...

  • levitate #14 2 years ago

    This is actually very good news. I liked the game but not enough to pay a subscription every month, so now I might pop in and dabble a bit with my heroes from time to time. I've uninstalled it for the time being though.

  • hobojebus #15 2 years ago

    I tried the demo it said you could get to 15 but thats a lie as quests will take you to 5 only and then you'd have to grind the rest, It was fun at first designing the hero but then you actually got into the game and you had the clunky UI, the plastic graphics, and frankly bland console dumbed down controls all of which ensured i'd never buy the full game.

    I havent tried it recently so things may have improved but even so i've no desire to try it even if it is free.

  • Rack #16 2 years ago

    While CO always felt like it ought to be F2P (not because it was bad, just the type of playstyle seems to work well that way) it will be interesting to see how well this works. DDO and LotRO were succesful, but they had an absolute tonne of content making it easy to give generous amounts of the game for free, while still having a load of good value extras in the store. It sounds like CO is going the Hellgate London approach, offering most of the game for free, but charging for key game features like bags and character customisation. (DDO does this as well, but to a much lesser degree)