F2P DC Universe Online welcomes 1 million new players

By Robert Purchese Published 11 November, 2011

Half of them are on PS3.

One million new players have flocked to DC Universe Online since the MMO turned free-to-play, Sony Online Entertainment has announced.

They are apparently split evenly between PC and PS3.

"DCUO now joins the ranks of SOE's other successful free-to-play titles, including Free Realms and Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures," commented SOE bigwig Lorin Jameson.

Was it considered unsuccessful before?

The impact 1 million new players has had on money made wasn't mentioned. Other free-to-play games, however, operate on the assumption that 20 per cent of players will pay something. RuneScape is one of these.

DC Universe Online turned free-to-play on 1st November.

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 6 months ago

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  • Eoin #1 7 months ago

    "DCUO now joins the ranks of SOE's other successful free-to-play titles, including Free Realms and Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures," commented SOE bigwig Lorin Jameson.

    Was it considered unsuccessful before?

    Presumably it was considered "not free-to-play" before.

  • CaptainQuint #2 7 months ago

    So is this actually any good yet?

  • Lymmusic #3 7 months ago

    Awful article. Becoming the norm here on eurogamer...
    Most articles have now degaded to the point where the comments contain better written, more reliably sourced info than the articles they support.

  • captain_Carl #4 7 months ago

    That's pretty brilliant. Didn't expect PS3 to be that high.

  • slippysloppy #5 7 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:51:25 12-12-2011

  • slippysloppy #6 7 months ago

    I haven't seen this many people online in the game since the beta, which is was also free but limited in its numbers. Let's hope people keep playing.

    I can however, sadly, see the numbers drop once the old f2f adage comes in. It's hard enough to progress through the game once you hit level 30 and you're paying a sub. A lot of this is also down to a lack of documentation, with the game relying too heavily on previous MMO experience.

    I do think f2p has bridged a gap between between the existing diehards and people like me who've dipped in and out since launch. It's also keeping the game alive. I am however very disappointed by the experienced players, who have maxed out their gear, moaning in game (shouting) about the "f2p noobs" spoiling the experience. Although not a "noob" I appreciate that if it wasn't for this influx of new people the plug would be pulled, and it's far much more satisfying now I'm no longer flying around a ghost town.

    Note: Edited for typos
    Edited by slippysloppy at 11/11/11 @ 11:28

  • wowami #7 7 months ago

    do you need the original PS3 disk to be able to login or can you just download from PSN now?

  • Ferral #8 7 months ago

    @wowami

    You can download it from PSN store completely free

    I hope they get the servers sorted soon, I am enjoying the game more now that there are extra players about. I bought the game shortly after release and tended to dip in and out. Now though I dont feel like I am obliged to play with not having to pay subs anymore, suits me just fine.

    I just hope they get the server issues sorted soon, that many people the lag can be REALLY bad. Not forgetting the huge log in queues, during the day on Tuesday I was 6500 in line to log in, after 10 mins decided to give up and played something else instead.

  • CaptainQuint #9 7 months ago

    Right, so this game really is a complete disaster, then.

  • Shikasama #10 7 months ago

    I was one of the goons that boughtg the original and the problem is there just isn't anything to keep you playing. After you get over the novelty of the combat system (which is pretty excellent), you're just playing another grind.

    The levelling process is also horrifically signposted and not particularly engaging until you hit the signature ending of a quest line. It is very common to simply run out of quests at certain levels.

  • ShiftyGeezer #11 7 months ago

    What does this actually take to install on PS3? 18 GB download, 25.5GBs free HDD space, and any subsequent mammoth patch (taking us up to the 25.5 GB install)?

  • Quixz #12 7 months ago

    It's a fun game currently at level 9. Would I have paid for it, NOPE! Will i probably buy some DLC for it, very likely.

    Playing it on PC.

  • slippysloppy #13 7 months ago

    We all know that if the game was sold full price at retail, it needed the F2P model. Unfortunately when you're dealing with a license as huge as DC/WB's this wasn't possible, so it'd be interesting to see if the original subscription model did recoup the licensing costs. Somehow I doubt it.

  • SooZee #14 7 months ago

    A refreshing change from all the swords and scorcery mmorpg's out there and it's pedigree shows through compared to some other superhero mmo's. Im quite impressed so far :)

  • outy #15 6 months ago

    Spent a month on this during the summer, great little distraction.

  • Rack #16 6 months ago

    It's fun if you can ever get on. And tear yourself away from Skyrim.