Albion Online Will No Longer Be Free-To-Play, Closed Beta Extended Until "At Least" August 1st, 2016
Today, in a forum post called Road to Release, Sandbox Interactive's CEO Stefan Wiezorek revealed some shocking changes being made to Albion Online's development plans. The most shocking of today's reveals is the change in business plan. Albion Online will no longer be free-to-play. According to Wiezorek, "making the game ready for a free to play model would take up significant development time which we would much rather use to make a better game." Additionally, a free-to-play model supposedly creates risks—including, but not limited to, spamming, botting, and a world that is too small for the population—that they would rather avoid. The exact business model that they will use at release appears to still be up in the air other than the detail that the current Founder's Packs will be replaced with starter packs that offer less value.
Along with the change in business model, the Closed Beta has been extended by "at least" another six months, now ending on August 1st, 2016 at the very earliest. In that time, they plan to "significantly" increase the size of the world, "introduce an Ultima Online inspired Reputation and Crime System for yellow and red zones," rework fast travel, enchantment, and the armor system, and add "conquerable/destructible open world structures," among other changes. "Player-made open world structures" will complement the existing housing model, it seems, but no details have been divulged about that system just yet.
How do you guys feel about this change of plans? Having reached a staggering 60,000 Founders, I think it may be a bit too late to change the business model. Extending the Closed Beta potentially means more value for the Founder's Packs, but many are already expressing concern about the inevitable wipe at the end of Closed Beta and a potentially ever-declining in-game population.
The official statement is as follows. The full details of upcoming features can be found here.
Dear Fellow Adventurers,
Now that the closed beta test is in full swing, we have a very important announcement to make.
- The closed beta will be extended until at least 1st August 2016
- The game will not be free to play at launch
Our goal is for Albion Online to be a long term success, therefore, we only want to release the game when it is truly up to its potential. The extension of the closed beta period will allow us to make significant improvements to the game.
For this reason, we are putting the free to play plans on hold as well. Making the game ready for a free to play model would take up significant development time which we would much rather use to make a better game. Free to play would also create a lot of risks for the game - spamming, botting, world too small, etc - which we do not want to take if it can be avoided.
When the game goes live, current founder’s packs will be discontinued and replaced with starter packs, which will give full access to the game but offer less value for money than the founder’s packs as this is only fair to all founders who help us in making the game. Of course, all founder's will automatically get full access to the game on release as well.
We are truly overwhelmed by the success of Albion Online thus far and would like to thank all of your for your ongoing support and feedback. Together, we will make sure that Albion Online will be a great game made to last.
Your Albion Online Team
