Open-Source Sci-fi Sandbox MMORPG Perpetuum Online Is Now Free-To-Play On Steam
After Perpetuum Online servers shutdown in early 2018, the indie open source sci-fi sandbox MMORPG continued to live on through various community servers via the Open Perpetuum Project. The client itself, however, continued to be buy-to-play at $9.99 (previously $29.99), which doesn’t really help the game’s already waning popularity. The good news is that the game is now free-to-play on Steam, giving more players a chance to try the EVE Online-like MMORPG.
“I wish we'd have some grandiose reason as to why we did it, and why now,” said developer Avatar Creations, “but really, it was just the point where some of the paperwork overhead didn't seem worth it after a while, and after we've recouped some of the costs of the initial server shutdown, it no longer seemed fair to ask money for a multiplayer game that's essentially entirely operated by the community itself - while we could justify it by still occasionally patching the game when really major bugs appeared, this has become so uncommon that the justification has become thinner and thinner.”
“Going free has been something that you've been asking for a while - understandably - and one of the main arguments was that it's the only thing that's standing in the way of a large player population,” they added. “If this is really the case, then challenge accepted - impress me.”
For those unfamiliar with the game, Perpetuum Online offers a persistent sandbox experience where players take control of huge robots in an alien planet with a complex industrial system, player-driven economy, and player-built settlements and infrastructure.
“Perpetuum is a persistent, sandbox, single server, massively multiplayer sci-fi rpg (MMORPG). Control huge robots and mechs to gain access to an alien planet's resources and knowledge, amass huge wealth, or even claim part of the world for yourself using terraforming and complex infrastructure.”
More information can be found on the Perpetuum Online official site.
