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Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited: Over One Million New Players
MikeB
Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
Turbine has announced that since relaunching as a hybrid free-to-play/subscription MMOG in September of last year the game has added over one million new players, which has also resulted in a more than doubling of the game's paid subscriber base.
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Turbine is also announcing the success of the DDO Store, with the rate of transactions since the September re-launch tripling the industry average, resulting in the addition of over 500% to the franchise's revenue.
To get started with DDO, or for more information on the game, go here.
Are you a long time player of DDO? If so, how has the re-launch impacted your experience with the game? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
Well it's mainly because it's the only f2p title to be 'fair' and not utterly destroy the enjoyment of the game by either gimping your character to hell or slap you with really harsh game systems that limit you from playing (in fact they took OUT a f2p 'limitation' last patch) if you don't use the cashshop.
I wish other devs would take notes from Turbine =/
Bring on the WARRRRGGHH!
That is not what the press release said, They doubled the paying subscribers not the population. The population should be much larger than that.
"WESTWOOD, MA - February 26, 2010 -Turbine, Inc. announced today that Dungeons & Dragons Online®: Eberron Unlimited™ (DDO Unlimited), the world's best free-to-play massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) has already attracted over one million new players since its September 2009 launch. The massive influx of new players has been across all of the various consumer plans available. DDO Unlimited's paid subscriber base has more than doubled, while at the same time players are transacting in the new DDO store at three times the industry average, growing the franchise's revenue over 500% since its launch in September. "
Its really impressive numbers and its nice to see a succesfull MMO after all the failures the last couple of years! Grats DDO
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
Exciting news! Grats Turbine!
I re-rolled on Orien when the server launched.
My experiences have been great ever since, lots of people online in my guild at nearly all hours of the day, and the community is one of the most friendly communities I have ever witnessed.
The relaunch has impacted the game without a doubt, but in entirely positive ways from what I have seen.
- An increase in overall population.
- New guilds looking for members to help run content.
- A rise in player run events.
- The ability to invest as little money, or as much money, as you wish into the game.
- RP'ers actively assisting with the immersion of the Eberron setting (rare, but it does occur more now than ever before).
Etc... etc...
I've had an absolute blast with the game ever since Turbine switched to the new payment model, and I know quite a number of others who are having the same experience. It is a great game, despite its past flaws (and its remaining ones, for that matter) and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has a passion for D&D, regardless of whether or not Eberron is the setting you enjoy.
Sure Forgotten Realms would have been nice, no argument there, but what they chose to give us instead turned out to be pretty darn snazzy anyway.
Think Turbine needs to do the same with AC and bring back AC2 and also make it F2P. I know of a good bit of people that would rush to AC2 if they done the whole F2P.
That is not what the press release said, They doubled the paying subscribers not the population. The population should be much larger than that.
"WESTWOOD, MA - February 26, 2010 -Turbine, Inc. announced today that Dungeons & Dragons Online®: Eberron Unlimited™ (DDO Unlimited), the world's best free-to-play massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) has already attracted over one million new players since its September 2009 launch. The massive influx of new players has been across all of the various consumer plans available. DDO Unlimited's paid subscriber base has more than doubled, while at the same time players are transacting in the new DDO store at three times the industry average, growing the franchise's revenue over 500% since its launch in September. "
Its really impressive numbers and its nice to see a succesfull MMO after all the failures the last couple of years! Grats DDO
Fixed it. Thanks.
I started playing DDO during beta and played for about a year. As with any MMO, when they added PvP it started becoming less fun for people who wanted to quest, so I jumped ship since I was also playing the Matrix Online at the time. I came back after it went F2P, delighted to see my toons still existed, and I've been delighted at how well Turbine has made the change. I play LotRO as well and I have to say that, as a company, Turbine really know just the right way to treat any IP they touch. I just wish DDO were in the Forgotten Realms setting instead of Eberron, but I guess it's a fair trade.
From my understanding its set in Eberron because at the time of creation WoTC had recently created the world of Eberrron and forced turbine to use that setting. I dont hold it against the game though - its nice to have as much control as I do over my characters direction. Its also extremely nice to play a game that offers you puzzles and traps and doesnt base experience off how many kills you got.
That was what I'd heard as well. Since 4.Ohno! launched, WotC doesn't hold much water with me anymore. I sold all my D&D-related stuff and started using Pathfinder and Dragon Age for my pen and paper RPGs of choice.
I'm not playing DDO at the moment but this game is in a league of it's own in the F2P market. Beats the pants off a lot of P2P games too!
I think the game is fantastic and Turbine did a great job turning things around.
TBH though, I'm Gobsmacked that no-ones posted any hate yet. I just feels... weird. Damn it, I'll have a go...
"Yea DDO, what a load of rubbish, same old same old, cash shop rip off, only noobs play this grind-fest, blah blah blah, Turbine are money grubbing (is that even a word?) a-holes, everything sucks, I want my mummy"
Aryas
Playing: Ableton Live 8
~ ragequitcancelsubdeletegamesmashcomputerkillself ~
So LOTRO is no longer the breadwinner in the Turbine family it seems.
Super BIG GRATS to TURBINE!
I've been playing ddo regularly since July of 06. I was originally drawn to it for its association with DnD. The way they handled the launch of f2p was great. Making it feasible to actually be f2p, but not alienating its current subscriber base. A tough balancing act imo. The influx of new and returning players is also great.
Jules
I really like DDO and it is a great example how an item shop can be done succesfully. I played it for about 3 months after it turned F2P. I spent about 30 bucks at item shop at the time buying adventure packs. I never felt like i was getting ripped off and i was getting a quality game without paying triple A prices. I am 100% fine with the F2P model when it is run like DDO is.
Playing: Fallen Earth
Waiting for: Earthrise, Guild Wars 2 and Secret World
"Whats a Canadian? He's like an American, but he doesn't use alot of dangerous adjectives"
"Part of loving a woman is accepting Sting"
"They never find a dead person on Antique Road Show"
"Isn't Unix made by fat people?"
{sarcasm} Stupid game.. {/sarcasm}
Ive spent more money on it in a couple of month, than i did the entire first year as subscriper.
why you say ?
cause its faster, and easy to just pickup stuff from the ingame cashshop..
Ingame cashshops in good games = pure evil, it lures and lures..
until you cant resict anymore, and have to make a purchase.. omg.. buy buy buy.. I WANT MORE:: . . .. .£$$€€$
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Playing MMO's since my first which was Ultima online, then Anarchy online. and so on..
Now a days im very critical before i ewen bother downloading a Free to play mmo.
That's awesome, good for Turbine and good for us TBH...
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"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places..." ~ H.P.Lovecraft, "From Beyond"
Member Since March 2004
I'm glad it turned that way, I re-subscribed with some friends and we really enjoy this new version of the game with more and more people incoming
I bought D&D online when it was first released, and really couldn't get into it. I did not feel it was worth the monthly sub. But I've been playing it as my "casual, limited free time" mmo for a while now after it went F2P and it's been awesome. Sure, it has its flaws, but the game to me is great when I just want to run a dungeon or two and not have to invest all this time and effort into a character. It just seems that this D&D type game was destined or made for a fair and reasonable cash shop model. Funny enough my other MMO currently is Lotro.
wish more developers would take heed of this. It seems these days that all mmo's the only way (for the most part) to get exp. is threw combat and thats it. Would be nice to see a system where you can level with or with out fighting in some way or another.
The thing I like most about it is the fact that they actually used the D&D Mechanics instead of the Everquest mechanics that 99% of all MMOs use. They were true to the original IP and that counts for a lot. Too bad they didn't use the same mechanics for LOTRO, I think it would have been more fun (It is pretty nice now too but not great).
Lets hope Cryptic also will be true to the IP for their Forgotten realms MMO, somehow I have doubts over that and fear they will make another EQ clone.
Good work Turbine, this whole things show that some MMOs will do better if you make them F2P, if only games like Vanguard knew that too. That of course doesn't mean that all MMOs should be F2P, I want some games without a cash shop too.
Excellent news! I definitely have to give it a try some time soon.
It's been on my "to play" list for quite a while now.
This is good news for Turbine of course. What I appreciate most is Turbine sharing the high level statistics about the success of their move.
They could have just sat there and watched their pockets fill up and just said some vague things like "it's been great". However, detailing just how successful this move has been is beneficial to other game developers, to show them that the next great model after Trial+sub is the F2P + sub hybrid, and NOT the F2P cash shop.
DDO & Runescape have been clear successes using this model, and I personally think that most games (those that are not the 800 pound gorilla in the market) should go with this model in some variation.
Congrats to Turbine, and thanks for sharing the details of your success so other game developers can take a harder look at the revenue models to consider.
I came back to the game when it went f2p to check it back out and with in the wk I resubbed. Now, however, I have cxled my VIP acct and will be staying Premium. I'm not a fan of a monthly payment when I can just buy the game out right, so I have decided that I will just drop $50 at a time for the 5000 pt package as I see fit to fully buy the game. I know that I will be dropping cash on occasion to update to the new stuff but with my schedule about to get really busy again and just getting a PS3 being VIP doesn't hold my attention anymore.
If you haven't tried this game you need to. It's great and it is truly free to lvl 20 (if you have it in you to grind favor of store points).
-Almerel
Hello my old friend.
Maybe the developers of other games that are struggling will now take a look at DDOs hybrid free to play model .
Oh, you ain't shitin' me. I'd be all over AC2 in a heartbeat.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Bleakmage
Depending on how you look at it: whether the glass is full or half empty. DDO did so bad when it was p2p it would not be surprising to see them do better when they turned f2p. Over one million new players wasn't really that big an improvement as players familiar with the f2p mmorpg should know ***ALL*** of them have millions and millions of players if not hundreds of millions. Undoubtly though, the f2p push have saved DDO from potential shutdown.