Star Trek Online Re-launches as Free-to-play January 17th 2012

Star Trek Online the MMO developed by Cryptic Studios will be re-launching as a free-to-play game on January 17. The announcement comes after months of speculation after Atari sold off Cryptic Studios due to a loss in revenue from the developer. Perfect World Entertainment quickly stepped in and picked up Star Trek Online.

Beta testing has been under way within the game, in its own server entitled “Tribble.” A number of changes and additions have been made in relation to gameplay, and the in game economy. A notable change is the addition of “Duty Officers” that now populate your ship and can be assigned to various tasks that can net XP and rewards upon completion. The entire game with all its episodes, missions, and in game rewards will be available to all players without restriction. The decision to go free-to-play comes on the heels of other major MMO’s making the same jump including DC Universe Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Team Fortress 2, EverQuest 2 and even to an extent World of Warcraft.

Free-to-play as a model is more and more becoming the norm with the modern day MMO market. It allows old and new players to jump back into the game and become part of the community, without the need for heavy investment in time and or money. Perfect World Entertainment hopes to turn a profit with the use of the in game economy that requires Silver Members (free-to-play) to pay for specific in game items while Gold members (paid subscribers) will have the luxury of additional inventory slots, unlimited storage for energy, extra character slots and the ability to form guilds in game. All previous subscribers to Star Trek Online can now download and play free as a special bonus before the official re-launch date of January 17.

More information on Star Trek Online can be found at its website:

http://www.startrekonline.com


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