The popular high fantasy MMO Lineage II is going down a road that seemingly every other major game is taking. NCsoft has announced that the game will be turned into a free-to-play title “later this year,” to coincide with the release of a new expansion pack for the game. Those players with paid subscriptions will see their payments converted into in-game currency.
Interestingly, NCsoft has opted to forgo a structure of ‘freemium’ accounts commonly seen in other popular MMO titles. In-game currency will be used to purchase in-game items meant to ease playing experience. In short, the game is completely free-to-play. Promotional content and specific benefits will be added that will work for character modification and thematic elements, confirmed the developer.
This is the second game under NCsoft to go from paid to F2P, with the first title City of Heroes: Freedom making an impact back in September.
NCsoft also noted that fans of the original Lineage will have to hang up their accounts, as the studio is planning on pulling the plug. NCsoft will cease operations of the North American servers of Lineage after 12 years of continuous service. The move has been decided due to the game being a financial burden for the company.
