LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE wird free2play

Tur­bi­ne Inc., die erst kürz­lich von War­ner erwor­ben wur­den, haben zusam­men mit ihren neu­en Chefs und Code­mas­ters eine Pres­se­mit­tei­lung her­aus­ge­ge­ben, in der das bestä­tigt wird, was die LOT­RO-Spie­ler seit dem Kauf befürch­tet haben:

HERR DER RINGE ONLINE wird in ein free2­play-Spiel umge­baut, bei dem man aber wei­ter­hin ein monat­li­ches Abo bezah­len kann (einen soge­nann­ten VIP-Zugang), um Pre­mi­um-Inhal­te zu bekom­men. Wer das nicht hat, kann in einem Item­shop Gim­micks wie beson­de­re Gegen­stän­de, mehr Cha­rak­t­er­plät­ze oder spe­zi­el­le Anpas­sun­gen der Spiel­fi­gur gegen har­te Euros erwer­ben. Abon­nen­ten sol­len auto­ma­tisch jeden Monat eine gewis­se Anzahl an Cre­dits erhal­ten, um im Shop ein­kau­fen zu können.

Ein ähn­li­ches Modell nutzt Tur­bi­ne bereits seit eini­ger Zeit bei sei­nem MMO DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE.

Sei­tens der treu­en Spie­ler­ge­mein­de befürch­tet man nun unter ande­rem, dass die­se Ent­schei­dung dazu füh­ren könn­te, dass das Spiel von Hor­den von Kid­dies ohne Koh­le über­fal­len wird. Es wird sich zei­gen müs­sen, ob die­se Ent­schei­dung sei­tens War­ner und Tur­bi­ne eine klu­ge war – ich bezweif­le das.

Ange­kün­digt wur­de die Umwand­lung des Bezahl­mo­dells für den Herbst die­sen Jahres.

Die voll­stän­di­ge Pres­se­mel­dung im erwei­ter­ten Artikel.

Cover HDRO Copy­right Code­mas­ters, Turbine

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War­ner Bros. Inter­ac­ti­ve Enter­tain­ment Announ­ces The Lord of the Rings Online™ to Adopt Glo­bal Free-to-Play Model

Turbine’s Award-win­ning Online Game Will Be Free-to-Play World­wi­de This Fall

BURBANK, CA – June 4, 2010 – War­ner Bros. Inter­ac­ti­ve Enter­tain­ment announ­ced today that Tur­bi­ne, Inc. will unveil a major update this fall, making The Lord of the Rings Online™ (LOTRO) free-to-play for ever­yo­ne.  Exten­ding its award-win­ning sto­ry, LOTRO deli­vers the ulti­ma­te adven­ture fea­turing a mas­si­ve world with sta­te-of-the-art gra­phics and game­play, and a rich set of fea­tures that until now could only be found in pre­mi­um sub­scrip­ti­on-based online games.

Laun­ching this fall across North Ame­ri­ca and Euro­pe, with Code­mas­ters ope­ra­ting the game free-to-play in Euro­pe, LOTRO will intro­du­ce Turbine’s inno­va­ti­ve new pri­cing model that allows play­ers to down­load the game and play for free, purcha­se expan­si­ons, quest packs, items, and account ser­vices à la car­te from the new LOTRO Store, or join the VIP pro­gram to get unli­mi­t­ed access to all of the game’s con­tent for one low pri­ce.  Play­ers inte­res­ted in get­ting a sneak peek of the new LOTRO can sign up for a chan­ce to par­ti­ci­pa­te in the Beta pro­gram which beg­ins June 16, 2010 at http://www.lotro.com.

“War­ner Bros. Inter­ac­ti­ve Enter­tain­ment is brin­ging qua­li­ty games based on The Lord of the Rings to mul­ti­ple plat­forms, and the franchise’s expan­si­ve adven­ture sto­ry lends its­elf per­fect­ly for LOTRO free-to-play, giving a wide ran­ge of play­ers the oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence the game,” said Jeff Jun­ge, Seni­or Vice Pre­si­dent Online Games and Digi­tal Games Plat­forms, War­ner Bros. Digi­tal Dis­tri­bu­ti­on and War­ner Bros. Inter­ac­ti­ve Enter­tain­ment.  “We are focu­sed on expan­ding our game fran­chi­ses onto new digi­tal plat­forms to maxi­mi­ze qua­li­ty expe­ri­en­ces for gamers world­wi­de and LOTRO’s new model is a gre­at lea­ding exam­p­le of this.”

“Turbine’s Dun­ge­ons and Dra­gons Online®: Eber­ron Unli­mi­t­ed™ was the world’s first tru­ly pre­mi­um free-to-play online game that ushe­red in a new era of choice for online gamers see­king qua­li­ty enter­tain­ment,” said Jim Crow­ley, Pre­si­dent and CEO of Tur­bi­ne. “The popu­la­ri­ty of DDO vali­da­ted the extra­or­di­na­ry demand by gamers for qua­li­ty enter­tain­ment they can expe­ri­ence at their own pace and within their bud­get. Exten­ding free-to-play to LOTRO will offer ano­ther pre­mi­um game to a broad spec­trum of fans.”

“Having suc­cessful­ly taken two titles free-to-play in the past we are very plea­sed to be doing the same with The Lord of the Rings Online in Euro­pe,” said David Sola­ri, Vice Pre­si­dent and Gene­ral Mana­ger of Code­mas­ters Online.  “It’s a fan­ta­stic, award-win­ning game with a won­derful­ly rea­li­zed world and this step will only broa­den its appeal and increase its play­er base.”

LOTRO will offer play­ers unli­mi­t­ed choice!

* Free means Free! – Play­ers will down­load LOTRO by visi­ting www.lotro.com and join with mil­li­ons of other adven­tu­r­ers as they explo­re the most com­ple­te and authen­tic recrea­ti­on of Midd­le-earth ever crea­ted and par­ti­ci­pa­te in LOTRO’s award-win­ning epic sto­ry up to level 50 for free.

* Visit the new LOTRO Store! – The LOTRO Store is loa­ded with thou­sands of con­ve­ni­ence items as well as expan­si­on packs, pre­mi­um con­tent, addi­tio­nal cha­rac­ter slots, poti­ons, cha­rac­ter cus­to­miza­ti­on and more! The LOTRO Store is seam­less­ly inte­gra­ted into the game and lets the play­er iden­ti­fy new and exci­ting ways to enhan­ce and cus­to­mi­ze their expe­ri­ence using points which can be purcha­sed in the store or ear­ned through gameplay.

* Be a LOTRO VIP! – Play­ers who elect  to beco­me a LOTRO VIP will have unli­mi­t­ed access to all pre­mi­um con­tent, recei­ve prio­ri­ty ser­ver access, 5 cha­rac­ter slots, a shared bank slot, and a month­ly allot­ment of points to spend in the new LOTRO Store.

The Lord of the Rings Online is the ulti­ma­te adven­ture. This award-win­ning mas­si­ve­ly mul­ti­play­er online role-play­ing game deli­vers an inter­ac­ti­ve expe­ri­ence brim­ming with life and fil­led with the fami­li­ar peo­p­le, places and mons­ters from the most famous fan­ta­sy of all time. From the pic­tures­que sur­roun­dings of the Shire to Moria, the most fear­so­me under­ground realm ever ima­gi­ned, play­ers will soon expe­ri­ence the world of Midd­le-earth for free!  For more infor­ma­ti­on, visit www.lotro.com.

About Tur­bi­ne
Tur­bi­ne, Inc. is a pre­mier crea­tor and ope­ra­tor of mas­si­ve, per­sis­tent online worlds that fos­ter powerful social gam­ing com­mu­ni­ties. Tur­bi­ne is whol­ly owned by War­ner Bros. Home Enter­tain­ment Group and has crea­ted some of the world’s most popu­lar and award-win­ning online games, inclu­ding The Lord of the Rings Online™, Dun­ge­ons & Dra­gons Online®: Eber­ron Unli­mi­t­ed™, and Asheron’s Call®.  For more infor­ma­ti­on on Tur­bi­ne, its pro­ducts and ser­vices plea­se visit www.turbine.com.

About Midd­le-earth Enterprises
The Saul Zaentz Com­pa­ny d/b/a Midd­le-earth Enter­pri­ses f/k/a Tol­ki­en Enter­pri­ses (SZC), is the hol­der of world­wi­de moti­on pic­tu­re, legi­ti­ma­te stage, mer­chan­di­sing, and other rights in the lite­ra­ry works of  J.R.R. Tol­ki­en inclu­ding The Lord of the Rings and The Hob­bit.  SZC has been pro­du­cing and licen­sing films, stage pro­duc­tions and mer­chan­di­se based on the Tol­ki­en works for more than 30 years.  Its head­quar­ters are loca­ted in Ber­ke­ley, Cali­for­nia and its Midd­le-earth Enter­pri­ses web­site may be found at www.middleearth.com.

About Code­mas­ters
Code­mas­ters is a lea­ding deve­lo­per and publisher of best-sel­ling inter­ac­ti­ve enter­tain­ment pro­ducts for a glo­bal audi­ence across mul­ti­ple gam­ing plat­forms and chan­nels. Estab­lished in 1986, the company’s domi­nant brands include Colin McRae DiRT, Race Dri­ver GRID, Over­lord and Ope­ra­ti­on Flash­point; the com­pa­ny recent­ly secu­red the exclu­si­ve world­wi­de video game rights to FORMULA 1. Code­mas­ters is head­quar­te­red in War­wickshire UK, with North Ame­ri­can ope­ra­ti­ons based in Uni­ver­sal City, Cali­for­nia.  The com­pa­ny also main­ta­ins ope­ra­ti­ons in Ger­ma­ny, France, Spain, Bene­lux and Malay­sia.  Code­mas­ters recei­ves over two mil­li­on visi­tors to its web site every month, dis­co­ver why at www.codemasters.com.

About War­ner Bros. Inter­ac­ti­ve Entertainment
War­ner Bros. Inter­ac­ti­ve Enter­tain­ment, a divi­si­on of War­ner Bros. Home Enter­tain­ment Group, is a pre­mier world­wi­de publisher, deve­lo­per, licen­sor and dis­tri­bu­tor of enter­tain­ment con­tent for the inter­ac­ti­ve space across all cur­rent and future plat­forms, inclu­ding con­so­le, hand­held and PC-based gam­ing for both inter­nal and third par­ty game titles.