It’s no secret that, err, The Secret World hasn’t been a stellar success. Very low sales, multiple layoffs from within the team and declining subscriber numbers all point to a game with severe struggles. Frankly, The Secret World deserves better. What happens next? What can Funcom do to build on their investment? One option is obviously to go free-to-play.
That option is discussed in depth in a wide-ranging interview with Funcom’s CEO Ole Schreiner on GamesIndustry.biz. In the interview, Ole explains Funcom hedged their bets during development before they chose to ask players to pay a subscription: “We tried leaving our options open during development so that we could launch with a different model should we have decided during development that’s what we wanted,” says Ota.
Ota goes on to explain that Funcom are able to switch business models. “We definitely have the tools to turn The Secret World into a free-to-play game – or even a hybrid – should we decided to do that somewhere down the line.”
Would you play The Secret World if it went free-to-play?