This spring, at least two major MMORPGs, RuneScape and EVE Online, made the bold move to increase their subscription rates as their playerbases grumbled. Ryzom, on the other hand, is doing the opposite: It’s actually lowering its subscription fees.
The long-running sci-fantasy sandbox announced this week that its new premium fees will run around €3.90-€4.90 ($4.11-$5.16 US) monthly (it’s basically a dollar extra on Steam, presumably because of Steam’s much higher cut). This is not actually the first time Ryzom’s sub fee has changed over the years; it began around $15 and was lowered to $10.95 in 2009. As is typical, longer sub terms come with discounts, but there’s also a lifetime sub fee of around €300 (around $316 US).
Ryzom, which turns 17 years old this fall, has technically been a hybrid free-to-play MMO for over a decade and saw a freemium revamp back in 2017; the optional subscription grants a range of useful perks like unlimited skills and gear, more storage, housing access, transfers, and character renames. The MMO is one of a very few games in our genre fully released to the public for open-source development, so if you’re still unhappy with these optional fees, you’re invited to go craft your own private server.
We’ve checked in on the game a few times in the last couple of years in our Game Archaeologist and Whatever Happened To series, but the game is definitely still being developed; the most recent patch landed in April, when current publisher Winch Gate rolled out changes to outposts and guilds.
#Ryzom reduces its rates and now allows to give away a subscription to another player!
To learn more about the new subscription's rates, click here: https://t.co/hKxbIY1thY#mmorpg #indiegame #rpg pic.twitter.com/UuPxn9wO03
— Ryzom (@Ryzom) May 9, 2022
