Up until the last couple of years, I would’ve said Lord of the Rings Online’s monetization was… not good. In fact, even though plenty of MMOs had far more egregiously greedy cash shops, pay-to-win, and crypto nonsense, LOTRO had remained the poster child for a miserly hybrid free-to-play transition. That isn’t just hindsight talking; it’s what I myself argued in 2011. And in the years since, the model became even more messy and confusing, it left early adopters without content they’d paid for, and it cost a small fortune to catch up.
But of course, over the past few years, LOTRO’s monetization is much improved – to the point that it enticed me back and even got me to sub and consider more as it’s made huge swathes of the game free again, drastically improved the value of the subscription, and in my opinion minimized the pull of the cash shop. It is far from perfect, and it’s had some very public stumbles, but it’s much better now.
Which MMOs would you say have had the most successful monetization turnarounds?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
