Fractured Online’s devs have been a bit quiet over the last month, you may have noticed, but there was a method to the madness, as Dynamight Studios says that it’s retooled its entire roadmap – and the game is going free-to-play in a clear bid to boost the playerbase.
“In a nutshell, we’ve decided to get away from creating ‘filler’ content in favor of ‘big’ content that will introduce solid end-game loops,” Dynamight’s Jacopo Gallelli says. “What this means in practice are Seasons and Dungeons. Oh, and a change in business model, too. This likely won’t surprise any of you: we’ll be going Free-To-Play soon! […] We’re here folk. We’ve been here for more than 7 years, and damn we’re not bailing!”
The free-to-play launch was apparently meant to go live in October but was delayed so the devs can add more content; an “exact date will be released soon.” As for why, well, the box fee was just a low-revenue barrier to entry.
“The reasoning behind this choice is simple: the current box price of the game ($15) is very low, especially in developing markets (where it’s discounted further on Steam), and only accounts for a minority of our revenues,” the studio explains. “At the same time, the fact a box price exists at all still acts as a major barrier to acquiring new users. This is made even harder by the presence of strong F2P competitors in the market.”
Players who already bought the game on Steam or through founder packs will be compensated in VIP time or tokens.
As for the next patch – R.0.4, launching later this week – it will improve consumables usage and categories, revamp fortress rules, boost rewards for trials and legends, and fix a multitude of issues. We’re also expecting a new guild alliance system at some point, though it’s not explicitly mentioned for this update.
That will be followed by the F2P launch and the game’s first season, which will mix personal and guild progression tasks and rewards. The season will add new materials and artifact crafting, new monsters and bosses, and localization upgrades. Dungeons are also en route, though they won’t be ready for the F2P/S1 launch.
Dynamight also notes that it’s heard player feedback on Genesis server transfers and will be discussing it with players in a Q&A today.
