‘Free-to-play’ is a term that refers to games that do not have box or download fees associated with them and do not incur a mandatory subscription. Some have optional subscriptions and are more properly referred to as hybrid F2P. Most have cash shops and microtransactions.
f2p
Creditors lay claim to nearly $700,000 in Gazillion assets in bankruptcy case
We named the sad death of Marvel Heroes the greatest MMO disappointment of 2017, and it appears it's not even over yet. Redditors noticed that on...
Lockbox roundup: MMO studios on ‘elegant’ lockboxes, legal issues, and the ‘cosmetics only’ angle
You know the lockbox thing is reaching saturation when there are so many things to cover we have to resort to a roundup. Nevertheless,...
ASUS throws its weight behind League of Legends in China
Battle royale? Team shooters? League of Legends scoffs at these pretenders to the online throne, sitting on top of an e-sports empire that spans...
Global Chat: Love the farm, hate the farm
How do you feel about grinding in MMOs? What about farming? These questions can elicit a wide variety of answers, from shrieks of dismay...
Raph Koster on MMO ecosystems, the balance of power, and tennis
Most MMORPGs have the core sandbox problem: Whoever gets there first, controls all the toys and has the power to drive everyone else away....
The Game Archaeologist: Neocron
It's the distant future. The high-tech battle armor you wear sharply contrasts with the ruins of civilization that you traverse. You spot an enemy...
TERA doubles and triples rewards this weekend
You know how parts of the inhabited world are freezing into a solid mass of glacial ice this week? That is all the excuse...
Leaderboard: What was the best new NSM game in 2017?
A few weeks ago, we posted our pick for best not-so-Massively game of 2017. Warframe narrowly won our award, firmly validated by the reader...
League of Legends unbans ‘reformed’ toxic player called a ‘humunculus’ by fired employee
Among last year's toxicity-in-gaming stories was the one that taught the internet an important lesson: how to spell homunculus. No, that wasn't it. It...
Massively Overthinking: Our MMO hopes and wishes for 2018
One of the frustrating bits about our end-of-the-year content rollouts is that sometimes predictions and story roundups can come across as negative. It’s way too easy...
Path of Exile on the unstoppable monsters that almost made it into the game
Here's an interesting peek into game development from the pens of Grinding Gear Games. The studio shared a story about one of Path of...
Aion’s Heart of Frost update is coming next week
If you're sitting in a deep winter chill this week, you can be warmed by the news that Aion is bringing out its first...
Choose My Adventure Year in Review: DC Universe Online, Shroud of the Avatar, Guild Wars 2, and Secret World Legends
As our review of the past year of Choose My Adventure rolls onward (a bit longer than originally planned), we enter what I think...
Old School RuneScape starts its fifth anniversary with a world-spanning dragon quest
Believe it or not, but 2018 marks the fifth anniversary of the debut of Old School RuneScape, the 2007-era version of the MMO that...
RIFT players build remembrance garden for well-loved teen
Just before Christmas, 17-year-old Nikita Hedingham was biking to a volunteer position when she was struck by a semi and killed. Her death has...
Hyperspace Beacon: Three things SWTOR could add in 2018 to turn itself around
Star Wars: The Old Republic did not have a banner year in 2017. It was the first year since the launch year that did...
Warframe shares how its business model keeps players happy and giving
One of the reasons we and our readers admire Warframe is that this title hasn't descended into the questionable, aggressive, and despised business tactics...
Perfect Ten: The best MMO updates and expansions of 2017
Last year was positively stuffed with updates, expansions, and cool stuff. A lot of years I struggle to remember which major updates happened in...
Working As Intended: The MMOs we lost in 2017
It's true that we lost a lot of MMOs in 2016 -- bigger and more important ones than in 2014 and 2015. 2017, however, has...
The Stream Team: Winter holidays in Neverwinter
With a name like Neverwinter, you have to wonder how the cold-weather holidays are celebrated in-game. Wonder no more! Massively OP's MJ is diving...
