EVE Online goes Free to Play

EVE Online has been around for a long, long time. Launching in 2003, it's grown a considerable size in the thirteen years it's been around, with massive expansions, player controlled companies vying for power and resources, great wars that have inspired books, TV, and even documentaries, and a rich history that would require all three of those things to truely understand. It's got spin-offs, it's got acclaim, the one thing it doesn't have is accessibility: not only does it have a massive skill curve that takes a very long time to master, but it's also one of the very few MMOs that can only be accessed with a subscription.

Well. One of those things is changing come November, and it's not the complicated one.

Yes, after so long as one of the few MMOs that could truly support itself on a pure subscription model, like World of Warcraft, EVE Online is going free-to-play come this November's expansion, Clone States.

Technological advancements in New Eden have led to a new way of manufacturing and augmenting clones, unlocking the possibility for a variety of distinct Clone States. With this technology, clone manufacturers can now build and distribute clones which possess a base state, the Alpha state. They can be enhanced or otherwise altered to achieve other states, but the Alpha state will always exist underneath. The state of a given clone may affect its access to trained skills, its ability to train new ones, or the rate at which new skills are acquired.

So, basically, you can either be an Alpha Clone, or a free user, or an Omega Clone, which is a paid user. The difference between the two is stark: an Alpha clone gets racial skills, the ability to train in tech one Frigates, Destroyers and Cruisers, and essential weapons. Omega Clones, however, get all the benefits of current subscribers, and can learn skills faster. If an Omega Clone becomes an Alpha Clone (runs out of money or something), they don't lose their advanced skills, but they do become locked until they go Omega again.

What's uncertain about this decision, which will radically change how EVE Online plays, is if it stems from desperation on CCP to get more players or money, or if they just want to expand their userbase. After all, in a game that's so prominently PvP-focused, there's very little Alpha players have to look forward too, outside perhaps being grunts for a company or playing with their Omega friends, so this just screams "pay-to-win", but... after 13 years, CCP has earned what could roughly be called "Trust," so I'm going to assume they have everyone's best interests in mind.

I suppose, if Omega clones are exactly the same as current subscribers, then if the ultimate goal just means 'more players', that can only be a good thing, right?

We'll have to find out, come November.