‘EVE Online’ Finally Goes Free-To-Play After 13 Years In Latest Expansion

As games move towards the use of microtransactions instead of subscriptions to provide extra features to players, CCP games, the developers behind the hit space game "EVE Online," decided to make the game free-to-play in the launch of its latest expansion after 13 long years.

According to BGR, "EVE Online" was subscription-based since the game's launch back in 2003, with the subscribers keeping the game up and running for the entire 13 years. But with the market moving towards microtransactions, CCP games will be trying their hands on "EVE Online" free-to-play.

In the latest expansion of "EVE Online" named Ascension, free-to-play players will be given an "alpha clone" account, which will give non-paying players access to a limited number of features like ships and skills. Also, skills in "EVE Online" free-to-play will take twice as long to train than paying accounts.

EVE Online: Ascension is now live! Come play for free! - Important deployment information here - https://t.co/I2QUaomlJi #tweetfleet pic.twitter.com/E8luKZFWMu

— EVE Online (@EveOnline) November 15, 2016

Despite the limitations of the alpha clone account, both non-paying and paying accounts will share the same "EVE Online" server without area limitations. This means that even free-to-play players will be able to participate in the ongoing faction battles in the game's universe.

To remove the limitations, alpha clone accounts will need to pay a monthly subscription fee of £9.99 to upgrade their account to an "Omega clone," reports the Guardian. This upgrade gives the player all-access to the multitude of skills and ships in the "Eve Online" universe.

Another feature that came in the latest update is the addition of a story mode in "EVE Online" free-to-play expansion. The story mode will help integrate new players using alpha clone account or omega clone accounts into the massive and complex universe of "EVE Online."

The Guardian also reports that this is not the first time "EVE Online" developers tried to lower the game's subscription. In an earlier update, CCP games tried to introduce "PLEX," an in-game item that grants players a 30-day subscription. This, however, did little improvements for non-paying players using their 14-day trial period.