City of Heroes Freedom Free-to-Play Model Focuses on Players, NCsoft Says

City of Heroes Freedom, the new free-to-play strategy employed by the City of Heroes online title, is focusing on existing players, while catering to new gamers that can now experience it without having to pay for a monthly subscription.

NCsoft, together with Cryptic Studios, announced earlier this year that its long running City of Heroes MMORPG is going free-to-play, allowing new people to jump into the online experience, while offering existing subscribers the chance to get extra features for their dedication to the experience.

Now, Ross Borden, the senior vice president of brand and business strategy at NCsoft, has confirmed to The A List that the reason to go free-to-play has been to better support loyal fans.

"For City of Heroes, our primary focus has been and always will be, our fans," says Borden. "Our passionate fans have been with us through thick and thin, and this new business model provides them with options on how they choose to experience the best super hero game on the market."

"For new players, the more than seven years of content we’re making available to them for free through Freedom is just a taste of the content that’s to come. The new content and our dedication to our fans are just two of the reasons we feel players will continue to enjoy City of Heroes content for years to come and consider upgrading to VIP subscribers!”

Borden confirmed that the experience is even more streamlined with the Freedom overhaul, allowing players to create their own character and go through an enhanced tutorial that clearly outlines all the things they can do throughout the new experience.

"With our new Quick Downloader, you can start creating your character within the first 5 minutes of installing the game (as you may know, due to their client-size, it can often take hours to jump into a new MMO). And now that we offer both a free and subscription option, cost is no longer a barrier in playing the game with all of your friends."

Last but not least, the NCsoft executive emphasized that buying content and in-game items is even easier, thanks to an optimized Paragon Market. He also highlighted that the development team is constantly monitoring the community's feedback through Facebook, Ustream or the special Producer;s Letters, so expect more changes to be made in the future.

City of Heroes Freedom is already available for play on the game's website.