Free to Play Increased LOTRO Revenue Three Times

A representative from developer Turbine has revealed the fact that The Lord of the Rings Online, the MMO based on the Tolkien fantasy universe, is now a free-to-play title with added micro transactions, bringing in three times as much revenue as when it had a business model based around subscriptions.

Adam Mersky, who is the director of communications for Turbine, has offered the figure as part of the TenTonHammer podcast, comparing it with the increase seen by sister title Dungeons and Dragons Online, which saw an increase of 500 percent when it made the switch to free-to-play towards the end of 2009.

Kate Paiz, who is an executive producer working on The Lord of the Rings Online, has told TenTonHammer that, “We are super-pleased with how so many of our players have responded fantastically. We're getting so many new players in and the world feels alive and vibrant.”

She added, “This really echoes a lot of what we've seen throughout the entertainment industry in general. It's really about letting players make their choices about how they play. People are like 'I own my choices. You give me the power and I'll decide if you're cool enough for me'.”

Initially, players had to play 50 dollars in order to get the boxed copy of Lord of the Rings Online, with each additional month costing 15 dollars.

The game was seen as a possible contender for World of Warcraft, the market leader from Blizzard, when it was released, but real success came later, when Turbine decided that the core experience would be offered to gamers for free.

Those who want to get more out of the game can buy individual quests packs and items, but there's also the option of paying a monthly fee to get access to see everything the MMO offers.