14 DAY TRIAL // Dungeons & Dragons Online will finally go free-to-play in Europe next month, as Turbine will assume control of the European servers from Codemasters. Dungeons & Dragons Online Unlimited, as the free-to-play version is entitled, is currently available only in North American, but European players have been able to access it without problems.
A post on the title's official site announced that, “We are very excited to announce that Turbine will be expanding its operations and will assume full control of Dungeons & Dragons Online in Europe. Beginning 20th August, all European players can visit the official site to download and play the English version of DDO Unlimited with no monthly subscription required. Turbine's new German and French service will enter beta before the end of the year.”
Furthermore, the company will do everything it can to help players transition to the new servers. “We will be providing free character transfers to the new global service and players will be notified when the character transfer is available. Please note that all accounts will only be accessible through our English service until our new German and French services come online.”
The biggest good news for the European players of Dungeons & Dragons Online is that, “As a thank you to our European players for their patience during this transition and to reward their loyalty, we are offering all current and former DDO Europe subscribers 5000 Turbine Points (nearly a €50/£42 value) when they transfer their characters. These points can be spent in the DDO Store on additional character slots, premium content, and much more.”
This is a move that was long overdue from Turbine, as the North American experiment proved to be such a big success, attracting one million players to the dying MMO and increasing its revenue margin by 500 percent. According to NPD figures, DDO was the third most played massively multiplayer online game in North America in the month of May.