Masthead Studios sci-fi mmorpg Earthrise which was released of February of this year is set to go free to play next year.

Masthead Studios CEO Atanas Atanasov said in a press release “We decided to let all our players unlimited gaming experience until we all are satisfied with the experience in our game. At the moment Earthrise features one of the best visuals, content, and gameplay of all sci-fi MMOs on the market. However, it is missing polish and has annoyances that spoil the fun in the game. We are learning from our experience and that is why we will remove monthly charges until we bring the game to a quality state that is satisfactory to us and our players.”

The studio has promised there will be no pay to win purchases, but I say there will likely be a shop that will sell cosmetic items.

Also Masthead has made restrictions for account making. This means Earthrise will be invitation only until it goes free to play.

It is interesting to note that more mmos are beginning to change from pay to play subscription based to free to play with a micro-transaction element. This could be down to the fact that companies like Turbine have made it work with Dungeons and Dragons Online ad Lord of the Rings Online or it could be something else entirely and the reason may be different from company to company.

Source: Massively