NOV. 2, 2011 • With the release of the Goddess of Destruction expansion, publisher NCsoft is transitioning Lineage II free-to-play. No restrictions on content access will be placed on free players. NCsoft is also crafting a new starting experience for new players to get them into the game without a severe disadvantage compared to existing players. Virtual items for sale will be geared to enhanced convenience or cosmetics. The expansion also adds new character classes, skills and a level cap of 99.
Impact: Lineage II has been around for eight years and the most notable thing about the product has been how it was able to buck the movement to free-to-play for so long. Lineage II revenue has been down but it is still a major source of revenue for NCsoft. In the first nine months of 2011 revenue from Lineage II was $66.4 million, down 14% from revenue of $77.2 million in the first nine months of 2010. So this is a fairly significant move and can be considered one of the largest subscription games to try and transition to a free-to-play model.
