EVE Online will become Free-To-Play

Developer CCP Games has announced an unexpected change of business model for their MMORPG EVE Online. A new feature called Clone States will be implemented in November, and it will offer players the possibility of experiencing the game for free instead of having to pay a monthly subscription, like during the last 13 years. "We know that the mandatory monthly subscription is a big barrier for new players. It's also one of our most common cancellation reasons for those who leave EVE. At the same time, EVE was very much designed as a subscription game from the start, and it has been a challenge to find a way to change that without also messing with the fundamentals that we really love about the EVE," explained Andie Nordgren, executive producer of Eve Online.

Eve Online players will basically be split into two types: Alpha Clones and Omega Clones. That is, the ones that do not pay a subscription and the ones paying one. There won't be many changes for the later ones, still having unlimited access to skill progression and rapid skill training. On the other side, Alpha Clones will be limited to specific sets of skills and their training rate will be slower, but they will also have unlimited access to industry, trading and exploration skills. If you have never tried EVE Online or if you are already playing and are worried about the imact that a big a mount of players joining the game would have in the game, you can find more information reading the developer post about Clone States in CCP website.