DC Universe Online going free to play

If the proposition of buying DC Universe Online and then paying a monthly fee has been keeping you away from Sony Online Entertainment's MMO, prepare to enter Gotham City next month. In October, DC Universe Online goes free to play.

Both PlayStation 3 and PC players will be able to download and play the game for free. Three tiered levels will act as the game's revenue source from there along with in-game microtransactions. Here's the official breakdown from SOE.

[maniacmayhem]

Excellent, will definitely pick it up now.

Time to kick Batman's a**!

this probably explains why there hasnt been any MMO's released on the game consoles.

But if they do the free-to-play and just charge micro transactions up the yazooo then it might work.

[zeddy]

dont care i have zero interest in this. plus its a little late dont you think with all the games coming out in the fall, dont need thos clogging everthing up.

[pixelsword]

Yeah, but, c'mon; don't you wanna backhand Aquaman 500 miles inland while he tries to get the bacteria in a cup of water to attack you?

[SilentNegotiator]

No one cares if you have interest in this game or not, and seeing as it will be FREE, yes it will garner some players despite new game releases.

[BizDaWolf]

YEAH BOY!!!!!!!

[dionnysus]

i'm definitely going to try it soon, good call sony.

[Scribe81]

I knew all I needed to do was wait for this to go free to play. I'll be more than happy to drop ten to fifteen bucks on the DLC. This was why I was hyped for this game before it came out. They said it would be free to play. I lost all interest when they added the $15 a month.

[himdeel]

Yep now I can get it. I absolutely enjoyed the beta but just couldn't see myself paying to play.

[Chrono]

That is great news!

[HelghastKid]

Smartest thing they couldve done, now this game is going to get a ton of new players.

[telekineticmantis]

Let's try our best to get it to come to PS3, Especially if your tired of the same old conventional running around in a that multiplayer circle seeing the same thing over and over.

[_Empath_]

Ok, I'm buying it now.

[Ddouble]

No need to buy it's free

[CaptainPunch]

I'm all over this now, hoping the game is good.

[jack_burt0n]

its excellent, really is.

[Death]

Hmmm... Maybe next month I'll take another look at it. My league bailed with the announcement of the expansion that cost $10 on top of the subscription which was already pushing it. I absolutely 100% don't believe the free play isn't the result if cancelled subs though. The mega server was the result of the separate servers becoming ghost towns.

-Death

[limewax]

But what if their user-base sky rockets now and overloads the mega server, Do we go back to separate servers and subs?

[Why o why]

'My league'....i lol'd. Kinda reminded me of that dude from the hangover talking about wolfpacks

[No Way]

Alan. <3

[divideby0]

this is the best way to get into these types of games....
if its good, you will stay, play and enjoy...

[El_Assenso]

Thats awesome news!!! I never bought this game because I couldn't justify spending $15 a month on subscription if I didn't play the game a lot. Well, things change for the better with time, defo picking this up.

[rajman]

Yuppp, me to

[gamernova]

Awesome!! I will give it a try now. However, doesn't bf3 come out in October? It's definitely gonna cock block it.

[PSVita]

it's going to be free, you can't cock block free.

[Graey]

Ha ha bubbles for you sir!

[Why o why]

Nearly..... I mean herpies is free and i'd literally cock block that... like literally block my cock, smh

[gamernova]

@PSVita Lol your logic is undeniable.

[Ddouble]

This would probably be my first MMO. Will try this out.

[Jdub895O]

I thought this game was very fun.

[KillerPwned]

Finally now I can invest in this game. If I get into it a may buy a few little things here and their but that is it. A F2P MMO like this one will be really fun. I enjoyed the beta a lot but was not ready to pay to play.

[RAmar101]

il deffo be trying this out it looks good, i know il be limited but hey its another game to try out

[Shadowaste]

A good friend wanted to buy this game on launch and was trying to talk me into it, I told him

"let everyone else beta test it for us and we'll get it when it's free to play"

This is almost a direct quote two days before the game launched.

Well, now I will try the game on pc, thought to be honest, even with it being free I am not that excited, it looks like a "B" quality mmo, compared to games like;

WoW
Rift
LotRO
AoC
Aion
EQ2
DandD Online

This game looks like it was made by amatures and cobbled together.

I knew it would be free to play before it ever came out, it should have been free to play at the start.

SOE should give EVERYONE who bought the game at launch access to the premium content for the ENTIRE LIFE of the game (sadly, here's another predection, this game will be shut down in 18 months tops.

[Graey]

Its not that bad, granted its not that good either. Its like city of heroes but with heroes that you have heard of. I'm digging the free to play concept. It was fun initially, but honestly could not see myself paying a monthly for this MMO. The way its structured is more insta gratification, shallowish so to speak. Not saying its bad but compared to say Rift, Lotr, with more meat I think going F2P for them was a smart move.

I'll give it a shot again, next month. I've never really seen an in depth MMO that had super heroes in it. The concept of Super powers kind of goes against the grain of the MMO as its structured. Still curious to see how this pans out.

[cb4g]

Completely agree with you Graey. I've been playing since launch and most times I've enjoyed it, however, there have been times when I've wanted to smash the game to bits. Having a league definitely helped my experience but the constant bugs/glitches have hampered my fun.

[N4Gsukballs]

I Just have to say, i never played wow till a weak ago, since i just built my first gaming Pc. But its a pretty decent game so far, but i have trouble getting into the game, in my opinion, DC Takes more skill since its more of a button masher and you have to know wish combo to hit and when. But DC Is not worth 15 a month, I Bought it day 1 and played it every day for the first month and the endgame is just not as good as it could have been. I Was also In the beta and it turned out that the beta was pretty much the whole game which was a huge letdown, i expected much more from a 60 dollar price. im happy its free to play now so i can see how good it is on pc.

[NotSoSilentBob]

That is a kick in the balls to those who bought it.

[SuperBeast811]

WOW ive been waiting for this I only played the first free month guess I have to reinstall this to my PS3 I just could not justify paying for it when I just want to pop in from time to time between game releases I used to used COD for that but it just dosnt excite me anymore traded in BLOPS and have not missed it one bit

[coolbeans]

I'll be sure to pick this up now :).

[videoxgamexfanboy]

with this news dcuo has gone the way of the 3ds for early adapters like me...

[Xenial]

Still not playing this bs with all the limitations. idc if its F2P anyway, too many great games coming out so soon. Good luck with DCU. -_-

[Buuhan1]

I have very limited hard drive space, so I'd prefer to get this physical if I can. Do you think GameStop and other retailers will drop the price like a rock due to this?

[videoxgamexfanboy]

even with a physical copy its still like an 14 gig install if i remember correctly. not to mention all the additional updates

[SuperBeast811]

True it takes ALL DAY lol

[cb4g]

Yeh, the install is bloody huge. Takes forever to re-install/download

[Software_Lover]

You aren't level locked, it just takes you a little longer to level up. Plus buying the game is so cheap, most people who play it just buy the elite agent.

[gustave154]

i bought the game and played it for 3 months. its great everyone should check it out.

[taijutsu363]

I called this...Eventstatus on youtube called this....and everybody who was smart and didnt pay called this! Im done with the I told you so....Its time to buy play with/against my fav Supe! !!

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Most Awesome News.

Runepyre and Deus X will return.

[YourFriendQuinn]

I loved the beta, but was turned off by the fees in a year packed with so many games. I really hope that this is the MMO model of the future. I'd gladly pay for extra content every now and then if it means not being locked it. Then everyone wins.

[L6RD7BLU3]

NICE! it's time that everyone felt my wrath

[P_Bomb]

Fantastic news! Haven't played much since platinuming it, but I had a great time. Game's at its best with high player counts, really unique experience for consoles. Take advantage and have some fun.

Of course like clockwork some people will just use this news to undermine the game with their own 'told ya so, PS3 gamers don't buy games' fud, but truth is everyone that was paying for subs wanted this anyways. People generally don't have the $$$ to buy 3 exclusives a month every month + multiplats. The writing was on the wall with the server merge,and the immediately noticeable higher populations as a result worked out nicely so it was only logical to build on that momentum and try to keep the game going through the busiest season of the year when money is at a premium.

Every other game has paid DLC, so now DCU does too. Free to play basic game with premium rates'n'microtransacti ons for DLC/extra charachter slots/higher league caps/more inventory etc. It's a better model.

@Guitarded
Money/currency cap really isn't a problem. Like...at all. You get all the best weapons and outfits for free anyways by just playing through the campaign. Then at lvl 30 tier gear opens up. I have more $$$ than I could ever use. Only use it to buy health drinks really. Nothing in the article talks about limited communication.

[cb4g]

I've been contemplating, for months now, on whether to continue with my subscription but playing with my league has kept me in the game. This new F2P model is a huge relief and very welcome.

[fourthpersonview]

AWWWWWWWWWWW YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

I guess they listen and heard "Marvel Universe Online is going to be free to play."

[Mrmagnumman357]

awesome, been wanting to play this just didn't want to pay monthly, when does it become F2P ?

[P_Bomb]

Next month. I'm sure the Playstation Blog will run a story on it soon.

EDIT: that was fast http://blog.us.playstation.... . No exact date on there yet though.

Too bad 'bout many of the hard reviews early on as the sub' and its expectations was by far the biggest score killer. For FTP online, the odd bug or matchmaking issue is more easily forgiven by critics as evidenced by games like Fallout3 and Gears2. Hopefully this gives the game a 2nd chance.

[MasterCornholio]

It should have been free to play from the start. Clearly reaching max level in under 24 hours doesn't justify a monthly fee. I just hope they dont do something messed up like EQ2 online.

[nitrogav]

I was lucky and invited into the beta and thought it was really good . I just couldn't justify myself paying a monthly price on console . Now going free to play is great news and is going to let loads of people have a chance of playing this excellent game . One word of warning though , like some others have said , its a big download , the full beta download was about 18 GB . I bet now after updates and patches you will be looking at 20 GB chunk of you're HDD . Ouch :-( !!

[Old McGroin]

Free to download and free to play? Frickin sweet! Enjoyed the Beta but like everyone else the monthly fee to play one videogame turned me off, def gonna check it out now though!

[5119ent]

we will be on it