City of Heroes Transitioning to Free-to-Play

Long-running superhero MMO set to make the switch later this year.

Seven-year-old superpowered MMO City of Heroes is the latest subscription-based online game to make the transition to a free-to-play model. Paragon Studios and NCSoft have announced that City of Heroes Freedom is now in development and set for launch later this year.

Promising to redefine the long-running super hero MMO on the cornerstones of content, rewards, and choice, Paragon said it has been working on its hybrid F2P model for City of Heroes for over a year in an effort to improve the overall customer experience.

"Freedom is about getting more content into the hands of our players, whether they are subscribing or playing for free," Brian Clayton, Executive Producer at Paragon Studios, said in a statement. "To do this, we've looked at City of Heroes from the ground up and focused on three ways to enhance the experience by giving our players more choices, greater rewards and the best content we've ever produced. And for the first time ever, players can choose to enjoy more than seven years of content for free."

Roughly 80% of the content that's available now to paid subscribers will be part of the free game after City of Heroes Freedom is launched, Paragon says, and free players will be able to create two characters from among eight archetypes and level them up to 50.

Specialty items will be available for purchase via microtransactions, and a monthly VIP subscription will provide exclusive rewards, powers, costumes, and features. The big selling point for VIP subscriptions will be monthly sets of exclusive missions that allow members to team up with signature characters on epic missions that will have far-reaching impacts on the City of Heroes universe.

No release date for the renamed City of Heroes Freedom was announced beyond "later this year." For more information, check out the Freedom FAQ.

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