The Norwegian developer Fifth Season AS, creator of the science fiction online real time web-strategy game, AD2460, has decided to change the game’s monetization strategy to “free-to-play” from December 7th, 2015.
Fifth Season AS is located in Oslo, Norway, and has since its launch of the popular game Planetarion in 2001, been creating and running online games for over fifteen years. AD2460 started in 2010 and the received € 300 000,in funding from the Norwegian Film institute and the Norwegian Research Council.
As a subscription-based game, AD2460 didn’t have the anticipated user growth needed for an MMO, so instead Fifth Season is launching ‘Patch 7’, which will add new content to the game, and turn it into a free-to-play game.
From December 7th AD2460 is open and playable, the subscription cost will be removed, and all active game accounts prior to the patch will not be charged the daily subscription cost any longer.
Even though the game goes “free-to-play” it will have no elements of “pay-to-win” says Fifth Season, the elements to spend money on will all be based around added fun and customization.
This includes features like facial and graphical commander elements, placing bounties on your opponents and “War-Games” where players can challenge opponents without risking losing anyone’s fleets. These features will be expanded upon throughout future patches as well, as upcoming updates to AD2460 are continually being designed.
AD2460 provides a system of unique interaction between players, and a system for working in alliances that weighs functionality before anything.
The game lets players work together, share wealth or even take on group challenges, to gain resources and technology for their alliance, and since its initial launch in December 2014, the game has been expanded with more content and functionality at a steady pace.
Unlike most other newer games these days, AD2460 is a web-based game. But also unlike most web-based games, AD2460 only has to load once, which allows for a more seamless experience over the typical “click-once-lead-a-new-page” browser games.