Sony Online Entertainment launched Free Realms on April 28th, and three million people have already signed up to play the free MMO. See what happens when you give out free, family-friendly fun?
If you're unfamiliar with Free Realms, this browser-based MMO offers something for anyone. Car races, card collecting, elves, party-based combat, mini-games, pets, and god knows what else are yours for the asking price of free. It makes money through credit card transactions for specific in-game content, and thus may represent the future of MMOs: Think of it like Second Life, without the user-created content and digital wangs. The family-friendly part is worrisome: I actually have a family, and I hate things that are family-friendly!
To put the number of users into perspective, if Free Realms was a country, it would have a larger population than Trinidad, Botswana and Gambia. Of course, SOE wasn't all that clear on how they arrived at that three-million-users figure, but I assume SOE is counting everyone who registered for an account since the game's launch, even those folks who poked around for 35 second and then said: "I'm out of here!"
To celebrate the rapidly growing community of players, SOE will give its first three million Free Realms registrants a "3M Pet Party Pack," filled with items for use with virtual cats and dogs. Aren't you/they lucky?
Have you played Free Realms yet? Do you plan to?
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Displaying 1–11 of 11
shindaara5
I GIVE FREEREALMS 3 OUT OF 5
crocodilius
Haha, no one can compete with teh lich king.
I signed up for this last night, and its interesting (everything is done through mini-games that are instanced off from the world)
However, i hate that they pass it off as "free" when anything you want in the game you actually have to pay for(sort of like that Hellgate game that failed) Dont go putting this in the realm of a Guild Wars like title that has free online play.
Scoopz
honestly, the only thing they have going for them is advertising. I see the commercials way too much. but it seems to be working.And yep, there's a cap for free accounts. It's not that great. It'll lose it's momentum real soon, real quick.
scr3wnai1
When even I see the words free somewhere in a game descrition for a MMO anywhere I tend to not think twice about it knowing that there is a charge in there somewhere or somehow.
lilme3333
@Havok4x4
i have that same problem but only on crome. Explorer and firefox work tho
Havok4x4
So, is this just cause I'm canadian or what the deal? But ever since this "face lift" the G4 site underwent. I can't see any text, on any of the news feeds. Same deal on the girlfriends computer. Somebody help me out here! I need my feed.
MindTricked
I set up an account just after it went live. Played off and on for a few weeks, and was having a decent amount of fun... until my char hit level 15 ninja and couldn't get the (get to) level 20 quest without "upgrading" to a paid account. Lost my enthusiasm for it right there, then started playing Guild Wars.
Free Realms has a decent amount of fun, and is a good starting point for the MMO virgin... but it's very repetitive and not nearly as deep as WoW or Guild Wars (but it IS deeper than Ultima Online, haha).
purdyjo
well this things probably at 3 mill just because it's free. I know the only reason I haven't played WOW is because i don't want to pay 10-15 a month or whatever it is
purewitz
@IcemanMX I know you're just joking around, but 3 million is still 3 million. They're only 8 million away from WOW's 11 million. Plus most MMOs don't even have 1 million, lol. So who knows? This could be be the David (Free Realms)to take down the Goliath (WOW).
IcemanMX
Look out, World of Warcraft, here comes your next serious competitor!
/end sarcasm
-M
RRODisBack
Congrats Sony. Sony gives free online gaming and free MMOs. It doesn't get any better than that does it?
Displaying 1–11 of 11