According to Lord of the Rings Online executive producer Kate Paiz, the game has doubled its revenue since going free-to-play (we detailed the ad campaign here). Over a million new accounts have been created since the switch to F2P.
Paiz, who also helped transition Dungeons & Dragons Online to F2P said that while Lord of the Rings Online wasn’t losing money using subscription, they thought that F2P was the way to go. “We knew there was more out there for us,” she said
Paiz noted that 20 percent of lapsed Lord of the Rings Online players have returned to the game since it has gone free to play. The game has seen a 300 percent increase in peak concurrency since going F2P, with three times the number of players online simultaneously, and a 400 percent increase in active players total.
Moreover, over half of the players have made a microtransaction purchase for anything from consumable items, customized gear, mounts and character slots. Ironically, paid subscriptions have actually increased since going F2P.
Paiz says that the lesson Turbine has learned is “when you tell people you no longer have to pay for it, they come in droves.”
Source: Joystiq
