Free-to-play Aion takes flight in February

NCsoft’s Aion: The Tower of Eternity is the latest MMORPG to switch to the free-to-play model.

The game will drop its monthly subscriptions in February. NCsoft has joined forces with German publisher Gameforge to create a team that will maintain the title and its servers in Europe.

Aion debuted in 2009, and sees players exploring a fantasy world with ultimate aim of growing angelic wings and battling evil in the skies.

"In the last few months, the lands in Atreia have become more and more deserted," an open letter on the new free-to-play website reads. "We want to reinvigorate the world of Aion and attract new adventurers to the towns to take to the skies as Daevas."

Existing subscribers will be upgraded to Veteran accounts. All of the game’s content will be free to them, and they will also receive special in-game bonuses.

New players will be given Starter accounts, which will give them access to all in-game content. NCsoft adds that they will later be able to upgrade to a Veteran account, although details on how this will work are still being finalised.

The newly-formed Gameforge-Aion team will work with NCsoft to continue developing new content for Aion.