Fantasy MMO Aion to go free-to-play in February

NcSoft’s subscription-based fantasy MMO Aion: The Tower of Eternity is to go free-to-play next February, the company has revealed.

The South Korea-based studio will be working with German publisher Gameforge to make the switch over after the title saw a large decrease in number of users.

NCsoft said the new 38-man team will continue to further develop the game and add new content.

“In the last few months the lands in Atreia have become more and more deserted,” read a statement from the studio.

“We want to reinvigorate the world of Aion and attract new adventurers to the towns to take to the skies as Daevas.”

Aion, released in 2009, has become the latest in a string of games in the last year to adopt the free-to-play model, with other titles including Team Fortress 2, Spiral Knights and DC Universe.

Existing subscribers to Aion will be given ‘Veteran’ status before the changeover, opening up all the game’s options for free, whilst new users will have to pay for added content.