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Vanguard to go free-to-play

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Sony Online Entertainment has announced that one of its last pay-to-play games, Vanguard, will go free-to-play this summer.

The team expects the free-to-play model to be similar to that of EverQuest and DC Universe Online, although exact details have not been laid out. The game is also preparing to release more frequent updates as the Vanguard development team has expanded.

Sony Online Entertainment has been transitioning all of its titles to the free-to-play model in North America, utilizing an optional subscription model combined with microtransactions.

Vanguard Gameplay Screenshot

Source:

Exciting Vanguard Announcement – March 2012 Producer Letter

We’ve got some exciting changes in store for Vanguard!

Since many, if not all of you reading this letter are the most die-hard of Vanguard players, let me start off by saying thank you for your unwavering support of the game!  Let’s talk about the great things we have planned over the next few months…

Vanguard going Free-to-Play

At SOE, giving players choices is the theme of how we’re moving forward as a company. We see free-to-play (or as we refer to it, Free to Play. Your Way.) as a big part of our future and we like the flexibility it offers players. Therefore, I’m happy to announce Vanguard will be the next in line of our AAA games to make this transition.  Since we’ve literally just begun on the work, I’m not ready to go into much detail.  However, I will say that you can expect something similar to EverQuest®, EverQuest® II and DC Universe™ Online when we roll-out our free-to-play offering this summer.  Once we have more information to share, you’ll be the first to know.

Getting the band back together…

Now for the part I’m most excited about, let’s talk about the great team of developers we’ve assembled.  To begin (and I realize I’m stating the obvious) we’ve had a dry spell of game updates over the past few months.  That said, I’m happy to announce the drought will be coming to an end this week, with our first scheduled update since last December.  We plan to roll out game updates MUCH more frequently than years past, which will include general improvements, new content and more.

A few weeks ago, we began ramping up the Vanguard development team with some familiar faces.  Our criteria was simple; we wanted the most Vanguard-knowledgeable, passionate developers.  While we plan to continue growing the team over the next few months, I wanted to briefly introduce a few of our team leads, including Salim “Silius” Grant (Creative Director), Todd “Hobart” Schmidt (Technical Director) and me, Andy Sites (Director of Development).  Fortunately, I am the only noob to the world of Vanguard, although having been part of the original EverQuest, EverQuest II, Free Realms, and Clone Wars Adventures teams, I’ve spent most of my career working on MMOs.

Over the next several weeks, we plan to roll-out individual “spotlight” pieces for each team member, to give you an opportunity to get to know each of them.  In addition, you can expect to see more frequent game updates, as well as more detailed information regarding the upcoming free-to-play aspects of Vanguard.

Talk to you soon and we’ll see you online!

Andy Sites
Director of Development

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