Final Fantasy XIV article in MCV

[Antipika]

Some games does it right, you aren't aware of them that's it.

Dofus is free to play (freemium more precisely, you can play for free, but have to pay to access all features/zones) and perform really well. 500K paid subscribers for France alone, that's as most as XI during most of its lifetime, but with a single country that's twice less populated than Japan alone, with a game from a "small" company (Ankama is far from being SE) and without a big license such as FF.

And the subscribtion itself is cheap (48 euros for 12 months, which is less than the price of a "normal" game per year). The game targets a very young audience (12~18 years old), hence why freemium was the way to go. Same for the low membership fee, which parents aren't reluctant to pay for their child.

There isn't any cash shop. You only receive vanity rewards for subscribing (lot of P2P games do that like Rift). You can also pay for extra services such as World Transfer, Character Rename etc. (then again lot of P2P do that, even XI).

Note that the "sequel", Wakfu, is being published by Square Enix in North America. (No idea how it performs there, but the billing model is the same with an item shop however).

[Jennestia]

Some games does it right, you aren't aware of them that's it.

My apologies, first time I've heard I wasn't aware of games I've actually played (btw, I have half year sub for Wakfu and played Doofus for quite awhile.)

"Freemium" isn't good because it's going under the disguise of "you can play for free but if you want to actually play the full game, pay:" -- that's not a free MMO and it can cost you more than paying monthly for a game in the long run, especially if it has a cashshop.

Though do tell me, what other MMOs I haven't played since you feel you know what games I have and have not played in my time? Also I'll give you a hint:

My work keeps me stationed in the US, Japan, Korea and China for up to 4 years at a time and since I play MMOs, I'm usually playing MMOs in those countries -- So unless the ones that released last year "does F2P" right, you're correct I'm not aware of it, but for the most part every F2P MMO takes the same route of charging you more than if you just simply played a P2P game.