News Original From: Why I think Champions Online will be a free-to-play title
	Author: Pamela Blalock
	Oklahoma City MMORPG Examiner

It's no secret I'm looking forward to Champions Online.  I'm a sucker for character customization and currently City of Heroes is the best you're going to get.  Of course I'm going to be interested in a game made by Cryptic after that.

So I keep up with the game reading everything I can and I dig around a lot to separate facts from rumors.  I'm not trying to perpetuate a rumor here; I'm merely looking at the facts and musing about the idea of Champions Online being a free-to-play title.

My biggest evidence of CO being a free-to-play game is found in the preorder details at places like Gamestop and Amazon.  Both offer 5 Cryptic Bucks when you preorder the game.

5 Cryptic Bucks which can be used to purchase a variety of premium in-game goods.

Rarely does a game have a system of currency set up with a developer name on it if it's pay-to-play.  Generally, when we see some type of "coin" or "point" alongside a developer name it means that's for microtransactions and there is no required fee to play.

Currently, the CO FAQ has this to say about a payment model,

Q: Will a monthly fee be required to play?
A: We have not yet announced the pricing structure for the game.

I've pointed out before that the answer to that question is very precise in its vagueness.  Most FAQ answer that question with either a blatant, "No, this game is absolutely free" or "Expect a price similar to most MMORPGs."

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Of course there's a dark side to this as well.  Perhaps CO is going to allow for microtransactions and will still require a monthly fee similar to what City of Heroes is doing right now.  You still pay a subscription fee to play City of Heroes but there are optional booster packs available for additional cash.  Although both games were made by Cryptic what happens with CoH means nothing to what will happen with CO.

Again, it's all speculation but one can dream of a game like this being free-to-play.  We all know how much easier a f2p model would be for the Xbox 360 version of the game.  I guess we'll know on September 1, 2009 or perhaps a little earlier if the NDA is lifted before then.

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