In An Age of Free-to-Play, EVE Online Sets Records

It’s a commonplace sentiment this day and age to say that the paid subscription model of MMO gaming is dying. Longtime giants like Activision/Blizzard’s World of Warcraft are seeing their subscriber numbers drop by the millions, and new ventures attempting to use the monthly payment model like EA’s The Old Republic almost always are forced to switch over to free to play once they find they lack the required subscriptions to pay the bills.

But there’s one game that’s perplexing analysts as it not only is surviving using a paid subscription model, but thriving. That would be CCP Games‘ EVE Online, the space combat simulator which recently announced that it’s broken 450,000 subscriptions for the first time in the games ten year history.

The numbers are attributed to both the game’s recent relaunch in China, where MMOs are often way of life, and also the game’s 18th free expansion pack EVE Online: Retribution.  The recent expansion has been heavily advertised as of late, and the result appears to be that the player base of the game is indeed growing.

It’s interesting to see EVE subscriber’s numbers continue to increase, as the game is notoriously tough for newcomers to get a hold of. Top players treat the game like a full-time job (as with most MMOs) and those just starting out can feel confused by the game’s complexities.

But something is drawing new players in. The idea of a massive space simulator where you’re in control of your own vessel is appealing to many in the sci-fi crowd who may turn up their noses at other more traditional games in the genre. It’s vastly different than most other types of MMOs where combat is mainly in human form be it in a sword and sorcery epic, or a superhero simulator.

Then there’s the ecosystem of EVE, which is perhaps the most interesting of any MMO out there. There’s a real, thriving economy that’s been built up in the game over the past decade, and operates similar to the way a real economy would. The game has made gaming news headlines periodically when its largest virtual ships have sold for thousands of dollars, or when a player stole $45,000 worth of in-game currency via an enormous investment scam. Those sorts of things simply don’t happen in other titles, and the unpredictability and organic nature of the game is what makes it interesting.

Whatever EVE Online is doing, it’s working, though other games don’t seem to be able to follow its example making it one of the few remaining paid MMOs that could be classified as growing. If your interest is piqued, the game is running a 14 day trial that doesn’t require a credit card so you can see if it’s to your liking.