Apparently people like to get stuff for free. Not only is Atari’s superhero MMO Champions online free now, but the developers are giving away bonus experience points within the game too. This combination of Free and Bonus seems to be working out very well from a marketing standpoint.
A month ago Champions stopped charging their fifteen-dollar monthly subscription fee, and switched to a free-to-play business model that is supported by charging players for premium content within the game. Virtual heroes can experience almost everything the game has to offer without paying a cent. Unsurprisingly, this has led to their number of subscribers increasing to ten times what it was before the switch. On top of that, the game also just announced a special Boost power that increases the speed at which players gain Experience Points within the game. This boost is also free.
Although these tactics are clearly a tremendous success in terms of getting new players to try the game, Atari and developer Cryptic Studios still haven’t announced whether or not this massive influx of new players will lead to increases in actual profits, as opposed to just additional stress on their servers. Regardless of whether or not Atari is making any money from it, you can create an account over at the Champions website.