Free 2 play does carry a stigma. Before the CM had to make this announcement I've seen people on four different messageboards (one of them SB's beta questioning the devs in teaming up with Acclaim)

Some of them were even nasty about it saying they won't play the game now because it would be another Free2play trash game. So the fustration on the CM's part is understandable especially since this particular CM was already notorious for this type of behavior before she was hired by the Devs to represent them.

Bottom line is that Acclaim is partnering with Spellborn because they don't want to follow the same business models of past games with item mails and all that other crap people look down on. THey see SB as a subscription based game to work with.