LEGO Universe goes F2P today

Free-to-play conversions have been in the news a lot lately, with games as diverse as Age of Conan and Champions Online throwing open their doors with various flavors of free access. LEGO Universe is the latest freemium convert, and today is the official kickoff for the brick-building MMORPG's new membership tier.

So what can you do for free in LEGO Universe?

Two adventure zones and one player property area are available for starters, and the game also offers up a decent selection of free mini-games, build options, and basic functionality (including the ability to sample faction gear and collect up to 10,000 coins). The LEGO Group is clearly looking to entice gamers to upgrade to a full membership, though, as it only costs $10 a month and it unlocks the full game including over 15 adventuring zones, access to upcoming expansion content, and the ability to join in competitions and community events. Head to the official LEGO Universe website for a full listing of free-to-play offerings and subscriber benefits. You can also click past the cut to see a new free-to-play trailer featuring gameplay and world-building highlights.

Reader Comments (27)

Not really surprised. I think it might do better with a F2P model.

I have never seen such a horrible poorly targeted commercial in my life...my little sister who is eight asked me "why are all the Legos angry?"

This IP has been mishandled from the start and it looks to be only getting worse.

@Dunraven

A very good point, the LEGO IP marketing is so crap these days.

My daughters (about the same age as your little sister) are not interested for the same type of reasons (the LEGOs are anrgy/"loud"/scary robots/always fighting/for boys). They occasionally still play with the plain blocks we got from garage sale, but they always pass the LEGO shelves in a toystore.

It was only a matter of time. I saw this coming at launch!

@Van Same. Beta was fun, but there was such a small amount of "content" I couldn't then or now see how they could make it old-fashioned box+subscription. Unless they really start pumping out more to do, I don't see this as saving them either frankly.

This game would work if you instead of getting a subscription you could buy gift cards in shops and just bought extra levels and stuf.

@byaboy

Even better, unlock things when you buy sets of lego. It doesn't have to be whole zones, but clothing or faces.. Tie it in more with the product.

Would it have killed anyone to have put a link to legouniverse.com in the article?

@PhelimReagh

The one at the bottom labeled SOURCE isn't good enough?

@PhelimReagh

Apparently, yes. I'm disappointed that there isn't a link provided, as well.

@PhelimReagh Source people...

I wish people would stop calling this model "Free To Play". It's free to TRY. This is a TRIAL. All they did was open up a few zones, and made it so you can't buy the other zones. It's just like Conan and it's 4 out of 12 classes, no raid or PvP content ripoff. I'll stick to LOTRO for my PvE fascinations, thank you.

@ShivanSwordsman

You can play those zones for FREE forever if you want to. It's Free-to-Play.

The client is free. Select zones are free. You can subscribe to receive all content for $10/month. Sounds good to me. I'll definitely be checking it out.

@ShivanSwordsman

How can something that is free be a "ripoff"? Yes, it is basically just a free trial that is called Free To Play for marketing reasons, but it isn't ripping you or anyone else off.

@(Unverified)

Gotta love people's sense of entitlement.

@ShivanSwordsman Free to Try would imply that you'll lose access to it after a certain period of time.

Free to play MMOs don't remove access only limit, but what is free is free forever, well as long as the MMO is alive.

I suppose F2P is better to say/type then saying/typing Micro-transaction MMO, or Hybrid pricing model MMO.

@ShivanSwordsman Shivan is right, it's not free to play, it's an unlimited free trial. Free to play, to me at least, means you can access a large portion of the game content without paying, you cannot do that here. You can access the starter zone and a little place to play with construction and that is it. You have a gold limit, cant access any quests that can help you level much after level 10 ore so and my favorite, you cant even use chat unless you subscribe. What 'free to play' game doesn't even let someone use chat unless they sub?

@ShivanSwordsman u mad brah?

I think there is a big difference between endless trial like WoW's starter edition and F2P. If the trial is very limited in content and features then its just trial and not F2P.

@Wurm

"Trials" are time-limited.

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LEGO Universe goes F2P today

Reader Comments (27)

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 11:45AM Interitus said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 11:47AM Dunraven said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 12:22PM SgtBaker1234556 said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 12:43PM Van said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 3:37PM Saker said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 1:02PM byaboy said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 1:43PM Interitus said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 2:06PM PhelimReagh said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 2:18PM VioletArrows said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 2:18PM Drakkon said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 7:30PM Tizmah said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 2:12PM ShivanSwordsman said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 2:51PM yeppers said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 3:00PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 3:06PM yeppers said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 6:00PM hami83 said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 9:33PM Tazuras said

Posted: Aug 16th 2011 2:10PM Daemodand said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 3:19PM Wurm said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 3:42PM yeppers said

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