Atlas Reactor is dropping its free-to-play system

It’s going to cost $29.99 regularly

While the closed beta for Atlas Reactor has been reasonably well-received, Trion Worlds has decided to move out of the free-to-play realm with its multiplayer strategy game in favor of premium pricing.

There’s a specific breakdown of the new buy-once-to-play structure and how current beta players will be affected over here, but the short of it is the game will be $19.99 for a limited time (and then normally cost $29.99) and folks who already purchased a Founder’s Pack or spent $10 or more on in-game credits won’t have to pay more to continue playing in the future — they’re all sorted.

Why the change, and why now? According to producer Peter Ju, Trion has been “figuring out how to best tune [Atlas Reactor as a free-to-play title] to create a sustainable business. To make it viable, we would have had to do some things that run counter to your feedback, making the game less fun.”

In his letter to the community, Ju also stressed that going this route will enable the team to better focus on “the competitive, balanced fun rather than store mechanics.”

In most cases, I would see this shift as a good thing, but for a game in Atlas Reactor‘s position that will live or die based on its player base, I’m not so sure. If Trion can get lots of folks in the door under the new premium model and keep them engaged, more power to it, but I have my doubts.

April Producer’s Letter [Atlas Reactor]