Free-to-play LOTRO doubles revenue
A million new accounts in a month.
MMO developer Turbine has said that The Lord of the Rings Online has doubled the amount of money it's bringing in and earned a million new account registrations since it relaunched as a free-to-play game last month.
The news came from a presentation by executive producer Kate Paiz at GDC Online in Austin, Texas, yesterday, reported by Joystiq.
Paiz rolled out several more impressive stats, including the return of 20 per cent of lapsed players, a 300 per cent increase in peak concurrency (the maximum number of players online at any one time), and a 400 per cent increase in total active players. Paid subscriptions are up, too.
It's consistent with Turbine's experience moving Dungeons & Dragons Online to a free-to-play model last year, which massively increased revenues on its way to becoming the third most-played MMO in the US.
LOTRO's free-to-play relaunch in Europe has been delayed by local operator Codemasters, with the company unable to supply a date for the relaunch, originally planned for 10th September.
"We are continuing to do our best to overcome the challenges still facing the launch of Free to Play in Europe. As soon as those are resolved we'll have a clear and definite date for when the update will be applied to the European service," Codemasters said a week ago.