Turbine Launches D&D Online In French, German

By On April 5, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Turbine has announced the launch of its Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited (DDO) freemium MMORPG in French and German. The new localized versions of the game are intended to serve European players. DDO was initially published in Europe by Codemasters, but Turbine chose to take over the European service itself last July. It’s worth [...]

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Turbine: LOTRO Revenue Has Tripled

By On January 7, 2011 · 1 Comment

The freemium MMORPG Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) generates triple the revenue it did when it was a subscription-only game, according to statements made by Turbine Director of Communications Adam Mersky in a podcast interview with TenTonHammer. In the same podcast, Turbine Executive Director Kate Paiz says that the move to freemium increased LOTRO’s [...]

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Warner Names Ballard SVP Of Digital Games

By On October 4, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Warner Bros. Digital Distribution President Thomas Gewecke and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment President Martin Tremblay have named Greg Ballard the new Senior Vice President of Digital Games. Ballard will report to both Gewecke and Tremblay. He will oversee Warner Bros.'s digital games business worldwide, including digital distribution, online games, social games, mobile games, MMOs, virtual [...]

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Turbine Launches Freemium LOTRO

By On September 10, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online officially went free-to-play today. Now any player can download the game client from the official site and play the game at no cost until their character reaches level 50. Players have the option of purchasing expansions, quest items, items, and account services via microtransactions. Players can also opt to [...]

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Freemium Lord Of The Rings Online Launches September 10

By On August 18, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Turbine has announced that the freemium version of Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) will launch on September 10 in both North America and Europe. Publishing partner Codemasters will handle the European launch. Free players will be able to raise their characters to level 50 and have the option of purchasing additional content, convenience items, [...]

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Cryptic Considering Freemium Star Trek Online

By On July 13, 2010 · Leave a Comment

MMORPG developer Cryptic may be considering a freemium version of its subscription-based MMO Star Trek Online, which drew one million accounts during its launch in February 2010. In a recent post to the "Ask Cryptic" thread of the STO forums, Executive Producer Daniel Stahl spoke positively of Turbine's recent move toward converting its Lord of [...]

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Freemium Lord Of The Rings Online Closed Beta Begins

By On June 16, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Today Turbine opened closed beta registration for the freemium version of its Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) game. The closed beta will allow users to amass Turbine Points, but the game's new cash item shop will not be live until later in the year. Once the site goes live, Turbine says it will offer over [...]

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Turbine Announces Freemium Lord Of The Rings Online

By On June 4, 2010 · Leave a Comment

MMO developer Turbine announced today that its subscription MMORPG Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) would be available free-to-play with optional microtransactions this fall. Turbine has already converted its Dungeon & Dragons Online (DDO) game to freemium with great success, but LOTRO is Turbine's flagship game. Converting it to freemium signifies a whole new level [...]

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Virtual Goods Wrap-Up For The Week Of May 29

By On May 29, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Virtual Goods News Wrap-Up for the week of May 29, 2010. The Wrap-Up is where VGN spotlights stories that we didn't get to cover individually, but still make for interesting reading about the virtual goods industry. Facebook Launches Page For Credits, Shows Off Apps That Use It: Facebook has rolled out an [...]

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Direct2Drive Selling “Starter Packs” For Freemium Games

By On May 24, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Digital download games retailer Direct2Drive.com is making a novel move into the freemium game market. Direct2Drive is going to begin selling "Starter Packs" for freemium titles that bundle the game client together with virtual currency and virtual goods that players can begin using once they've logged into the game. The downloads will be available through [...]

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