Funcom details free-to-play MMO strategy

Game publisher and developer Funcom released its official financial reports the other day, and, besides all the dreadfully boring number stuff, they detailed existing plans to enter the free-to-play market.

Gamasutra notes the company has a browser-based title in development as well another that’s java-based. No release date for either was given.

What the company is releasing isn’t as much of a cause for concern as why. In the same report, Funcom claims the key reason for entering the free-to-play space is “smaller budgets and faster development.” While I’m a strong supporter of developers seeking both in this industry, I’m a little hesitant to embrace the actual implementation, as a worst case scenario could leave innovation and creativity to the wayside. But I digress.

Funcom plans to make money from these free-to-play titles using a “combination of microtransactions, available subscriptions, and advertising revenue.” Basically it’s the same as most free-to-play titles.

So what do you think, educated readers? Are you interested in more MMOs coming from the company that brought you “Age of Conan” and “Anarchy Online?” Does the fact they’re going to be free-to-play affect that interest at all?