EVE Online Will Be Free In November

The popular MMORPG will be available free of charge this November, albeit with some caveats.

CCP Games, the company behind the game, announced the decision yesterday. If the detailed text of the announcement is daunting, The Verge has provided a basic summary of how playing EVE Online for free works:

EVE Online players will essentially be separated into two different tiers: “Omega clones” and “Alpha clones.” Omega clones will apply to accounts with existing subscriptions, and will give players access to the entire game, just as they always have. Alpha clones represent the free option, and offer a more limited, and very specific set of skills, weapons, and ships that players have access to. Alpha players who want to see more of the game will have the option to upgrade to an Omega account.

This idea was apparently a long time coming, as the MMORPG has sought to expand its user base.

CCP Games have been doing fairly well for themselves over the past year. Viðskiptablaðið reports that the company reported profits of $20.7 million USD last year, or 2.7 billion ISK. Although the company reported losses of 8.7 billion ISK in 2014, this was in large part due to investments in the World of Darkness project being written off.