The Secret World drops subscription, buy it once and play forever!

A while ago I wrote a series of diaries playing through The Secret World - a series I concluded with 'I would play this if it didn't have a monthly fee.' Well guess what me! You/I got your/my wish! The Secret World used the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar to do something a little different - it has now dropped its subscription fees entirely! Following the footsteps of Guild Wars 2, purchasing the game client will now give you access to everything currently available.




There is an in-game store where you can purchase cosmetic and character bonuses, although Funcom have been keen to note that these are bonuses - people who don't pay extra won't suffer in any way. Additional content, added as time continues to march forward, will also be purchasable through the in game store. An ongoing subscription (called membership) can be purchased, but is completely unnecessary to enjoy everything The Secret World has to offer.

Members will gain $10 worth of points for their trouble, which will be enough to purchase the additional content as it is added and a bonus mystery 'item of the month'. They also gain a 10% discount on the store (excepting additional content packs) and 'The Time Accelerator' - which gives you an extra 100% experience points for an hour every sixteen hours.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has an excellent interview up discussing the move to the new business model and if you have any questions you can check out the official FAQ over on The Secret World forums. Naturally, you can buy the digital version of the game from the official site. Are you going to get into The Secret World now it doesn't require a subscription fee? Or were you already in it? Let us know in the comments below!