It looks like there was a little bit of confusion surrounding the upcoming US release of the fantasy MMO The Chronicles of Spellborn by Acclaim. While the publisher has released "free-to-play" MMO games in the past, this game (due for release on November 27) has a regular MMO business model with a monthly fee and no item selling.

So why the confusion? As explained on the game's official web site, The Chronicles of Spellborn will do something a little different. It will offer a free area for any player to start in but after that they will have to pony up the monthly fee in order to continue playing in the game world. According to the site, "Rather than offering the usual '14 days trial' or similar, we decided to go for this free2play starting zone. This will allow you more time to get a good feel on the combat system and on the questing, and in general to give a good impression on what Spellborn is all about." So there you go; not a "free-to-play" model but a "free-zone-but-pay-for-everything-else" model.

[Via Massively]