Last week, developer Cryptic Studios surprised many when it announced that its next game, Neverwinter, would be an online RPG title instead of an MMO game like all of Cryptic's previous games. However that doesn't mean the Dungeons and Dragons-based game will be a standard retail product.

In a chat with Gamasutra, Cryptic's co-founder Jack Emmert admitted that the developer was still debating what kind of a business model Neverwinter will have, saying, "I can guarantee you that we envision this as an online product that will continue to grow over time, that we continue to add content to." He said that subscription fees, microtransactions, play-for-free and even (as a joke) pay-by-minute models were all being considered. The game itself is still a long way from release; Neverwinter is scheduled to come out in the fourth quarter of 2011.