pirates-of-the-burning-sea posts

Earlier this year developer Flying Lab Software announced plans to take its nearly three years old MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea to the free-to-play business model. Today the game officially switched over to that new business model, allowing folks to play much of the game's content free of charge.

Folks who still want to stick with the monthly subscription model can still do so at the rate of $14.99 a month. Those players will get full access to the game's content. People who want to play the game for free can still purchase content and items via the in-game store named, appropriately enough, Treasure Aisle.

[Via Massively]

The monthly subscription business model for the massively multiplayer game genre is slowly losing its popularity among game developers. Today yet another established MMO with such a business model, Pirates of the Burning Sea, announced that it is switching over to a free-to-play version.

In a post on the game's official web site the game's developer's Flying Lab Software said the switch to free-to-play will have a number of positives for the title including making the game more accessible for new players and allowing players to play for as much or as little as they would like. There's no word yet on when the switch will take place although Flying Lab is "very close to starting the countdown." In related news the game's first major expansion pack, Power and Prestige, has officially launched.

Usually when a beta test for an MMO expansion pack is set up its only for the current players of the game. Developer Flying Labs Software is doing something a little different for the open beta of their upcoming expansion to its pirate MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea.

The expansion pack, Power and Prestige, is now available in open beta for subscribers to the main game. However, Flying Lab is letting people who download and play the game's 14 day free trial version to also play the open beta test for Power and Prestige. The free expansion, which lets players become port governors and adds 60 new missions, is scheduled to officially launch later this summer.

A few months ago, developer Flying Lab Software announced their plans for Power and Prestige, the first major content expansion for their pirate themed MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea. Today the developer revealed that the free expansion, first revealed back in September 2009, would be released sometime in early August.

People who subscribe to the game can now sign up to be a beta tester for the expansion. When its released it will add 60 new missions to the game along with four new pirate hunter factions, the ability to be a "port governor" in the game and lots more.

Direct2Drive isn't the only site with early week sales events. Steam is offering up its own deep discount on a title today. It's Pirates of the Burning Sea and from now until December 11 you can purchase and download the pirate-themed MMO title for just $5. That's a whopping 75 percent off its normal $19.99 Steam price. The Steam sale ends on December 11.

The game was launched in January 2008 by Seattle developer Flying Lab Software. The developer has recently announced plans for its first commercial expansion pack titled Power and Prestige that will add new content and features to the game.

Launched in January 2008, the pirate themed MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea has proven to be a solid hit for independent developer Flying Lab Software. So much so, in fact, that the developer is currently hiring new people to work on the game's first major content expansion, titled Power and Prestige.

The expansion will allow players in the game to not only conquer ports but to become the actual Port Governor of those captured locations. Port Governors will have ways to increase the port's defensive capabilities as well as setting its tax rates. Power and Prestige will be released for free to the game's subscribers in the second quarter of 2010.

Oh, and Flying Lab also has in-game plans for tomorrow which is, in case you didn't already know, Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Normally GoGamer.com's 48 Hour Madness weekend sales are for older PC games that have been released for a year or even more. Not this weekend, however. The online mail-order retailer has put in some more recently released PC games on the price cutting block this time.

For this weekend only GoGamer.com offers up the PC versions of Rise of the Argonauts and Lord of the Rings: Conquest for $24.90. They have also put Perimeter 2 and Saints Row 2 on sale for $19.90 and Pirates of the Burning Sea and Everquest II: Rise of Kunark can be bought for just $9.90. Again these bargains are for this weekend only.

Seattle-based Flying Lab Software has been running its pirate-themed MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea for a year now but the developer is looking to expand its reach into other areas. Our sister site GameDaily reports that Flying Lab will soon officially announce their plans for a casual MMO title.

The game will be developed by a new division of the company called, naturally, Flying Lab Casual, and has already gotten its first gig creating a game in a "family friendly universe" in collaboration with well known trading card company Upper Deck. Pirates of the Burning Sea isn't being forgotten; the developer also plans to revamp the title's sword-fighting system. Players can also expect "new skirmish and player-governed ports" to be put into the game.

Valve has announced that it is now offering a number of games from publisher Sony Online Entertainment. The games include the complete collections for both Everquest and Everquest II along with Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and Pirates of the Burning Sea. Those last two games, along with Everquest: Secrets of Faydwer and Everquest II: Rise of Kunark are being offered with a 10 percent discount for the next 10 days via Steam.

Also, Valve's regular weekend sales deal for their Steam service continues as the digital download service offers up yet another game at a huge discount. This time the game is the PC version of Rainbow Six Vegas 2, the 2008 released tactical shooter and the latest game in Ubisoft's long running Tom Clancy branded series.

If you like your shooting of terrorist to be mixed with the "what happens here, stays here" lifestyle you can download Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for just $9.99 this weekend. That's a 50 percent cut from its normal $19.99 price.

Before the launches of Age of Conan and Warhammer Online, developer Flying Lab Software and distributor Sony Online launched Pirates of the Burning Sea in January. The pirate themed MMO got a lot of attention beforehand and even showed up on NPD's top 10 list for its debut week but since then the game hasn't gotten as much attention from the MMO community as the other two major MMO launches this year.

Flying Lab is hoping to bring in new players by launching a 14 day free trial version of the title where you can pick from one of four different "nations", explore the game's version of the 18th century Caribbean and not only engage in sea battles but fight in sword battles as well. Any characters made during the free trial can be carried over if you choose to purchase the full game and get a monthly subscription.