Gamasutra are reporting that 40 members of the Rift development team – around one third of the game’s staff – are being laid off. Trion Worlds have confirmed job cuts in a statement, but haven’t commented on how many roles are being lost, or which teams are affected. “As a response to market conditions, product timelines and the natural evolution of our company,” Trion writes, “we have made some organizational changes, which include a workforce reduction. This was a difficult decision and we wish the best for those affected by these changes. At Trion, we remain focused on delivering top quality online game experiences, and are committed to supporting RIFT and launching our highly anticipated new titles Defiance, Warface, and End of Nations in 2013.” Trion Worlds launched the ace Storm Legion expansion only last month. While the MMO has retained its subscription status, despite a free light edition covering levels 1-20 and a Storm Legion trial for returning players, the company has never divulged any information on how many subscribers it was serving. This news follows on from the 19 lay-offs at Petroglyph, who were working on End of Nations before Trion moved its development in-house.

In news that won’t be of much surprise to anyone who’s been following the game, The Secret World has dropped the need for a subscription fee. What is a bit different is how they’re going about it: instead of going free-to-play, they’re following in Guild Wars 2′s footsteps – a one-time purchase gives you access to the full story-heavy MMO.
Buying the game now gets you access to the complete range of launch content, as well as the four subsequent content packs (or Issues, as they’re known in TSW’s vernacular). Going forward, Issues will be sold as optional DLC, although the upcoming fifth update will be free for anyone who buys the game before the end of December.
The existing subscription will continue, now as an optional “membership,” and offers a selection of extra benefits. These include a Time Accelerator, which gives a 1-hour XP boost of 100%; $10 of bonus points per month; an item-of-the-month gift each month; and a 10% discount to items in the store. Members also get any future DLC as part of their subscription. The full range of options and benefits are explained on the TSW blog.
Overall it seems like a good move for the game. Still, I can’t help but wish this had been planned from the start. There’s a lot to like about The Secret World – it has some exceptional writing, great characters and tries interesting things with classes and skills. It also has an awful lot of quest churn once you progress out of the starting area of Kingsmouth, with the brilliant investigation missions becoming increasingly spaced out.
Has this subscription switch tempted anyone to take look?