Troubled MMO The Secret World drops the subscription model

Following a disappointing launch earlier this year, and troubling times for its developer Funcom, MMORPG The Secret World has dropped its monthly subscription model. This means that anyone who purchases (or has already purchased) the Funcom game will receive all of its content without having to sign up to pay a monthly fee. However, a monthly $14.99 'Membership' fee option is available to those who want to access some extras, including the ability to gain experience faster, and bonus points and items. Any current subscribers to the game are automatically transferred to this 'Membership' scheme. The Secret World has had a rocky existence up to this point, with developer Funcom saying back in August that it plans to switch to smaller online games in future, after the MMO only managed to secure 200,000 subscribers. The company also brought in a new game director in September, in a bid to expand and enhance the original release through post-launch content. Of course, the move follows the decline and subsequent switch to free-to-play for the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO earlier this year. The fall of the MMO subscription was quite clearly one of the major trends that defined 2012 for video games, and the fate of the The Secret World subscription model simply throws more water on this dying fire.