SOE's Free Realms Hits 3 Million Mark

Following its April 28 launch, Sony Online Entertainment's free-to-play casual MMORPG Free Realms has amassed 3 million unique users, SOE announced Friday. SOE CEO John Smedley said the family-friendly game, which has enjoyed a youth-focused TV campaign, has attracted on average 500,000 new gamers per week. Smedley also said SOE worked on the game for four years prior to release. The first 3 million registrants will have access to the "3M Pet Party Pack," which contains "virtual goodies" for players' virtual pets. A rep for SOE told Gamasutra that the 3 million figure is "the number of registered accounts for Free Realms." The game is free to download and play, but has optional microtransaction and subscription elements. Free Realms also ties into a trading card game playable both with physical cards and inside the game via digital codes. One month after release, SOE said the game had hit 2 million users.