We’ve got some big news coming out of Hi-Rez Studios today regarding the payment methods for their upcoming sci-fi MMOFPS, Global Agenda. Hi-Rez Studios has announced today that Global Agenda will be available for $49.99 as either a retail box package or a digital download, but more importantly, that there will be no monthly subscription fee required for Global Agenda.

Instead, a subscription package will be offered as an option to customers, which will be known as Global Agenda: Conquest. Customers who opt for the subscription package will receive access to the persistent Alliance vs. Alliance territory control gameplay as well as access to major content updates. For fans familiar with Monte Cristo’s CitiesXL, this arrangement is somewhat similar to the Cities XL vs. Cities XL: Planet Offer.

Global Agenda Executive Producer Todd Harris also offers some comments on the announcement:

"Throughout our Beta process, our fans, players and reviewers have consistently told us that Global Agenda's combat system is exceptionally fun and that they would love to play it as a multiplayer shooter. This single-purchase, non-subscription model will enable players to fully experience Global Agenda’s award-winning persistent shooter gameplay."

"At the same time, many players are seeking a deeper experience, and want to engage in large-scale campaigns between player-created groups over limited territory and resources. These players can opt for the Conquest subscription plan which includes our persistent AvA world domination gameplay, and other features typically associated with MMOs."

Below you'll find details on both the base Global Agenda package and the optional subscription-based Global Agenda: Conquest:

Global Agenda (one time purchase - $49.99 MSRP) includes:
• Creation of up to eight different agent characters
• Character visual customization
• Access to all combat weapons and devices
• Cooperative Player vs. Environment missions against the Commonwealth NPC faction, AI-controlled enemies, and Boss Fights
• Matchmade Player vs. Player missions with five different game types and over 20 unique maps
• Character progression through 30 levels
• Achievement and unlocks system for individual characters
• Player Inventory for suits, flair, dyes, upgrades, and loot
• Virtual Reality practice fighting area
• Vendors and accumulation of in-game currency
• Text chat with multiple channels
• Built in voice chat during missions
• Ability to join an established player-created agency
• All play is on our single-shard, hosted server environment to ensure convenient and consistent gaming experience.
• Ability to sign up for one free month of subscription at registration (credit card required, can be cancelled at any time)

Global Agenda: Conquest ($12.99 per month, $11.49/mo for 3 month, $9.99/mo for 6 month) includes:
• Access to Alliance vs. Alliance (AvA) World Domination gameplay
- A massive scale campaign between player created agencies and alliances over scarce territory and resources on a persistent world map.
- Attack and Defend Territories in zones that match your agency's schedule
- Agency and Alliance Management – Create and maintain persistent player groups and officer ranks
- Creation and Upgrading of Facilities - Control production and output
- Base Raids – involving up to 60 players per side; coordinated between 6 different strike teams within linked territory instances
- Agency Achievement System, Leveling, and Recognition
• Auction House with bidding and buyouts
• Mail System
• Upgrade Text and Voice chat to support multiple channels and strike teams
• Player Crafting with blueprints
• Additional character customization options including elite character suits, dye colors, and seasonal flair
• Ongoing Co-Op content at max character level
• Ongoing AvA content, multiplayer PvP content, and new social areas

Global Agenda is set to be "development complete" by the end of the year and is being targeted for a Q1 2010 release.

For more information on Global Agenda check out the game's official website!

What do you think about the dual package options for Global Agenda? Let us know in the comments below!

At last!

A developer that breaks the pricing plan mould and gives players something new: a decent f2p option without some bullsh*t cash shop and a decent subscription option for the hardcore players.

The casual players get a free game that's a heck of a lot of fun.

The hardcore players get lots of f2p cannon fodder, more conflict options and a load of advanced features.

WIN-WIN

This is a damn good game from a damn good developer that has impressed me from the start. I'm glad this game is different because the standard MMO format has been exhausted. Most devs have just tied ribbons to a corpse with their recent releases. I'm also glad some people don't consider this to be an MMO. That's it's because it's very different to the worn-out dross that's gone before and a more exciting product for it.

I was sold on this game months ago and I'm glad to say I'm even more sold on it now.

Aryas

Finally a company that has gotten this right with offering a F2P and P2P game with content to keep players playing for months if not years.

Very nice, and considering my time in beta, it definatlly has a lot to offer the f2p players. I'll definatlly be going for a sub though.

Truly one of the most interesting games on the horizon. Extremely smart way of doing the pricing structure. Keep up the good work Hi-Rez

 All I can say is this is freaking awesome.

I can play the game for free.  If I want more I can pay a few months for a Sub.  When i play that content I can cancel the sub but still play the free game.

AMAZING AWESOMENESS.  Hurray and Kudos to the devs.  This is pure genious and is exactly what was needed for me to buy this game.

I'm looking forward for a chance to try this game out.  Looks great and I think it has a lot of potential.  I actually really like the payment options that they've outlined.  Sometimes I know I'm going to have a busy month or two with work and/or school and it's not always worth subscribing to a game, but I'd still like to be able to play a little bit every now and then when my schedule opens up.

This is going to take over tf2!

I am pleasantly surprised that they are using this pricing model.

like other mmo, is first month of subscription free, so people can see what the subscription  agency vs agency  thing is?

either way very happy, that people who don't subscribe can play or if you cancel it you can still play the core of the game.

Originally posted by epsilon426

like other mmo, is first month of subscription free, so people can see what the subscription  agency vs agency  thing is?

Yup, the first month will be free or included in the $49.99 box price.  You will be able to try out AvA in that first month!

That is great news!

Ive been preaching about thise kind of buisness model alot lately so Im happy to see that a promising game is going to have it.

I will be buying this at release!

The Best way to take advantage of this would be. Play 1 or 2 of your favorite classes to level 30, Get a good agency. with NO SUBSCRIPTION. Then when you accomplish those things, then your ready to subscribe for all the good agency and end time content, Which you will get 1 month to experience for free. Then Subscribe, and enjoy the rest of the good content.

Also,  might of not included it, but i thought the real max is level 40. So Subscribing will prob allow that 10 extra levels.

To Blizzard, EA, Cryptic, and anyone else who calls them a MMO developer:

Take note of how Hi-Rez does pricing models. This is how it should be done and NEEDS to be done! Your core game is there whenever you want to play it. It never expires and doesn't have to be renewed. Whenever you feel like you could enjoy this game even more, simply pay a few bucks and get a ton of extras to what the Big man devs call "Normal pricing models".

I highly praise Hi-Rez for going through with this and not be stingy and asking for the full 15$/month. Even their Monthly plan is cheaper than most! (13$ per month on basic sub)

......Now let's talk about that beta key ^_^

Originally posted by gorillaz951

To Blizzard, EA, Cryptic, and anyone else who calls them a MMO developer:

Take note of how Hi-Rez does pricing models. This is how it should be done and NEEDS to be done! Your core game is there whenever you want to play it. It never expires and doesn't have to be renewed. Whenever you feel like you could enjoy this game even more, simply pay a few bucks and get a ton of extras to what the Big man devs call "Normal pricing models".

I highly praise Hi-Rez for going through with this and not be stingy and asking for the full 15$/month. Even their Monthly plan is cheaper than most! (13$ per month on basic sub)

......Now let's talk about that beta key ^_^

i can see EA, but have you played GA yourself yet?,  real i think yes its worth what they suggest. But WoW making 15 a month, well they earned that, IMO, made there own engine from scratch having to pay people for that. Having a NoN instanced world, not including INSTANCES (LOL @ TAT); NON-Instanced worlds take very good servers to maintain, not to mention how many servers they have.

And by cryptic, eh... ?

not sure you mean cryptic as in the creators of CryTek Engine. Which i don't recall have made a mmo, If were talking about Aion, Try "NC"

 For this type of MMO which on the surface appears somewhat shallow then this is a great pricing scheme and I applaud  the company for not trying to rip people off. 

 I have been half watching GA, but this has piqued my interest.

As a MMO I have been worried about it lacking in various areas, but as a online shooter with a one time fee it looks very interesting (even with the non-sub limitations). Also, pitching in $50 when you know that you will still have a game to play when your in the mood is a lot easier to swallow than the box and mandatory sub.

guys this pricing system is a rip off compared to guildwars, some of the above comments are pretty ignorant.

this game is as much (or less) a mmo as guildwars. basically the same type of game but with fun shooter combat, but much worse/little PvE.

and while its great you can play without subscription its still a joke they are asking for subscription for other features. AvA is same as GvG in guildwars (guilds are called agency's, only difference). when it says 60 vs 60 notice thats in 6 squads so its really 6 concurrent games of 10 vs 10. I think 10 vs 10 is largest game size, not complaining thats what they went for. but its no way massive, even guildwars had larger pvp battles.

the game is fun. but if areanet/NC soft managed to have no sub at all with guildwars, gobal agenda should definately be able to manage it. well anyway fair play they are indy company and I wish them luck, don't think i'll be buying though.

edit: although I've talked to alot of the dev team and played with them and they are really nice guys maybe I will buy, but no way am I subbing ;)

Originally posted by leumasx7

Originally posted by gorillaz951

To Blizzard, EA, Cryptic, and anyone else who calls them a MMO developer:

Take note of how Hi-Rez does pricing models. This is how it should be done and NEEDS to be done! Your core game is there whenever you want to play it. It never expires and doesn't have to be renewed. Whenever you feel like you could enjoy this game even more, simply pay a few bucks and get a ton of extras to what the Big man devs call "Normal pricing models".

I highly praise Hi-Rez for going through with this and not be stingy and asking for the full 15$/month. Even their Monthly plan is cheaper than most! (13$ per month on basic sub)

......Now let's talk about that beta key ^_^

 

i can see EA, but have you played GA yourself yet?,  real i think yes its worth what they suggest. But WoW making 15 a month, well they earned that, IMO, made there own engine from scratch having to pay people for that. Having a NoN instanced world, not including INSTANCES (LOL @ TAT); NON-Instanced worlds take very good servers to maintain, not to mention how many servers they have.

And by cryptic, eh... ?

not sure you mean cryptic as in the creators of CryTek Engine. Which i don't recall have made a mmo, If were talking about Aion, Try "NC"

By Cryptic I mean Cryptic Studios. They were the original creators for City of Heroes/City of Villians, Hellgate London (It wasn't techically an MMO, but it was almost the same except for instancing), their present IP Champions Online, and the upcoming Star Trek Online.
 

All of the above, except for Hellgate, will have/has a standard subscription model. Just clarifying that case :)

On the topic about WoW, I understand they indeed have worked for their game. It came out at a time when a new MMO was needed and it boomed. Noone really cared about the sub model because it was a new thing. It's been a few years since then, but what a few short years it has been. The MMO industry revenue increased exponentially after WoW. Now we are on the brink of a new generation of MMOs (Might sound a little over the top, but you get the picture) Change is needed from the standard "Keep giving me your money or no game for you" scam. 

MMOs are my favorite past time and I love to try out new releases. The conondrum is when I find two or more games that I really enjoy playing. I have to give up one for the other since I am short on cash most of the time. So hearing news about GA's plans has excited me to an overwhelming extreme. All games should have some form of this is what I am saying. 

Originally posted by kb056

Wow, I see alot of the Devs posting positive responses in this thread....

That's also the vibe I get. Many of these responses does not sound the way a MMORPG.com user would talk.

Originally posted by pingo

Originally posted by kb056

Wow, I see alot of the Devs posting positive responses in this thread....

 

That's also the vibe I get. Many of these responses does not sound the way a MMORPG.com user would talk.

You may want to edit your post, you may get a Warning for it....I did...
 

 yea, this payment method really stands its grounds, makes me give a closer look at global agenda (a game that actually looks great ;o) because the Hi-Rez studios has got people that know what theyre doing, which is one of the biggest PRO's for an MMO. good devs !

I am very happy that they went with this model.  A straight subscription would probally not be warented for this type of game, and i just dislike microtransactions.  I think the price still may be still to high for whats offered in the subscription package, $10 might be better, but i would need to check out the game for myself to really make a call. 

This model will certainly will get alot of people to try out the game, im sure.

Putting mail and auction house on the subscription only plan pretty much tells you the free option is only for those that play very infrequently and don't bother with alts much.

So to anyone who thinks they can play the free version version a lot I have a big ROFL for you.

It's an interesting design. In a heavy PvP game, it's important to have a lot of players on at a time, so having a F2P aspect will probably help quite a lot with that. However, how much of the PvP will be missed by non-paying players? If the campaign isn't available, then you are cutting down on the very resource you need - lots of players.

It might be a good idea to allow freebies to play in a limited amount of campaign (maybe something like 5 hours a week), to bolster the numbers fighting.

Originally posted by leumasx7

The Best way to take advantage of this would be. Play 1 or 2 of your favorite classes to level 30, Get a good agency. with NO SUBSCRIPTION. Then when you accomplish those things, then your ready to subscribe for all the good agency and end time content, Which you will get 1 month to experience for free. Then Subscribe, and enjoy the rest of the good content.

 

Also,  might of not included it, but i thought the real max is level 40. So Subscribing will prob allow that 10 extra levels.

The free month is only available at registration, so you will not be able to hoard a free 30 days until you reach a certain level.

"Ability to sign up for one free month of subscription at registration (credit card required, can be cancelled at any time)"
 

I'm surprised GA's pricing model is getting such praise on these boards, considering the all the negativity Hellgate:London received.