Diablo III isn’t the only PC game slipping to 2012. Rift developer Trion has revealed that their free-to-play massively multiplayer online real-time strategy, End of Nations, will also be retreating to a much out of 2011. It’s a delay we’re happy to hear about, too – with all of the heavy-hitting sequels coming out this year it would have been really hard for a F2P RTS to compete, especially with games like The Old Republic standing their ground in 2011.
“Being able to offer a premium game such as End of Nations for free sets us apart in this industry,” said executive producer Dave Luehmann when the game was originally announced to be free-to-play earlier this year, but the RTS looks to break away from the pack in other ways, too. It’s going for a much larger scale than other RTS, with massive battles across gigantic maps featuring up to 50 players controlling their own armies. They’re fighting not just for bragging rights, but in a metagame that has different factions fighting over a persistent game world by taking over territories.
Still, while the gameplay seems unique, it really is the pay structure that’s going to draw in the initial crowds. Trion says that it’s taking time to balance the microtransactions to assure that there’s no way to “buy your way to the top.” Focusing on cosmetic items might seem strange, but considering how well it has worked for Riot with League of Legends we’re thinking that there’s definitely a way to make it work here, too.
Trion confirmed with GamesRadar that, "There's no official release date for End of Nations from Trion Worlds at the moment." We're still waiting to find out if there's any chance of a beta starting in the near future, though, and we'll keep you updated once we've received a response.
Sep 26, 2011
