Sony recently announced that the superhero MMO for the PS3 has now gone free to play. The first MMO to hit consoles achieved some pretty notable success when it launched earlier this year. Though the very picky group of MMO gamers had a few complaints, many had become loyal after SOE issued some updates designed to balance the gameplay, and tweak the leveling system. DC Universe Online has gone through quite a few changes to get the gameplay up to the level fans were expecting. Once the group of hero's became more loyal to saving the famed comic book worlds the game is based on, the PSN was Hacked and brought to it knees.

The outage which lasted for weeks had a deadly effect on almost every multiplayer game the Playstation Network hosted. When you have a game like DC Universe Online, where the entire concept is based on online play, once gamers are disconnected, getting them to jump back into the world is twice as hard as it was to get them to try it out initially. The woe's of DC Universe my be just beginning, while Sony hasn't revealed the full number of active/ non-active subscribers, the recent announcement that the superhero MMO has gone Free-to-Play could be signs of a starving multiplayer network.

The good news here is that Sony has implemented a unique style of the Free-to-play platform, which, rewards those who have spent at least five dollars with some in-game upgrades, and allows access to the complete list DLC packs for those who become paid subscribers. 

Free-to-play seems to be the best way to support most new MMO's hitting the market. GamersFirst purchased APB( All Points Bulletin) The GTA styled MMO, which became free to play earlier this year after Real-Time Worlds closed because of the games inability to succeed at retail. For now, DC Universe's fate is yet to be determined, but Sony believes heavily in the game and has finally gotten the gameplay to an addictive level of fun. However, if the Free-to Play platform doesn't welcome enough new hero's, the comic book world could be lost to the forces of evil forever. It takes a lot of hero's to save an MMO world, currently DC's Online Universe has acquired over one million new users, which is a very respectable feat. However, if those new users aren't actively playing, the world of DC could forever be destroyed, and taken offline. To be a profitable MMO, its necessary for gamers to fully adopted the games world, which would require them to be actively playing the game, fully exploring its features.

This is when an MMO is transitioned from just being a free game, and is converted into a profitable free game. Gamers need to see the benefit of making those micro-transactions, and upgrading to the premium membership, which can only happen if they enjoy the over all gameplay. Something most players have responded to in a positive way, as of recent. Though a number of complaints remain, there is till hope for DC Universe Online, but only time will tell if the game will survive .

SOE hasn't released details on how many of the new subscribers are active, something vital to the success of the game, and something I'm sure they'll reveal in time. If your playing DC Universe Online, what's your take. Is it good enough to keep you interested? Let us know in the comments below.