Tera going free-to-play next month

En Masse and Bluehole Studio have announced their subscription-based MMO Tera will be jumping on the free-to-play train.

The switch is expected to be flipped sometime in February, less than a year after the game’s launch. A new item store with real money transactions will arrive alongside the Tera: Rising release as a method of funding the F2P model.

An optional subscription of $15 a month will score players an ‘Elite’ membership, which will provide an exclusive mount, boosters for XP, gold, rep, a higher daily quest limit, and other goodies.

Additionally, those who purchased Tera before the free-to-play version hits will receive ‘Founder’ status, which ignores the new restrictions set to be put in place when the update hits.