Turbine to make Asheron’s Call free-to-play this summer

Elder of the MMO circuit, Asheron’s Call, is going free-to-play this summer after operating on a subscription basis for over ten years.

Developed by Turbine, Asheron’s Call and its sequel, Asheron’s Call 2, will go free-to-play this August, though the company still intends to request a one-time $10 activation fee to new or lapsed players for the foreseeable future.

A Turbine producer shared the details on the Asheron’s Call forum.

They also wrote Turbine intents to rein in support for both Asheron’s Call games and offer better tools for players to host their own servers by the end of 2014.

Asheron’s Call has been running nonstop since launching in 1999. Its sequel has had a stop-start life, lasting three years before being closed down in 2005 and later being quietly relaunched in 2012 by the developer.