Project Copernicus would have launched as a free-to-play MMO

Project Copernicus, the MMO which was in the works at 38 Studios before it collapsed, would have launched as a free-to-play title according to the firm's founder Curt Schilling.

Speaking with Boston Magazine, Schilling said he was initially adverse to the idea of free-to-play, but for various reasons changes his mind as development progressed.

"We were going to be the first triple-A, hundred-million-dollar-plus, free-to-play, micro-transaction-based MMO," he said. "That was one of our big secrets. I think when we eventually showed off the game for the first time, the atom bomb was going to be free-to-play. When we announced that at the end, that was gonna be the thing that, I think, shocked the world.

"You won't find a more ardent opposition to free to play than me, and I went 180 degrees."

Schilling said free-to-play was one of the deals 38 Studios was discussing with investors which he said would have kept the firm afloat, but Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee's ardent, public disapproval sent investors running for the hills.

"No one was expecting it, and it was another thing that changed the tenor of conversations with investors late in the game," said Schilling. "Most investors wanted nothing to do with subscription-based products, they were all on the social media, and free-to-play games as a means to revenue.”

Thanks, GI International.