Forge's new update this week will make it free-to-play

Dark Vale Games has announced that its massively multiplayer online action role-playing game Forge is going free-to-play. The change will come via an update this week.

Dark Vale claims to have made the decision "in order to get more players playing Forge." The developer insists that the game will never be a "pay-to-win" title.

Forge "starter packs" will be available through Steam. The first pack will cost $19 and offer skin sets and a timed XP boost. If you've already purchased Forge you'll get the pack for free.

"As you see from our item store already, items are cosmetic," Dark Vale wrote on the official Forge website. "We hope in the future to add customization to cosmetic items as well. So the assassin could have a different dagger that gave her some kind of customization as well. For now, we will offer armor sets and XP boosts. We will be introducing four new sets including Bivröst Armor, Gullveig's Armor, Armor of Muspelheim, and new war-painted helms: the Bardajalmor. For a while we had the idea of being a little more of a freemium offering and charging for progression. We have since decided from feedback from all of you to drop this idea and allow all access to the Item Store."

Does this change of business plan make you interested in trying Forge?

Thanks, Polygon.