By Making LoTR Free Online, Revenue Shot Up
Found on Techdirt on Sunday, 10 October 2010
About a year ago, we highlighted how the online MMO based on Dungeons and Dragons had gone free after trying to charge for a while, and showed how going free didn't mean you lost money, but it could work well as a part of a business model.
In fact, the success of this free effort was so well received that Turbine's owners agreed to let them open up the Lord of the Rings MMO as well.
In just a few months, they've doubled their revenue by embracing free.
This contradicts all the theories and expertises the record labels and movie execs threw into the ring so far. Too bad that facts ignore those and prove them wrong. Free works, you just have to do it right.