Realtime World’s forthcoming MMO All Points Bulletin (APB) is certainly thinking differently when it comes to paying to play the game. Instead of a set monthly subscription charge we’ve already heard how the system will revolve around paying for game time. So when you buy a copy at launch it will come with 50 hours of game time that can be used whenever you like. 

It seems that is not the end of the pricing options, though. Those players taking advantage of voice chat will hear adverts taking the form of a short audio clips once every 3 hours. This can be disabled for 30, 90, or 180 days for a price and is being referred to as VOIP Premium accessible on your game account page.

The pricing for this additional ad removal service has yet to be confirmed, but it means players may end up paying more than they originally expected, or choosing to listen to an add every so often.

APB is available from today in the US, (apb gold)and all of Europe by the end of the week.

Read more at Eurogamer.net

Matthew’s Opinion

No gamer likes it when “features” like this aren’t mentioned until just before launch. Although it doesn’t sound like the audio adverts will be too annoying it doesn’t give me great confidence there won’t be more advertising opportunities taken advantage of in the future. There’s also nothing to stop Realtime Worlds increasing the frequency of those adverts.

For the moment, and until the game has been out for a few months, it’s worth withholding judgement. Realtime may have got the balance of payments and advertising just right, but it all comes down to just how well the game plays–the better it is the more players will put up with.