Iron Realms Entertainment, an independent software developer in the online game business, has announced the MMOG Earth Eternal, which will be available to players for free in summer 2007.
Matt Mihaly, CEO and Creative Director of Iron Realms, plans to offer the game without a subscription fee. Instead, players will be able to purchase in-game “privileges” with real world money. Mihaly hastens to add that unlike the Sony or Xbox Live market systems, “all or almost all of what can be bought with real money will also be available without spending any of it, albeit at the cost of extra effort and time.”
When asked about the possibility of including in-game advertisements, Mihaly was careful not to make promises. “We may run advertisements in-game, but will try to avoid it. If we did, we’d give people a way to opt-out of the ads.”
The game is set to take place in a hybrid-fantasy environment that blends real-world history and mythology with original concepts and artwork.
