Growing pains, they suck. For human males it tends to be the rapid elongation of bones that brings physical agony, while a changing voice brings emotional distress. Meanwhile another part of the anatomy will inevitably lose its battle with gravity. Growing pains, anything capable of maturing has the risk of such difficulty. Hi-Rez Studios, the creator of Global Agenda, SMITE and Tribes: Ascend, has hit them not once, but twice.
Initially a planned subscription game, Global Agenda didn’t live up to the company’s standards for a subscription game so it became F2P. The conversion success led to the company joining the ranks of companies focusing on the F2P model. Just recently the company announced a single-purchase option for SMITE and Tribes: Ascend based on consumer demand making it borderline retail.
Todd Harris, COO of Hi-Rez Studios, chalks it up to a change in focus. Delivering core PvP experiences under a multitude of gameplay options and tight-knit communities. That’s exactly what he and iTZKooPA discuss in their latest interview.