Albion Online is ditching its free to play model in favor of a standard purchase. The beta is being extended for 6 months

If you haven't been following Albion Online the idea was that the purchase of various founder's packs would allow you entry in to the closed beta while the actual game would be free to play on release.

However, those plans have changed because in a forum post yesterday the Albion team announced that the game will not be free to play and that the closed beta will be extended for another 6 months in order to ensure a smooth launch.

If you bought a founder's pack to get in to the closed beta don't worry, your purchase will also grant you the full version of the game once it finally launches. Given that the value of the founder's pack basically skyrocketed with this the various packs are being removed and replaced with starter versions which give you the access to the full game but come with less benefits compared to the founders packs.

I will be the first to say that I am actually glad they've gone this route because I'm not a very big fan of free to play games, not because they tend to be bad, but rather because the cash shops are very rarely done well. 

There is one thing that worries me though and that is the fact that Albion Online has a subscription option that gives players a premium status - something that was fine when the game was supposed to be a free to play game but very distressing when its an actual game you purchase.

I'll reserve my judgement for now because they've just transferred to the new system and with a bit of luck the whole subscription service will get reworked as Albion heads closer to launch. I can hope anyway.

This announcement also came with a bunch of new features and patch notes so if those interest you I'd suggest you head over here.