The Next Step for Spellsworn - We’re going Free-to-Play!

Hey everyone,

Woah - isn’t that a big one? Free-to-play?! Yep, it certainly is. It’s a decision that we’ve pored over together for quite some time, but we are proud today to announce that, come release day (i.e. leaving Early Access), Spellsworn will be FREE FOR EVERYONE TO PLAY. In this devlog, we want to unravel this decision, explain how we got here and what awaits in Spellsworn’s largest development step - one that we believe is for the better!

So, why are we doing this? Let us say from the outset - this hasn’t been an easy one for us to make. As many of you fine spellcasting fans will know, we’ve struggled with players for much of Spellsworn’s life - simply, the Spellsworn player experience is quite a lonely one, playdates aside. Bots were a well-received means for players to enjoy Spellsworn at their own discretion and perhaps overlap into another player joining, but most owners are not playing simultaneously. Empty arenas and lonely acolytes are a common occurrence and that was certainly NOT our vision for Spellsworn!

From the very beginning, our goal has been to make Spellsworn a fun and challenging game; where you can not only challenge yourself, but others from around the world in wizarding duels. While remaining as a premium game would certainly see an increase in players come launch day, it’s still nowhere near what we want for Spellsworn. By changing to free-to-play, we believe that we’ll can share the excitement and fun of Spellsworn with a wider audience, who will continue to enjoy it for months and, dare we say, years to come!

Of course, some of you may be raising eyebrows and asking, “That’s all fine and well, but what’s the catch?”. A good question indeed, but we’re happy to say, there is none. The game will be entirely free to all players to play, enjoy, and reign victorious in, without any pay-to-win mechanics. To support the game, we intend to sell in-game items and articles, but these will remain purely cosmetic. There will be NO paywalls; NO artificial limitations on performance; NO performance enhancing transactions (other than looking fabulous). Just good, free, wholesome Spellsworn fun, Rock Pillars included.

There are inherent risks with this change - there are certainly no guarantees that players will purchase these optional cosmetic items. For us though, the risk of this pales in comparison to the reward of many players enjoying Spellsworn. We’ve poured our heart and soul into this title and we want as many of you as possible to feel the thrill of a knockout Fireball and disappointment of a failed Homing spell! The hard work we’ve put in over the last year has meant that even in the worst-case scenario, our future and Spellsworn’s is still secure. However, after countless hours of consultation, research and discussion, we’re confident this decision will help us achieve our goal for Spellsworn.

There’s a lot to process here, but there’s still one question left unanswered - “What about those of us who’ve already purchased Spellsworn?” Fret not, we won’t leave you hanging.

To thank you for your wonderful support, anyone who owns the paid version of the game will be rewarded six unique items, two of which will be exclusive to the Early Acces owners only! These two exclusive items will never be available again post-launch! In addition, you will also receive the other four items that are exclusive for the Founders Edition , which will be available post-launch as a purchasable DLC.

Whew! That was a quite a lot, but we hope that you share our excitement for what lies in store. It’s certainly going to be different around the arena.

As always, but especially now, we want to sincerely thank you for all the love and support you’ve sent our way throughout this incredible journey. We look forward to sharing Spellsworn with even more of you over the coming months and duelling with you in the Arena.

We’re still finalising details and the roadmap towards the final release, including the final date, so we’ll have more specifics and progress to share over the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

If you have any questions at all, feel free to send us an email, write in the comments below, or hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit or the Spellsworn Fan Community on Discord!.

‘Til Next Time!

Mattias, Anders, Stefan, and Jonathan

-Frogsong Studios Founders