After years of waiting, the massive multiplayer game allowing you to play in a persistent universe of Trek’s 25th century is online, and according to Cryptic they have already logged in over 1 million registered accounts at the official websites. STO is also the top selling PC game Amazon. Cryptic has also added the first two purchasable in game items: playable Starfleet Klingons and Ferengi. More details below, plus a new ground combat video.
press release
STAR TREK™ ONLINE NOW AVAILABLE
Highly Anticipated MMO for PC Releases with Over 1 Million Cryptic Accounts Created
New York, NY (February 2, 2010) – Atari, SA, one of the world’s most recognized videogame publishers, and acclaimed developer Cryptic Studios™, are proud to announce that the bold new PC MMO, Star Trek Online, is available today in North America and throughout the week in worldwide territories. Already, over 1 million Star Trek fans have created accounts at the official websites.
Taking place in the year 2409, Star Trek Online boasts extraordinary features and lets fans both new and old experience unparalleled adventures. Players have the opportunity to become a high ranking Starfleet officer and participate in missions that take them into the depths of space, across exotic planets and even inside other starships. Star Trek Online offers total customization, from a player’s avatar to the ship he captains.
“After much anticipation, we are pleased to present Star Trek Online to fans and gamers nationwide,” said Jeff Lapin, CEO of Atari, SA. “Throughout the last four decades, Star Trek has been a mainstay in pop culture, influencing legions of ‘Trekkers’ through television, film, and more. We expect Star Trek Online to give fans and gamers an unprecedented Star Trek experience.”
Additionally, legendary actor Leonard Nimoy and Hollywood’s latest Spock, Zachary Quinto, have both lent their voices to the game. Nimoy voices the introduction for Star Trek Online and other key scenes in-game. Quinto plays the part of an Emergency Medical Hologram and voices the tutorial for this first-of-a-kind massively multiplayer online role-playing game, teaching fans how to explore the Star Trek Online universe, improve their characters, attain higher ranks, succeed in space combat and excel on away missions.
#1 selling PC Game at Amazon
Another sign that things are going well, Star Trek Online is currently the #1 selling PC game at Amazon.com, even outselling the hot new game Mass Effect 2.
(NOTE: first month is free with purchase)
New Ground Combat Vid
Cryptic have also provided us with a new video
Federation Klingon and Ferengi added (but you have to pay extra)
Cryptic have added the first ‘micropayment’ items for the game, with two additional playable races for the Federation: Klingons and Ferengi. The Klingons cost 240 Cryptic Points and the Ferengi cost 80 Cryptic points. Details on the new races and how you can purchase them at the Cryptic Store.
Starfleet Klingons and Feregni
First? Been playing the same since Sunday. I like it a lot so far!
not going to play.
Looks good to me!
Last star trek game i played was elite force lol
$15 a month + $50 to buy the game… no thanks
i’m still on the fence…
i don’t know if i can commit to the game time wise or money wise…darn real life!
It’s a very fun game. I *believe* the initial buy gives you 3 months playing for free.
(please check before you take my word for it though)
too bad it’s $50. If the game were free (or really cheap) with the $15 monthly….then MAYBE. but not both. Either charge me an arm and a leg for the game, or charge me a monthly fee, but not both.
*rolls eyes*
The “not 50 bucks PLUS a subscription fee!” people are obviously unfamiliar with MMORPGS, which pretty much all operate that way. They *have* to given the fact that they require constant maintenance, content addition, and so forth. You’re obviously here to hate on something you haven’t even looked at and don’t understand. Feel free not to play: you won’t be missed.
RE: Fee
If you buy a game like Mass Effect 2 it will cost you $55 at AMazon. You can play the game and beat it in a month, maybe two months. And then that’s it.
STar Trek Online will cost you $45 at Amazon + $15/m (or less if you buy in bulk). You can play the game for two months and then stop and you will still get more hours of gaming out of it than Mass Effect 2 for about the same price ($60). But with STO you can keep playing as they are constantly adding more content and missions to the game. That is why MMOs charge monthly fees, it is for the NEW content. It is like a subscription to Netflix or cable TV.
If you dont want that kind of experience fine, it isn’t like this model is some kind of ripoff, millions enjoy MMOs, and as pointed out above, they give you the same value as any other game, just more content for longer.
Nice lobes, baby.
The game is awesome. Never played an MMO before. Played some Star Trek games before. Elite Task force was cool – for two weeks. Then it was over. This is like Elite Task Force that doesn’t end, plus some sweet space combat. Character and Starship creator are great. The exploration component is even pretty cool. I’m sure that they’ll be continuing to launch new components and story lines as well. For the amount of content that I’m getting $50 plus $10-$15 month is well worth it. Look forward to seeing everyone in the game.
As I know next to nothing about MMOs and just as much about the video game industry, does this mean $46 million+ in revenue at launch is a good thing? Is a million accounts even in the WoW range? In other words, is this good news or GREAT news?
I do not think account = purchased game. Anyone can register, you dont need to have the game. S
@Anthony Pascale — ah, okay. I wasn’t aware of that. See what I mean about knowing next to nothing about any of this (everything else is up for debate, too)? Thanks.
I don’t think STO will get up to WoW levels of paid subscribers (11.5 million according to Wikipedia), but hopefully we’ll see at least a few million or so once some time elapses. That’s far more than enough to keep a robust and quality game running for a long time.
It’s not an option anymore, but I purchased the lifetime subscription prior to the public launch. (The offer expired yesterday, though they may offer it again at some point.) It was 240 dollars, but then you never have to pay the subscription fee again. Assuming a 15 dollar monthly fee, you basically recoup it in just over a year and a half. I played EVE for two and a half years, and I never liked it as much as I like what I have seen so far on STO.
QQ bwaa ha ha
guys play a new tune, we have heard how miserable and broke you guys are since STO started to get posted here on TM.
We get your message and we still DON’T CARE!
The way Cryptic handled the lifetime sub reminded me of Hellgate London. Allow me a month to play it and then let me decide if it’s worth another $240.
RJ: I agree it was a little heavy of Cryptic to do it that way…and if it had been a property other than Trek, I’d have probably declined to pay out for a lifetime subscription.
However, I had access for a couple of weeks worth of open beta (I had to pre-order of course, but I was always going to get the game for at least a trial), and by the time the headstart period had commenced I was comfortable enough with the game to chance the lifetime sub. In point of fact, everyone who bought a lifetime sub had a decent period of time to “kick the tires” and had until February 1 to decide.
And they may well offer the lifetime option again at some point.
Cryptic’s business model has been pretty simple. Get people to shell out for as many “digital exclusive deluxe super special awesome” bonuses as possible, because once they’ve had the chance to play for a few weeks, they might decide that this game really isn’t worth their money.
@Felix Sulla: That would be very nice of Cryptic. I hope it’s a great success and inspires the development of future Trek games.
Hey I am a bargain shopper, and this is my first experience with an mmo.
I am a star trek fan just like most of the people here.
This game is an extra expense, that some of us are having trouble wrapping our minds around.
The more i read about the game the more interested I become.
However I am still not going to rush right out and get this, cause i am a bargain hunter, and I can wait years if necessary. I just picked up the first Mass Effect for $9 dollars, due to your recommendations on this site.
I hate to break it to you die hards some of us are cheap and, we are just going to wait a while, don’t take it personally. I just noticed the Star Wars Counter part game Star Wars Galaxies is selling 3 versions of their game at a bargain price, so with time everything becomes cheaper.
So everyone just relax the the game has been out less than 24 hours. You guys that are so in love with the game should just constantly tell us how great the game is , not why we suck for not buying it.
I have not seen one post about how you pick your ship or crew.
What ships are available when you turn the game on. I mean do you have to level up to get the good ships or what.
stop with the bashing and tell us about the game please, if we like what we here some us might beam on board early
#23 Is that Spam?
Yes, that was Spam alright good job to the staff, deleting it so quickly .
Quick question… If I was in the Beta and already have the game loaded up, do I need to still play the $50 or can I simply log on with the $15 monthly fee?
If I could afford the lifetime sub, I’d pay it. But right now, the 15 bucks is all I can do. But judging by beta & head start, It’ll be the best 15 bucks a month I’ve ever spent!
Goodbye, cable! :-)
I was able to play the open beta for the last week it was running and have been hooked since day one. I bought the lifetime subscription, last week and also pre-ordered the Gold Edition, complete with t-shirt, map, ect, which granted me access to the headstart this weekend.
Yes its near enough £200 all together (thank you parents for early birthday present), but considering that I’m a heavy Trek gamer, the whole thing will pay for itself within two years.
I have to say, I love it. :)
NX01: No one told you that you (or anyone else) sucks because you won’t buy the game and/or pay the subscription fee due to economic difficulties and/or a fascination with bargain hunting. If it’s a matter of not being able to afford it, certainly no criticism is intended. However, if it’s a matter of “it’s too expensive for what they are giving you” then I respectfully disagree and point out that the cost is well in-line with the cost of every other MMO I am aware of at the time of launch. Once some time has elapsed and Cryptic has recouped the (quite extensive) costs purely associated with developing and implementing the game (as opposed to maintaining it and adding new content, which is what a subscription fee is for), then yes, the unit cost will likely go down significantly, if only to attract new players in. And if your economic priority is to wait for that day, that is reasonable, and your choice.
On the other hand, snide and strident criticisms directed to the operational aspects of this MMO from people who demonstrate up-front they are unfamiliar with how they operate…well, that’s just trolling.
CD Reed: Yes, you still have to pay the 50 or so dollars for the game itself, though they are giving people a grace period of several days to enter a valid product key before denying access to the game itself. Buying the game gives you at least 30 days or so of access.
Considering what it must cost to maintain servers that house millions of people smoothly with enough bandwidth to do it (not even counting the future expanding and updating of the game), then it’s not really rocket science to see that there needs to be a monthly fee. MMO’s have been out for years and this is nothing new. If you are uninformed on how they work, then I suggest doing some research and reading up on it.
I want Stafleet Gorn gawd dangit!
Want to play…badly…but altogether too expensive…
Hopefully this wil benefit the action-figure sales for DST and Playmates so we can see more product. Both companies sales are low and could use a “stimulus package”!
It’s really fun. I’m almost a Lieutenant Commander already
Well put Felix Sulla, I just want to make clear i was not attacking operational aspects of the game. I am actually ignorant of mmo type games all together.
However I am willing to learn .
My comment was mainly directed at the back a forth between people saying the game cost to much and people saying that those cost are necessary.
Now that the game is here , I just want to know about the game so I can actually decide if I am going to wait or just spend the money.
I will probably wait but ,I love star trek so much that I am actually tring to keep and open mind.
In the final version of the game
How you pick your ships or crew?
What ships are available when you turn the game on?
Do you have to level up to get the good ships or what?
I think I would want to start with an Akira Classs star ship?
Would I be able to start with a Galaxy class ship if I wanted?
OH YEAH!!!!
well, I played the beta and was very disappointed. The “message” graphics when you talk to someone or vice-versa were way to cartoonish to me. That turned me off a little. It also seem very disjointed. I was running everywhere and shooting at stuff. I would of preferred a slow start with some exploration, zooming around, etc.
The various “bonus” items that everybody had for sale was also a turn off. And now, if you want to play as a Klingon or Ferengi you need to pay more??!!
I thought the $15 a month (plus 50-70 initial investment) was enough.
Oh well, back to Guild Wars. Now that was a good business model.
I’ll look at it again in about 6 months and see what they have done with it.
I love MMO noobs
Wow, over 1 million already? Let’s hope that holds up after the first month. Cryptic, yet again, was not prepared for the number of people that would play and the servers are overloaded so they have to buy more. I’m really glad that I’m holding off playing STO until they get all the kinks out. I would be furious if I was paying for the game just to sit and repeatedly not be able to get in.
This game is beautiful. Go get it. Play it. If you can’t afford it, find a way. It is all you will need.
Never played an MMO, but I’m looking forward to it. I hope they continue to expand and change the pitch control to full axis turning. Other than that I’m sure this game will still be good.
It is just me or corridors and transporters are just 500% their normal size? Looks really off.
I picked science officer when I created a character, and I got a miranda class ship (USS Reliant WOK) to begin with. If you pick engineering or tactical officer you get different ships. You can then customize your ship according to your likes. When you go up in rank new ship classes are open for purchase with in game money, not actual money. Science officers end up with USS Voyager style ships. Engineering gets USS Enterprise style, and Tactical gets USS Defiant and USS Promethius style. So far I have really enjoyed this game. Never played WOW or any other MMO before, but I already know I should have bought the lifetime subscription.
@The A-Man, They have to be that big because you can not walk through people like a few MMOs such as WoW. So the areas have to be big enough for people to walk around without getting stuck
Boom baby :D…i like this game. I looks better at Cryptic studios now, good work !
Every character class can fly every ship, you cna have your science officer fly escorts or cruisers too, you can even train up skills to increase the abilities of the primary bridge officers types for that ship (cruisers for instance get more engineering bridge officers, any class can train up their skills to improve engineering officers etc.). The character class is most important for ground combat and only affects space combat through their special abilities which are independent of the ship class you fly.
I really want to get this game but never played an MMO before.
I am extremely dissapointed in the lack of Ship Interiors… i know they want to “Get it Right” but it kills the immersion for me.
Is that a female ferengi wearing clothes? There are some levels of customisation I can never accept!