Ghost Recon Online

Ghost Recon Joins The Free-To-Play Movement

by Adam Biessener on May 24, 2011 at 07:44 AM

Ubisoft has announced a free-to-play online version of Ghost Recon for PC. The Ghost Recon Online closed beta starts later this summer.

We don't know a whole lot about the game yet, other than that it's free to download and play (with microtransactions for "premium items" so that Ubi can make some money on the project), and that it has persistence in the form of leveling up and getting better gear.

Ubisoft is making all the right noises about supporting the game with regular events and content drops, extensive social features, and responsiveness to community feedback.

The released materials look good, but developer Ubisoft Singapore has a tough task to carve out a niche in the extremely competitive PC online shooter market. All signs point to Ghost Recon Online delivering the same style of gameplay as the series traditionally has. Is there a sufficiently large group of players looking for something more slower and more tactical than Call of Duty or even Battlefield, but put off by the hardcore realism of ArmA or Red Orchestra? Ubisoft hopes so.