Tony Hilliam, Auran CEO, explains; “FURY is a game that blends elements from different genres; the pace and adrenaline rush from FPS games; the depth of character customization from RPGs; and the social and virtual economy aspects from MMOs” he said. “Therefore we wanted to make sure that our business model took into account the different expectations of various player types.”

All players in FURY start out as “Immortals” for their first month of play. Immortal status gives players a range of additional benefits including:

• Quick travel in the Sanctuaries and Schools
• VoIP talk privileges
• One additional Item Roll Slot
• Extended “rested gold bonus”
• Selling privileges on the Auction House
• Priority log-in queuing
• Entry into weekly and seasonal Ladders
• Personal player battle statistics
• In-game Customer Service access
• Elite access to the test server to preview new content

“We’ve put a lot of effort into getting the business model right for our game,” said Adam Carpenter, Fury Creative Director. “Some players will play FURY in their lunch time or for an hour after work and they will be less interested in a full subscription model. Other players will devote many hundreds of hours to FURY in order to complete over 800 Trials, unlock 4,000 Tiered abilities and rise to the rank of Eternal. So with FURY you can play casually and play for free, or if you are playing seriously for many hours, it is likely you will want to subscribe to receive the additional benefits.”

“We know players love to discuss the pros and cons of free to play versus subscription games,” added Phil White, Auran Online Producer. “Ultimately, we need to support the cost of running the game and providing new free content updates to players. Fury utilizes the same secure client-server architecture as a traditional MMO and we have to monitor and maintain the servers. Then there is the in-game customer service, online community staff and website and live support teams. The additional ongoing revenues from players help us maintain those high quality service levels.”

After the first month, players can choose to subscribe for USD$9.95 to remain as an Immortal (or similar rate in other currencies). If not, they achieve Hero status. Heroes can access all items, all abilities and can reach the highest ranks in the game without ever paying any more to play. They are not disadvantaged in terms of power they can achieve. Heroes can fight, advance, earn rewards, trade, buy auction items, join Clans, send mail and have access to the same number of Incarnation save slots as Immortals. They also receive the standard rested gold bonus, they have two item roll slots at the end of battle (Immortals have three) and can listen on Fury’s integrated VoIP system.

There is also an option to purchase FURY Game Cards either online or from retail partners. These cards can be redeemed for in-game gold which then allows players to purchase items and abilities when they want them, without the need to save up gold earned from battle.