On a future Earth ravaged by aliens and 50 years of global war, a civilization emerges that rejects the old ways to forge a new destiny in a wild frontier. Can the connection between a lawman trying to keep his town safe and a new kind of gold rush in San Francisco hold the only hope for a better future?

The game combines the intense action of a “AAA” console shooter, with the persistence, scale, and customization of an MMO, while its TV counterpart weaves the rich tapestry of the world into a series with the scope, characters, and drama of a classic sci-fi epic. Because they exist in a single universe, the show and the game will influence each other and evolve together over time, with actions in both mediums driving the overall story of  Defiance.

Ark hunters,

Fuel up your roller and stock up on ammo because your world is about to get a whole lot bigger: just in time for Season 2 of the Syfy series, an entire planet’s worth of EGO users, arkfall chasers, and most importantly Defiance fans are joining the fray!

Today we’re excited to announce that Trion Worlds’ post-apocalyptic massively co-op online cyberwestern shooter will be adding a new descriptor to its already meaty description: Defiance is going to become free-to-play. Starting June 4 on PC and mid-July on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, players will be able to download the Defiance client and experience the entire Bay Area storyline, original end-game content, and future missions completely for free. This may be cause for some concern from our current ark hunters, and that’s understandable as we haven’t detailed how we’re going to treat you, our frontier pioneers, like the wasteland kings and queens you are.

You’ll be glad to hear that all Defiance owners (existing badland adventurers such as yourselves) will enjoy more of everything than the greenhorns emerging from dropships and taking their first shaky footsteps in the Bay Area. You’ll continue to enjoy more character slots, loadouts, ark keycode capacity, and inventory slots than free-to-play accounts. For those looking to expand what they already have, we’ll even be offering increases to these limits.

Additionally, all players who purchased a boxed or digital copy of Defiance will receive a one-time grant of 1,000 Arkforge, redeemable for resetting weapon mastery, upgrading your weapon’s power rating, or even bumping an uncommon weapon to epic rarity. But we’re not done yet! Our veteran ark hunters will also enjoy 30 days of Paradise Patron status when Defiance begins its free-to-play service. Paradise Patrons receive:

• Boosts to skill, XP, scrip, salvage, and reputation gain rates that stack with boosts available in the store.
• 10% store-wide discount on boosts, costumes, lock boxes – all of it!
• A daily grab bag of two-hour boosts.
• Arkforge from Daily and Weekly Ark Hunter Bonus Lock Boxes. (Playing on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3? Be sure to link your account to get this bonus!)

Still have questions about this change? Be sure to tune in to our Twitch livestream on Friday where Creative Lead Trick Dempsey and Senior Community Relations Manager Evan “Scapes” Berman field questions you have about what this means for the game and our development plans moving forward.