Funcom has announced that subscription is no longer required to play the company's modern-day MMO game 'The Secret World'.

The Secret World - Pay Once, Play Forever!

Funcom released the following statement today.

Durham, USA - December 12th, 2012 - Funcom is excited to announce that subscription is no longer required to play the company's modern-day massively multiplayer online game 'The Secret World'. The game is now available online and in retail and starting today no subscription fee is required to enjoy any of the game's content, features or storylines. There are no complicated rules or restrictions, no complex matrixes telling you what you can and cannot access. Pay Once, Play Forever - it's that simple.

This comes only a few months after the launch of the game, which promised so much, but gained so little traction. TSW failed to reach it's customer targets which came as a surprise due to the popularity and positive feedback from the game's beta period.

The Secret World's poor customer performance can probably be attributed to it's lack of any significant marketing, and using what many are now calling an outdated financial model: pay to play. Guild Wars 2, WoW: Pandaria and the large console brands launching new titles this year probably didn't help either.

Now the game can be bought in a store, or downloaded, and played for free.