Apparently, some players of Star Trek Online have received a message from the developers announcing the end of the optional subscription. For all active subscribers, there seems to be an exciting compensation.
What is this message about? Steve_Thing posted an email on Reddit, in which the developers of Star Trek Online announce the end of the monthly subscription on October 10, 2024. The message states:
“While we have not allowed new subscribers for several years, many of you have maintained your support for our game. We want to make sure we thank you enough for that – therefore, anyone who had an active subscription on January 1, 2024, will receive a conversion of their subscription into a free, lifetime membership.”
Star Trek Online will continue to expand with new content – here is the trailer for the Ascension update:
The Beginning of the End for Star Trek Online?
What is included in the lifetime membership? Until now, such a lifetime membership cost almost 300 US dollars. The bonuses for Gold members include (via playstartrekonline.com):
- 13 character slots
- 144 inventory slots
- 204 bank slots
- 40 account-bound bank slots
- 15 dry-dock slots
- Up to 16 slots for additional bridge officers
- 500 units of the currency ZEN per month
- Increased cap for energy credit storage
- Login with increased priority
- 800x dilithium refining every 24 hours
- 1x captain retraining token per rank
- Access to the test servers
- Play as liberated Borg
- Play as Talaxian
- Access to the Captain’s Table – a special area only accessible to lifetime subscribers
- Access to a variety of additional rewards
How does the community react to this transition?
- keshmarorange writes on Reddit: “This is really fantastic! Congratulations to everyone who made it this far, and welcome to the lifetime club!”
- neok182 wonders on Reddit: “I’m so confused… Were there people still paying for a monthly subscription? I can’t even begin to understand why anyone would have paid monthly in the last 6 years, but if you did, definitely get a free lifetime subscription because you’ve spent 5-8x as much money as us lifetime folks.”
- FuturePastNow expresses joy (via Reddit): “That’s really nice of them. I wonder how many people this affects… it can’t be too many. There surely aren’t many people with recurring subscriptions since they stopped offering new subscriptions years ago.”
What is the current situation at Cryptic? A few days ago, reports circulated that comprehensive layoffs are on the horizon at Cryptic Studios by the end of October. The US company has released MMORPGs such as City of Heroes, City of Villains, Champions Online, Star Trek Online, and Neverwinter over the past 24 years.
The Cryptic Studios have been part of Perfect World since 2011, which in turn was bought by the Swedish Embracer Group in 2021. The corporation has been going through a difficult consolidation process for almost two years now, following a collapsed billion-dollar deal, which has already resulted in many layoffs, premature project terminations, and studio closures.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the new lifetime members, if the reports are confirmed, will get to enjoy their gift before the servers of Star Trek Online go offline someday.
