Free-to-play Tribes Ascend adding single purchase option

At a time when the free-to-play model is being adopted in spades by video game studios, some developers are clearly still interested in the benefits of securing a one-time payment for the whole package. Take Tribes Ascend, for example. The first-person shooter launched last year as a free-to-play title, with players able to play and unlock the majority of the game's content without paying a cent. However, Hi-Rez Studios COO Todd Harris said this week that a single purchase edition of the game is due to release on February 15, which will unlock all classes, weapons and perks from the get-go. "We'll price it in the ballpark of other PC multiplayer shooters," he noted, adding, "If you enjoy the game as free-to-play, nothing changes." Punch Quest studio Rocketcat Games went a step further than this late last year, making its free-to-play game a paid download after suffering poor sales.