Will Even Free Get Me Into DCUO?

John Smedley is off on a PR tour to try and make the case that DCUO's seemingly overdue conversion to a free to play model is in response to "player feedback" from PS3 players - which was loud and clear before the game ever launched - rather than a desperation move born of underwhelming performance.  In recent months, the game has: 

• Completed its merge down to the smallest number of servers the regional (US/EU) and platform (PC/PS3) restrictions will allow (4)
• Introduced a RMT cash shop, to zero outcry that I saw anywhere because no one seems to be covering this game
• Announced plans to charge an additional $10 fee, on top of the fees for the disc and the subscriptions, for a Green Lantern-themed patch that was presumably intended to coincide with the movie in June.  When Champions Online tried the same trick similarly soon after launch, shock and outrage forced Cryptic to reverse their decision. SOE reversed their course at the last minute with little fanfare - apparently having already realized that even the monthly fee was too much of an ask for many players, especially on the PS3 - when the patch finally launched this month.  

According to the obligatory FAQ, all of the game's current leveling content will be 100% free to download and play.  To the extent that the current content of the game is worth paying for, having all this content available for $0 to download and $0 in monthly fees may be an attractive deal, especially to the PS3 players who apparently make up 75% of the game's current audience.  Functional, completely free games that come with a prominent license to boot are not easy to come by for the console gamer. 

Whether the change actually results in more revenue is a separate question.  As nearly as I can tell, the restrictions on free players (upgraded permanently to "premium" with virtually any purchase - possibly including use of Station Cash balances from other games on the PC side) are things that I wouldn't care about as a tourist come to solo to the cap and then leave.  Character slots only matter if you're rolling alts (which I don't plan to), inventory slot restrictions can be dealt with (especially on a character you're not keeping around in the long term), and only the currency restriction sounds like a potentially significant issue. 

Ironically, this change fails to address the biggest complaint I've had about the business model since its launch - I want to be able to play the game on my large-screen TV with stereo sound and PS3 controller in hand, but I'm not sure I want to shackle my account to a device that sits in my TV room when I spend so much of my time elsewhere with my laptop.  I would have paid for this game if I had been able to share one account across the two platforms.  Instead, I'm still going to remain conflicted even after the game is free, because I'd still be forced to choose a platform to invest my time in.