We wrote recently that Atari and Cryptic had cut the prices for Star Trek Online and offered 90 days free play. This was a much better deal that the original price and 30 days free.

This offer outraged lifetime and early subscribers of the Star Trek Online massively multiplayer online role playing game who thought that they had been cheated.

In response to the outrage Cryptic Studios initially responded by shutting down forum threads and posts (always a bad idea) and with the statement:

“We understand that some of you are upset about the current sale on Atari.com. There are a number of threads on the forums about this, which is making it very difficult to find information about anything else on these forums. Due to this, we are closing all other threads regarding this matter. We do value your feedback on this, matter however, and would appreciate it if you would post your feedback regarding this matter here, in this thread. All other threads regarding this will be closed.”

Now Cryptic has changed their mind and cancelled the initial offer. The game will still be $10 cheaper but will have only the standard 30 day free trial. Cryptic will still honor the deal for those who acted quickly and purchased this deal.

Cryptic has certainly shot themselves in the foot on this one. In addition to poor Star Trek Online reviews, and the creation of a buggy and unfinished game with very little content that has almost no social interaction due to heavy instancing (and many other complaints), they have now completely pissed off their loyal fan base and all Trekkies. Nicely done Cryptic.

Unfortunately this now means that we must demote STO to the #8 spot on our list of Top 10 MMORPGs

In the below video STOked gives an overview of the first 30 days of STO, talks about this controversy, complains, and talks about changes that should have been made. The video is about 1 hour long.

Commentary on Atari Cryptic Price and Trial Disaster:

Check out the below high definition gameplay video as well.

Star Trek Online HD Gameplay Video:

Read the initial statement here

Read the note on pulling the deal here