Awesomenauts goes Free-to-Play

There’s a lot of competition in the MOBA sphere these days, unsurprisingly enough, and while people could argue all day about the best game in the genre, when it comes to 2D, there’s only really one choice: Awesomenauts, the game that’s cornered cartoony MOBAS and confounded spellcheckers since 2012.

Sadly, being the premier 2D MOBA sounds all well and good, but when 2D moba’s aren’t really that popular to begin with, you can see why a game like this might be struggling, even five years in. Fortunately, developer Ronimo Games isn’t one to shy away from innovation, and they’ve choosing to expand their userbase the only way a MOBA can: going free-to-play.

Starting May 24th, you’ll be able to download and play Awesomenauts, absolutely free, and start earning a new currency, called Awesomepoints, to unlock champions and other gameplay-changing items. People who owned Awesomenauts before today also get a special medal, “Founder” status (after 5 years, is that really the right word?) and get to keep everything they’ve unlocked so far. So that’s cool.

This free update will also improve the game’s tutorial, allow people to level up profiles to unlock cosmetics and bonuses, and metals that are basically just achievements.

So, if you’ve wanted to try a new type of MOBA, you can just wait another month and give Awesomenauts a go. Or, if you’re like me, you’ll forget it exists after a week and move on with your life.

Tempting choices, right?