"We're making this transition because we wanted to bring the Defiance experience to a wider audience," creative lead Trick Dempsey told GameSpot. "Something that we've learned from the lifetime of the product is that more people playing the game makes a more positive experience because we have focused the game on a massive, co-op, PvP, progression-based experience. And having people walking that path with you is just the coolest thing."
Dempsey says that Defiance's transition from a paid boxed product to a free-to-play game will be done "without tricks or traps." Trion Worlds has experience transitioning major MMOs to the free-to-play business model, as the company did just that last year with its fantasy game Rift.