Tera crosses 1.4 million users after free-to-play switch

En Masse Entertainment announced today that the North American version of Tera: Rising now has more than 1.4 million registered players. This milestone was achieved one month after the massively multiplayer online game switched from a subscription-based title to a free-to-play venture.

Not only are Tera player accounts up, but in-game activity is also on the rise. En Masse today reported a ten-fold increase in peak concurrent users compared to the previous subscription-based model, though specific figures were not divulged.

To mark the milestone, En Masse revealed Dracoloths Rising, a five-day event "to hunt big ass monsters for special drops and prizes." Beginning today and running until March 24, dracoloth monsters will appear throughout the gameworld and players can earn high-level gear and consumables by defeating them.

"We've been blown away by the waves of players logging into Tera, and we're seeing amazing growth in both registrations and daily users. It's always great to eclipse the one-million-player mark, and at our current rate, it won't be long before we hit two million," En Masse CEO Chris Lee said in a statement.

The game is also seeing growth across Europe. Gameforge, which operates the title in that region, announced last week that Tera: Rising had added 500,000 new players since the business model switch.

Tera is the latest MMO game to drop its subscription fee, following Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, EverQuest II, Aion, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Bethesda has not said if its upcoming MMO game The Elder Scrolls Online will carry a subscription fee, though consultant Nicholas Lovell believes the game will launch with a subscription before going free-to-play.

For more on Tera: Rising, check out GameSpot's review of the original Tera.