Neowiz announced today via press release that Bless Online, the upcoming fantasy MMORPG for PC, will launch on Steam Early Access in May. They also revealed to have picked the B2P (Buy-to-Play) business model for the game, meaning that you'll have to pay once with no subscription.

　　Ki Won Lee, CEO of Neowiz, said:

　　It’s been a long time coming, but we truly believe the best version of Bless Online is finally almost ready to hit Steam. This an MMORPG unlike any other, completely re-engineered, and we can’t wait to finally open the doors and let players start their journeys.

　　Sungjin Ko, Executive Producer of Neowiz Bless Studio, added:

　　We heard our players, and we’ve made our decision. We chose Buy to Play as our monetization model because we truly believe it’s the best option for our players while making sure you don’t need to maintain a subscription to keep up with the constant stream of new content we’ll be adding to Bless.

　　The developers also shared a brief Q&A, which you can find below.

　　Q. Will there be an in-game store? Will it be Pay-To-Win???A. Yes, there will be an in-game store! We will offer cosmetic equipment, skins, awesome mounts and pets, and consumables that give services and boosts, etc. However, the items will not offer special bonuses that lead to Pay-to-Win!Q. Will there be founder’s packs?A. Yes, we will be offering exclusive founder’s packs to reward our community’s continued loyalty and support. Our founder’s packs will allow you to have advanced access even BEFORE the official early access begins, and you will also get exclusive gifts depending on which pack you purchase. The final list of founder’s pack tiers will be confirmed at a later date.For more on Bless Online, check our previous interview with Game Director Jae-hoon Jeon.