It looks like 2009 is quickly shaping up to be the year of free-to-play first-person-shooters (FPS).  Admittedly, the timing of Subagames’ release of their open beta stats is slightly suspect, appearing just one day after Nexon had released their whopping 2 million North American player stats.  However, Cross Fire’s numbers are quite impressive in their own respect: netting 25,000 registered players since the opening of the beta on January 30, 2009.  The open beta runs through the end of February, and if G4BOX Inc. and Wicked Interactive Ltd., the North American publishers of Cross Fire stay on target they could end up doubling this number.

Chief Executive Officer of Wicked Interactive Garvin Yeung says, “We knew there was an audience out there that was really anticipating Cross Fire, so we expected a good result.”

G4BOX CEO Howard He adds, “But even we are amazed by the overwhelming response that Cross Fire has garnered thus far.”

As previously reported, the Cross Fire website had received 1.9M hits prior to the November 7th closed beta launch, two-thirds of which came from the US.  Cross Fire has been a success in Asian markets, with an excess of 500,000 users simultaneously playing.  The North American open beta introduced new features including an in-game friends list, new maps, weapons, and items.  In addition, a military ranking and stat-tracking package has been introduced.  Wicked and G4BOX have started tracking players’ progress and activity since the open beta onward so that players are able to accurately gauge their skills against the rest of the Cross Fire community.  And as with any respectable MMO, Cross Fire now features a clan system whereby players can band together to play in persistent teams.  Supported by a Subagames clan page, this feature maintains rankings of all clans not only active in Cross Fire, but across the entire catalogue of Subagames’ free MMO’s.

Developed by SmileGate and Neowiz, Cross Fire is an online military FPS developed for the PC platform.  Players choose their role in this conflict scenario shooter, either Black List or Global Risk mercenaries.  They are then thrown into the thick of battle by joining a combat team that must cooperatively work together in order to complete objective based operations.  And while Cross Fire does sound a bit like the rising number of free-to-play FPS’s currently making their way to market, their standout feature is the unique “Ghost Mode”.  In this mode, one team is in possession of a top-secret cloaking device that allows them to become invisible to the opposing team.  “Ghost” teams are armed only with knives, and must utilize stealth tactics to hunt and track the other team.  Other play modes available include Team Death Match, Search and Destroy and Elimination modes.

Naturally, as with most free-to-plays, Cross Fire features an extensive set of character customization and upgrade options.  This in-game currency used in Cross Fire, may also be used in any of Subagames’ other titles including Metin2, ACE Online and Prison Tale, as well as the upcoming Prison Tale 2.

Sign up and join the trigger pulling fun at crossfire.subagames.com.