Just this morning, SOE pushed a new patch to live servers that adds an in-game cash shop to it's struggling superhero MMO, DC Universe Online. The shop uses the same Station Cash currency that all of SOE's MMOs use, but only two items currenty sit on the store's shelf: consumables to repair your gear or grant extra runs on the Vault, the smash-boxes-to-get-random-loot minigame that players can otherwise only play once every 24 hours. The prices aren't outrageous at $1 for each, with bundles of each at 20% off.
It's no surprise that SOE plans to add more items and services to the cash shop in the future (there's already a Styles section of the store, although it's currently empty). What surprised me, however, is that fan reaction on the forums has been extremely positive. Most of the complaints I've seen so far are people complaining that SOE isn't selling enough items to them for cash. Movement respecs and styles are things that players have demanded most often so far.
As much as I wish that this was an indication that DCUO will be jumping on the free-to-play bandwagon soon, I don't think that it is. The developers have talked about adding a cash shop to DCUO since before the game launched (the shopping cart store icon was even in early pre-launch builds of the game I played). But while they've had it planned for so long, if the cash shop does well, hopefully SOE will consider taking DCUO free-to-play. It'd certainly be a great fit for this excellent MMO that still falls a bit short on worthwhile content.
