Woah Nelly, I just love it when things get all soap-opera-ish!

The chief financial officer of Perfect World Entertainment made a statement in the company’s recent earnings call to investors that has set the player-base of Star Trek Online atwitter.

He said that its newly purchased asset -- Cryptic Studios -- was already working on Star Trek Online’s free-to-play model and that they planned on the game going free-to-play “by the end of the year.”

An STO player who read the transcript of the earnings call posted the quote on the Star Trek Online community forums, and well, let’s just say Cryptic is now in the unenviable position of having to deal with a player base who is watching a cat that’s just been let out of a bag they thought they held the strings to.

Turns out -- not so much.

Although there’s been no formal confirmation of the CFO’s statement from anyone at Cryptic Studios, there have been several posts made by Cryptic employees asking the player base to remain patient until their planned marketing blitz is released "next week."

Now, as a player I have to say I am not worried about STO going free-to-play, or more conveniently abbreviated as F2P. As a lifetime subscriber who has watched how Cryptic handled the transition of its sister property Champions Online to the F2P model, I have seen how they treat those who had faith in the game. I have also seen Champions Online grow exponentially since then.

I expect nothing less from Star Trek Online when its conversion to F2P occurs, and I am also expecting a massive influx of players!

And that’s exactly what Star Trek Online needs! The game is wonderful, it’s beautiful and it’s fun. More people should have the chance to play it.

We expect that enhanced play features like the popular “Foundry” (the user-generated content tool) will still require a monthly subscription to access, as will other features -- a system not unlike that of the current state of Champions Online; but I now expect those people who either cannot afford $15 a month or currently refuse to pay that amount to play the basic game will now come out of the woodwork.

The only thing I feel bad about is the fact that Cryptic Studios itself wasn’t able to break the news to its own player-base. However unintentional Perfect World’s CFO’s statement may have been, Cryptic was denied its own thunder.

After everything this company has gone through; after being Atari’s proverbial red-headed stepchild for so long only to be purchased by Perfect World, they deserved a little respect.

I am personally saddened that Perfect World might be looking at its new stepchild with a sideways glare.

I hope, for Cryptic’s sake, that isn’t the case.