Having previously scrapped the optional subscription fee for Global Agenda, developer Hi-Rez Studios announced today that soon you won't even need to buy the sci-fi shooter MMO to play it.

Starting with the launch of the 'Free Agent' update in mid-April, Global Agenda will become free-to-play, letting you play "all of the game's current content and levels" without paying a penny.

As servers don't run on wishes and good will alone, there'll naturally be incentives to cough up a little cash. Players who've already bought the game, or who pay $19.99 to achieve 'Elite Agent' status, will have access to number of features unavailable to freeloaders. These include in-game mail, the auction house, higher login priority, faster XP gain, more PvP queue options, ad-free in-game voice and more.

That fact that Hi-Rez specified non-paying players will have access to Global Agenda's "current content" suggests that more might be added as Elite Agent bonuses or microtransaction add-ons.

Hi-Rez acquired the much-loved Tribes franchise last year and revealed plans to make a Tribes MMO. Last month, the developer also announced a PC and Xbox 360 game it billed as "the multiplayer successor to the much lauded Tribes 2," named Tribes: Ascend.