Funcom has transitioned its Lego Minifigures Online MMO from a free-to-play model to a more traditional single price point.

The move flies in the face of usual industry practices, which have seen many massively multiplayer games go free-to-play after problematic pay-to-play launches.

"It became clear to us that free-to-play business model wasn't working as well as we had hoped for with the intended audience, and it was detrimental to the gameplay experience," said Minifigures executive producer Lawrence Poe.

The decision to go pay-to-play comes with an updated release of the game that features "a new story, voiced narration, voiced dialogue, cinematics, unique world events," and more.

It came as the result of focus testing, in which kids and adults alike would frequently skip the in-game narrative text, robbing the experience of context.

Lego Minifigures Online now costs US$29.99 on Steam and US$4.99 on iOS; both versions can play cross-platform with each other.