Acclaim Games has announced that BOTS, their free MMO action game, has entered the open beta stage. Players do battle with custom built robots on a wide variety of colourful maps, seeking levels and loot. The current release supports solo, co-operative, PvP and "PvP Base" modes and has a level cap of 99.

Rather than charging monthly fees, or even selling the game client, Acclaim has committed to making BOTS free to play, with revenue being raised through advertising and the sale of special in-game items. These "Money items" are not yet available, and will not be activated until the game is officially released.

This marketing scheme where publishers sell in-game items to players is becoming increasingly popular, and has already been adapted by other online games such as Bang! Howdy and EverQuest II, though one could argue that Sony's financial situation is not comparable to Acclaim's.