>>717584714 (OP)Back then p2w live service multiplayer games were in its infancy in the west. People preferred to pay once to get a superior game than put up with overpriced microtransactions in a janky asset flip. I remember a few others that didn't live long, like Age of Empires Online, Ghost Recon Phantoms, or Battlefield Play4Free.
Nowadays it's almost unheard of to release a multiplayer-only game and demand an upfront payment.