After a bumpy start like all MMOs that aren’t World of Warcraft or The Old Republic, sitting in the captain’s chair is now free of charge.

Perfect World Entertainment and the original developer Cryptic Studios announced today that the Star Trek Online MMO has gone free-to-play.

“We couldn’t be more excited,” Jack Emmert, CEO, Cryptic Studios, Inc., said. “Updating Star Trek Online to the popular free-to-play model removes those barriers of entry that previously kept fans and casual gamers away. Anyone can download and play Star Trek Online at no cost. There’s no better way to see how sitting in the captain’s chair feels.”

With the game going free-to-play, anyone can download the game for free without a retail copy or subscription. All players will be able to enjoy the game’s many features for free. Like all freemium games, however, some content and features must be bought through the online store.

The game tasks players to become a starship captain in the wide expanse of the Star Trek universe. Players can either join the Federation or the Klingon Empire in a persistent online universe. Players can expect to journey to strange new worlds and take part in epic ground and space missions.

The game is completely free to play so there is no subscription or any payment required. New weekly episodes will be updated throughout the game’s lifespan and feature story-based gameplay that will put your captain’s ability to command to the test.

The goal is to become a captain and seek out new life. Players can advance to the maximum level for free. Players can expect to travel to Starfleet Academy, Deep Space Nine, The First City of Qo’noS and many other locations from the series.

The Foundry is the final unique feature that allows players to create and build brand new missions to share with the Star Trek Online community. Players can great ground or space missions to their liking by making custom missions or entire series of episodes.

Star Trek Online is available to download and play for free today at the official Web site.

Cryptic have created a new story trailer for the game in celebration of it going free-to-play.