Well a free game is a nice gesture, and while I think RO2 is the better half, giving people RO2 for free will just lead people to spend actual money on getting RS to stop the reminders to buy it and be able to progress when RS maps load and also not get stuck as a rifleman the whole time.
As I would assume the sales of RO2 have dwindled away as most just jump straight to RS because it has the RO2 MP part, it's a logical move to have a "Special" like this.
Free is Free though and I'm more than sure the player counts will jump up, especially with the RS GOTY update coming.
But....
The next problem for TW will be with RO2's Single Player Campaign that has not been fixed since the RO2 GOTY update (Jittery movement) and the problematic bots.
With the future influx of players, expect to get a lot of backlash and complaints about the RO2 SP Campaign being buggy as hell and unplayable..... because for many, it is.
.... Unless TW has it being fixed in this next update, but I didn't see anything regarding it.
Yeah I know.... I'm always the party pooper, but don't say I didn't warn you. This seems like a great idea, but without the RO2 SP Campaign being properly fixed, the bots not being improved upon and new players having to face the RS Demo features and wondering what the hell is going on, expect to have both the Steam Community and these Forums to be flooded by many new players who are not only confused but also frustrated.
Yes, most in here would say "Who cares about the SP?" but it has been shown time and time again that many players do (or did) and it is a feature of the game. A feature players would expect to function and be playable in some proper fashion.
This announcement would also explain the recent request for more Moderators..... because soon enough, these and the Steam Community forums are going to need more.
That is all, carry on and good luck.