Growing Pains: How Can Free-To-Play Gaming Reach its True Potential?
By David Tobia
November 19, 2012
November 19, 2012
- While some American game developers have shied away from free-to-play models, the genre could soon become a dominant force in the gaming industry as developers creatively construct games to make the experience better for both the gamer and the developer, writes GamesIndustry.
- Many current free-to-play games annoy users because they “effectively put a tax on fun” by employing dwindling energy levels that need to be replenished. However, the article notes: “The future is digital, and the elasticity that freemium offers will be to everyone’s benefit.”
- “A lot of games that we like and enjoy today could very easily be free-to-play: ‘Fallout 3’ or ‘Skyrim’ could be, the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ series could be,” suggests game designer American McGee. “Any game in which there is a world, and you’re going around acquiring items and interfacing with shops, any of those could work under a free-to-play model… I suspect that if you’d launched ‘Fallout 3’ as a free-to-play title rather than paying $60 for the disc it would have had equal or greater success.”
- Brandon Beck of Riot Games has a different view of the future of free-to-play games. He argues the shift to free-to-play may take longer than people think, and that it may never fully happen.
- “I don’t think the industry has figured out the right free models for many types of games — even your standard console platformer,” he notes. “So a rush into free-to-play may end up limiting the kinds of content choices that are available to players.”
- “That would be a travesty, because we all want to see rich, linear eight-hour experiences continue, as well as many other kinds of games that don’t fit into the conventional free-to-play box,” he adds.
- Developers agree that free-to-play has great potential, but it will only realize that potential if companies develop better, more interesting, and more creative games, argues GamesIndustry.
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