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Free to Play Gaming Model
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DDO and LoTRO seem to be doing really well. And so many other games start out with the subs model and then go FtP, that might be the way for some games to go too. I kind of like the Guild Wars model: buy the game, so you get a really well produced game, then it's free to play.
I played Guild Wars instead of Warcraft largely because of the free to play model. I can't say for sure that NCSoft and Arenanet made money but they are making Guild Wars 2 and planning the same business model. I'm hoping it will be released in 2012.
I hope it works for the MMO for Tad Williams' Otherland. Been looking forward to that for years.
Scott wrote: "What do y'all think of the free to play model? Is it sustainable? I think free to play is here stay. (I'm a poet.)Although, with all the competition, I'm not sure which games will last.
Wha..."
World of Tanks is a great success and a a superb example of how a free to play model can work.
Never played a free-to-play MMO, but I know I've read multiple stories that say that the free apps in the Apple app store are some of the biggest money-makers with their in-app purchases. I wonder how much of that is accidental purchases. It surprised me that Tiny Tower was the game of the year. I enjoy it quite a bit, but I could imagine that in-app purchase of bux is a factor.
It's absolutely here to stay. It solves a big problem with multiplayer games, which is that they're just no fun until you reach a certain threshold of other people to play with. Nobody wants to play an MMO that's empty. But at the same time, unless you sell a ton at retail, you'll never hit that point. Hence free-to-play.I played the *heck* out of DC Online when it first came out, but it was a total ghost town, and I played the whole thing solo. Since going free to play, apparently it's much more packed. I plan to check that out again soon to see the difference.
Don wrote: "I played Guild Wars instead of Warcraft largely because of the free to play model. I can't say for sure that NCSoft and Arenanet made money but they are making Guild Wars 2 and planning the same bu..."I think we can safely say they made a tidy profit ;)
I started playing World of Tanks because it was free. Now I have a paid account....free is a good marketing ploy.
Yes. World of Tanks is very good at encouraging people to pay but is just as playable if you spend nothing. It will take a bit longer to gain experience points but you can still progress and buy bigger tanks without paying a penny. It's great.
Free to play usually means I'm in a game that has in-game advertising or a pay-to-play model just when the game starts getting fun. Or rather, the "real" game costs money. I guess I would rather pay up front, like a normal single-player game, and play as much as I would like for free thereafter, like Diablo II or Guild Wars, or most any retail game.I know micro-transactions in a free-to-play game make business sense, but I think it can ruin a game as well. The folks that spend more money rather than time within the game generally become more powerful faster, but historically speaking, real-money transfers (RMTs) tend to devalue virtual items within the game. Thus, inflation can get completely out of control, making it almost impossible for newcomers to have fun with the game since everything costs so much.
I don't play as many MMOs as I used to, but I try to stay away from those that allow RMTs as a general rule. It'll be interesting to see how Blizzard handles the RMTs in Diablo III, which is not a "free-to-play" game, but one that will cost $60 and be free thereafter, with micro-transactions if the player so desires.
Although, with all the competition, I'm not sure which games will last.
What are your thoughts?
What are your favorite free to play games?
-STH