It's inevitable: Free-to-play the future of gaming

June 25th, 2012

Free to play has long been a staple of PC gaming. Heck, you could even argue it's been around since the dawn of PC gaming, since early free trials that let players sample games (or even play the same three levels over and over again) before buying.

Soon, however, free to play will not only be a staple, it'll be the way games are sold in the future. This is largly the case on PC. Is certainly the case for smartphone and social gaming. And it will be for console gaming as well, the last holdouts on the idea.

What does it all mean? It means we get burned less in buying games we don't like. It means we can sample more, experiement more with our tastes. It means we can discover games we wouldn't have played otherwise. And that's pretty cool. 

What do you think, readers: Is there a downside to free to play gaming? If so, I haven't see one and welcome a future of indefinite free trials. 

Read more: PC gaming headlines

Comments

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FIRST COMMENT< F2P RULES

1
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
Alienwareobsessed
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I've been playing alot of Free-to-Play games lately. Blacklight: Retribution, APB, and Fallen Earth.

2
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
whirlingdervish
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Some games work better as pay-to-play. What many developers of f2p games do wrong is this: They set profit above all instead of focusing on making a game you can enjoy and actually want to spend your hard earney money on.

Hopefully we will see many games using the free to play system that is used in games such as League of Legends and Lord of the Rings online.

3
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
Spiltester
Level 3
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As sad as it may be, i fear you are right.

Still, F2P games mostly lack in something because their publishers (usually) aren´t the big ones (yet).
Look at games like Rusty Hearts, Eden Eternal, Forsaken World, ... They all lack in either graphics, story, gameplay or whatever.
Only big studios going F2P on previous P2P titles are doing it right: Aion, Lineage 2, ...

Sure, there are some coming that might change that fact (Neverwinter) and there are even some diong it right without any doubt (League of Legends), Team Fortress 2, but let´s admit it, those are still a minority.

In the end, we have to look twice, as usual. So, nothing changes.
There will be crap, there will be good game.
We have to choose carefully!


AmmokK

4
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
AmmokKDE
Level 2
209 ARP
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Plain F2P will happen, I don't know about F2P with micro-transactions(probably be the only way).

5
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
s8man888
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Personally I really like F2P games and welcome this. The thing I don't want to see, and it's already out there more than anyone would like, is Pay2Win. Games in which you buy power / advantages are unbalanced and ultimately, tend to fall on their faces.

AWA Game Night admin and derailer of Steam chat room conversations.

6
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
SithHunter
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Can't complain when games are free.

New forums... Soon™

7
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
definewikipedia
Level 7
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I read a Gamespot article about this a week ago. I don't know if everything will be free to play. As of right now we have major publishers offering micro-transactions with their AAA titles. I think micro-transactions are what the industry will stay at since they can make make the initial sell with the game and then nickel and dime you on micro-transactions.

I do hope that Kickstarter will be the way good developers go. Instead of allowing themselves to be bought by big publishers, I would rather see them getting funded by their fans. How great would Blizzard be if they didn't have to answer to Vevendi?

8
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
Addice
Level 7
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The only F2P game I have enjoyed is TF2

9
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
LittleBigBlarg
Level 1
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I like my F2P games. ST:O, LotR, NSFW. I don't have the money to spend on microtransactions anyway so that really is not an issue.

Yesterday is gone and tomorrow never comes!

10
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
wilbymilstone
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As long as the trend continues with excellent games like SMNC, I will definitely play them.

MrKiWi

11
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
MrKiWi
Level 3
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The only downside I can see is for the developers themselves. While free to play games may enable you to get a good feel for the game before you buy it, this could be detrimental to some of the.... lesser developed games. For instance, whereas some people buy games purely out of curiosity even though they know the game might be a bust, with free to play games you won't have to spend any money to realize a game just isn't worth playing, effectively reducing the sales of the game. For the better polished games though I think the opposite is true. People will find out that a game they previously thought they wouldn't like, is indeed a game that they'll want to keep playing and pay for the additional content. It could go either way really, just depends on how well the company thinks it's game will perform against others =/

~Brooksy~

12
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
Brooksy22
Level 2
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I have no complaints about free games.

"Glorious PC gaming master race"

13
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
Meluvia
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What does it matter if it free-2-play or not its a game and games mean't to be fun it shouldn't be a insult someone saved their money and got thegame for free.

14
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
Cadche
Level 1
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as long as the game isn't pay to win I don't mind having more free to play games

http://www.yourgamercards.net/profile/redrupture

15
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
RedRupture
Level 6
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F2P might work for the big masses, because face it, people are pretty cheap and like free stuff.

Bounty.

16
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
SquiddyBiscuit
Level 6
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F2P GOD :D

17
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
snetrip
Level 2
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Prefer paying for high quality games single player and multiplayer.

Having exclusivity and not playing with tons of griefers and ragers seems more fun.

F2P works and many developers see it as a route to continued profitability, but rather stay away from these games unless they are high quality and fun to play. Many of the best F2P games out there were original paid for.

Inevitable yes because is a low cost of entry and huge time investment potential in certain games.

18
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
aliencat
Level 7
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I think most F2P games will take the path that TF2 took, for the first one or two years (maybe more) you will have to buy the game, however as the game gets older, it can re-vive its earnings by becoming an F2P, and selling in game items to the players. This bieng said, gaming industries will get more money, and make better games while we don't feel like we have to break the bank everytime we want a game, in all it's a win-win.

19
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
Razorback1786
Level 1
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As a long time F2P player (since I was a child), I have enjoyed many F2P games. However, this predicted future of games is something I really do not want to see. Many, if not all F2P games, have some way in which they charge players for content. Cash shops, premium content, etc. What bothers me a bout this is that, most of these P2P aspects of "F2P" games do not give the same satisfaction or finished feel that regular, pay once games do. Micro transactions encourage developers to publish unfinished works so that they can make money off of aesthetic content or special missions/content. I really hope that this future of F2P does not go beyond what it is currently.

20
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
Pangia
Level 1
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Like you said, F2P will just mean you are playing a demo and to get the good stuff you still gotta pay.

21
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
Ogrewax
Level 6
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Alienwareobsessed said: FIRST COMMENT< F2P RULES


I think free to play is the worst thing that happened to PC gaming in recent years. Look at how bad the League of Legends or even the TF2 communities are... they're both filled with little kids that can't watch their mouths.

Anything worth having is worth working hard for.

22
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
Sever1ty
Level 7
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Some games F2P was a great idea. Others not so much. TF2 is a F2P that is pointless to even play when not premium because to become premium you simply have to buy something from the in-game store. Its like a dollar to become premium. F2P is just not what I prefer if I hadn't already made this obvious. I just don't find meaning in playing a limited game.

23
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
SpiralHoriZon
Level 7
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F2P is fine but it usually means limited content without a micro transaction or premium account.

24
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
Shlinger
Level 3
413 ARP
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163/250, 87 ARP to go
Not sure if F2P is the way to go...

25
Posted Monday, June 25th, 2012    Quote This Post
Seamen
Level 1
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