The growing free-to-play model

I mentioned the growing free-to-play model when I talked about China’s gamers a few days ago, and about the differences in Chinese gaming and American gaming. Fat Foogoo is also talking about this:

A primary deterrent to early free-to-play titles in the Western market was that they were developed in and for an Eastern market style of play. That, and 9 times out of 10, well, to be honest, they just weren’t of very good quality, thereby leaving the end user with a ‘errr….this is crap, can I play WoW now please?’ experience. Add to this experience the fact that Western developers and studios just couldn’t grasp the profitability margin in ‘optional payment’ games. Fast forward, and may I introduce to you both ‘Runes of Magic’ as distributed by Frogster, and ‘Wizard 101’ as developed by Kingsisle. Note that ‘Runes of Magic’ is in fact developed by Taiwanese studio Runewaker, but distributed and marketed by a Western firm, Frogster (based in Berlin, Germany). Both of these free-to-plays have conquered a rather vociferous audience and successfully ported them to the world of free-to-play. Sure, there have been some grumbles here and there, but at the end of the day, the numbers that both Runes and Wizard are putting up in such a short amount of time cannot be a coincidence.

Interesting choice of example games. I played the beta and reviewed Wizard 101, and guest author Lexton Collins played the beta and reviewed Runes of Magic. We didn’t set out to make an East-West comparison, but it is an interesting one.

I think the free-to-play model will continue to grow among young, Western gamers, since it gives players a chance to try out a new game without a prohibitively high price tag. I see this type of marketing as similar to the system on Big Fish and other portals who offer a free demo and then a paid full version.

In either system, if you’re hooked, then you pay, and most gamers don’t mind shelling out for a game they enjoy but are wary of buying something they haven’t played. There are losers who steal games but in general gamers have a respect for the people who make our toys and don’t mind paying for something good.

(And, yes, this logo has almost nothing to do with the discussion, I just like how it looks.)

Quote from 2009: The year of Free-to-Play .

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