Free-to-play
Encyclopedia
Free-to-play refers to any video game that has the option of allowing its players to play without paying. The model was first popularly used in early massively multiplayer online game
s (MMO) targeted towards casual gamers, before finding wider adoption among games released by major video game publisher
s to combat video game piracy and high system requirements
. Since games using the concept are available at no cost to players, they use other means to gather revenue, such as charging money for certain in-game items or integrating advertisements
into the game. Free-to-play can be compared to pay-to-play, in which payment is required before using a service, and freemium
, a more general term and a business model
in which a product is offered free of charge while a fee is charged for users to access premium features. There is no strict distinction between certain shareware
versions of games and free-to-play games, however shareware versions are generally hugely more restricted with less than a quarter of standard content being typically available and no online mode. If there is no charge payable for any feature in a game it's known as freeware
.
(1999) and MapleStory
(2003), or further back to text-based dungeons such as Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands
(1997). Neopets and MapleStory are among the largest MMOs available today in terms of number of users and profits since their launches. Games by larger video game companies soon followed, such as Battlefield Heroes
(Electronic Arts
, 2009), Free Realms
(Sony
, 2009), and Quake Live
(id Software
, 2010). Independent video game developers
also took advantage of the model by providing inventive and innovative titles that do not need the larger budgets usually required by blockbuster games, while earning significant amounts of revenue due to the fact that these development teams often consist of only one or two people.
The Internet
has been cited as a primary influence on the increased usage of the free-to-play model, particularly among larger video game companies, and critics point to the ever-increasing need for free content that is available wherever and whenever as causes. On the PC in particular, two problems that are specific to the platform are video game piracy and high video game system requirements. The free-to-play model appears to solve both these problems, by providing a game that requires relatively low system requirements and no cost, and consequently provides a highly accessible experience funded by advertising and micropayments for extra content.
Some of the earliest games that adapted the free-to-play model after using another model were subscription-based games, such as The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar
(2007), Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
(2008), Champions Online
(2009), Heroes of Newerth
(2010), and League of Legends
(2009).
Free-to-play is still a fairly "young form of gaming", and the video game industry is still attempting to determine the best ways to maximize revenue from their games. Gamers have cited the fact that purchasing a game for a fixed price is still inherently satisfying because the consumer knows exactly what they will be receiving, compared to free-to-play which requires that the player pay for most new content that they wish to obtain. The term itself, "free-to-play", has been described as one with a negative connotation. One video game developer noted this, stating, "Our hope—and the basket we're putting our eggs in—is that 'free' will soon be disassociated with 'shallow' and 'cruddy'." However, another noted that developing freeware games gave developers the largest amount of creative freedom, especially when compared to developing console games, which requires that the game follow the criteria as laid out by the game's publisher.
In comparison, Charles Onyett says in an editorial for IGN
that "expensive, one-time purchases are facing extinction". He believes that the current method of paying a one-time fee for most games will eventually disappear completely, perhaps after the next generation of consoles has arrived. He admits that major video game franchises will continue to have few problems selling many units, but notes that smaller companies with lesser known games will have trouble selling their games due to prohibitively high prices and will instead have to switch to the free-to-play model to survive. Onyett continues by describing pricing models in video games as being in a "state of flux for some time now", concluding that this would naturally lead to the decline of one-time purchase prices. He claims that the reason that it feels as though the free-to-play approach is new is due to the fact that it has mostly been limited to computer games and outside North America until only recently.
technique to draw in a user base with this advanced type of game demo
. The term "free-to-play" is frequently heard in the context of MMOs. In comparison, the term "forever free-to-play game" (FF2P) is used to distinguish MMOGs that promise to never charge a subscription fee from those that are currently free-to-play but may become pay-to-play in the future. It applies only to online game
s, because while a conventional single-player freeware game becomes free forever as soon as it is downloaded to the player's hard drive, a free online game may start charging a fee and instantly convert into a pay-to-play game.
Many game developer
s keep a free-to-play version available so people can try the game before paying the membership costs. It also helps attract more players to the game. Other developers generate revenue by selling in-game items that enhance the player's in-game experience. In-game items can be purely cosmetic (vanity items), enhance the power of the player (power items), or accelerate progression speed (booster items). A common technique used by developers of these games is for the items purchased to have a time limit; after this expires, the item must be repurchased before use can continue. In-game advertising is another method that can be used by game developers to supplement income lost from providing a game for free.
Free-to-play games are free to install and play, but once the player enters the game, they are able to purchase content such as items, maps, and expanded customization options.
The free-to-play model has been described as a shift from the traditional model in the sense that previously, success was measured by multiplying the number of units of a game sold by the unit price, while with free-to-play, the most important factor is the number of players that a game can keep continuously engaged, followed by how many compelling spending opportunities the game offers its players. With free games that include in-game purchases, two particularly important things occur: first, more people will try out the game since there is zero cost to doing so; and second, revenue will likely be more than a traditional game since different players can now spend different amounts of money that depend on their engagement with the game and their preferences towards it. It is not unlikely for some players to spend tens of thousands of dollars in a game that they enjoy.
Critics of the free-to-play approach are concerned that if players that paid for special items subsequently become better at a multiplayer game than those who did not purchase the same items, then it will not be as enjoyable as other games since players who paid more money are more successful than those who simply rely on skill. Instead, some suggest that payments should only be used to broaden the gaming experience without affecting the gameplay itself. They also claim that the secret is in finding the balance between a game that makes players want to pay for extra features to make the game more special, while also ensuring that players who decide not to pay not to feel as though they are getting an inferior product. The theory is that players who do not pay for items in a game would still increase awareness of the game through word of mouth
marketing, which ultimately benefits the game indirectly even though it does not directly receive income from a specific player. A common concern about the free-to-play model is whether or not free games have to constantly request that the player buy extra content in order for them to survive or continue in the game, and if so, at what point does it become an annoyance or make the player feel uncomfortable about it.
and Russia
, where they dominate 90% of the gaming market. There are free-to-play, pay-to-connect games where there is no charge for playing, but often the free servers are congested. Access to uncongested servers is reserved for fee-paying members.
Free-to-play games are particularly prevalent in countries such as South Korea
and the People's Republic of China
.
A survey carried out by market research
firm VGMarket in July 2011 for global payments company PlaySpan, owned by Visa Inc., received responses from 1,006 American gamers aged 13 to 65 (with an average age of 25, 72% of whom are male, with an average income of US$68,897) for questions related to the purchase of virtual items in video games. The respondents answered based on how much money they thought they spent on virtual goods, rather than their actual spending patterns, and respondents are not necessarily the same ones from the previous year, making year-by-year comparisons possibly less reflective of actual spending patterns. All dollar figures were in United States dollars. Among the respondents, 31% said they had spent real-world money on virtual goods, and 57% of these made purchases at least once a month. More notable statistics, however, were focused on the gender split. For both MMOs and casual games, women spent more money on virtual goods than men. On average, women spent $111 a year in MMOs and $62 a year in casual games, while men spent $74 and $28 respectively. Another significant statistic was the change in spending from the previous year. For MMOs and console/PC games, the average amount spent was up 20% to 90% year-on-year, depending on category. However, for casual games, the average amount spent was down in all categories, by between 20% to 60%. Overall, all types of virtual content experienced an increase in average spending year-on-year, while average spending on virtual gifts dropped from $30 to $23 per year.
Mobile analytics company Flurry reported on July 7, 2011, that based on its research, the revenue from free-to-play games had overtaken revenue from premium games that earn revenue through traditional means in Apple's App Store, for the top 100 grossing games when comparing the results for the months of January and June in 2011. It used data that it analyzed through 90,000 apps that installed the company's software in order to roughly determine the amount of revenue generated by other popular apps. They discovered that free games represented 39% of the total revenue from January, and that the number jumped to 65% by June, helped in part by the fact that over 75% of the 100 top grossing apps are games. This makes free-to-play the single most dominant business model in the mobile apps industry. They also learned that the number of people that spend money on in-game items in free-to-play games ranges from 0.5% to 6%, depending on a game's quality and mechanics. Even though this means that a large number of people will never spend money in a game, it also means that the people that do spend money could amount to a sizeable number due to the fact that the game was given away for free.
Major video game company Electronic Arts first introduced the free-to-play concept in one of its games when it released FIFA Online
in Korea. The company gave away discs containing the game away for free in the country, and instead charged money on items such as roster updates and new uniforms. They learned that 10% of all Korean households had downloaded the game, and that they made more money using this model than they would have made if they sold the game using traditional methods. The company introduced the free-to-play concept in one of its games to a North American audience in 2008, when it introduced its Play4Free program that debuted with Battlefield Heroes (still in beta at the time), and which provides free software but includes the option for players to make micropayments within games. Players can pay to customize the design of their characters and increase their character's abilities.
In addition to making in-game items available for purchase, EA also brings in revenue from its free-to-play titles by integrating in-game advertising into its games. In August 2007, EA completed a deal with Microsoft
-owned Massive Incorporated
, which lets Massive update and change in-game advertising in real-time within EA games, especially those focused on sports since advertising is an "essential component to create the fiction of being there". Other EA titles such as Battlefield 2142
and Need For Speed: Carbon
include in-game advertisements that appear in virtual billboards.
With its Free Realms game targeted to children and casual gamers, Sony makes money from the product with advertisements on loading screen
s, free virtual goods sponsored by companies such as Best Buy
, a subscription option to unlock extra content, a collectible card game
, a comic book
, and micropayment items that include character customization options.
Team Fortress 2
(abbreviated as TF2) is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation
. Later released as a standalone package for Windows on April 9, 2008, and for Mac OS X
two years later. Team Fortress 2
is distributed online through the Steam (software) system. While retail distribution was handled by Electronic Arts
. In June 2011, the game became a free-to-play
title, supported by microtransactions for unique in-game equipment through Steam (software).
id Software's Quake Live, a browser-based relaunch of another one of the company's games, Quake III (1999), keeps its revenue streams more simple than other free-to-play games by only making money through in-game billboards. It has been reported that they will offer paid-for content in the future, such as new character models and maps. However, it may be more difficult to make money from Quake Live due to the fact that players can simply purchase the full version of Quake III and receive all extra content for free.
Edmund McMillen
, an independent game developer and co-creator of games such as Gish
(2004) and Super Meat Boy
(2010), has claimed that he makes most of his money from sponsors. One way that he makes money from his games is to, instead of charge for them, place an advertisement for an advertiser's website into the introduction of a game as well as the title screen
. Video game development company Flashbang Studios, creator of Off-Road Velociraptor Safari
(2008), monetizes some of their games by offering a subscription service to players to provide access to extra features on both their website and in their games, which do not affect gameplay itself.
Canadian video game developer BioWare
announced Dragon Age Legends in May 2010 and launched it in February 2011. The title is a free-to-play Facebook
game that ties in to the Dragon Age
role-playing game
franchise. Greg Zeschuk
, vice president and co-founder of BioWare, remarked in an interview that there was a good possibility that free-to-play would become the dominant pricing plan for games, but that it was very unlikely that it would ever completely replace subscription-based games. He concluded by noting that either a subscription-based game should offer much more content than a free-to-play game, or that it should be possible to obtain the extra content by spending roughly the same amount of money in a free-to-play game with micropayments.
Massively multiplayer online game
A massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
s (MMO) targeted towards casual gamers, before finding wider adoption among games released by major video game publisher
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
s to combat video game piracy and high system requirements
System requirements
To be used efficiently, all computer software needs certain hardware components or other software resources to be present on a computer. These pre-requisites are known as system requirements and are often used as a guideline as opposed to an absolute rule. Most software defines two sets of system...
. Since games using the concept are available at no cost to players, they use other means to gather revenue, such as charging money for certain in-game items or integrating advertisements
In-game advertising
In-game advertising refers to advertising in computer and video games. IGA differs from advergaming, which refers to a game specifically made to advertise a product.The IGA industry is large and growing...
into the game. Free-to-play can be compared to pay-to-play, in which payment is required before using a service, and freemium
Freemium
Freemium is a business model that works by offering a product or service free of charge while charging a premium for advanced features, functionality, or related products and services...
, a more general term and a business model
Business model
A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value...
in which a product is offered free of charge while a fee is charged for users to access premium features. There is no strict distinction between certain shareware
Shareware
The term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a...
versions of games and free-to-play games, however shareware versions are generally hugely more restricted with less than a quarter of standard content being typically available and no online mode. If there is no charge payable for any feature in a game it's known as freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
.
History
The free-to-play model can trace its roots back to MMOs targeted towards children and casual gamers, such as NeopetsNeopets
Neopets is a virtual pet website that was launched by Adam Powell and Donna Williams on November 15, 1999. Two years after the web site was launched, Adam Powell and Donna Williams sold a majority share to a consortium of investors led by Doug Dohring. On June 20, 2005, Viacom bought Neopets, Inc...
(1999) and MapleStory
MapleStory
MapleStory is a free-to-play, 2D, side-scrolling massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by the South Korean company Wizet. Several versions of the game are available for specific countries or regions, and each is published by various companies such as Nexon...
(2003), or further back to text-based dungeons such as Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands
Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands
Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands is a roleplay-focused, text-based multi-user dungeon released in 1997. It was published by Achaea LLC, now known as Iron Realms Entertainment...
(1997). Neopets and MapleStory are among the largest MMOs available today in terms of number of users and profits since their launches. Games by larger video game companies soon followed, such as Battlefield Heroes
Battlefield Heroes
Battlefield Heroes is a cartoon-style action video game developed by DICE initially—now developed by —and published by EA for Microsoft Windows. It is played from a third-person EA are calling it FPS perspective. The game is less demanding on computer specifications than the previous games of the...
(Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
, 2009), Free Realms
Free Realms
Free Realms is a massively multiplayer online role playing video game developed by Sony Online Entertainment set in a fantasy-themed world, named Sacred Grove for the PC, Mac and PlayStation 3. The game was released on April 29, 2009, for the Windows PC...
(Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
, 2009), and Quake Live
Quake Live
Quake Live is a first-person shooter video game by id Software designed to run on x86-based computers running Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X or Linux that is downloaded and launched via a web browser plugin. It is a variant of its predecessor, Quake III Arena .Quake Live is free to download and play...
(id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
, 2010). Independent video game developers
Independent video game development
Independent video game development is the process of creating video games without the financial support of a video game publisher. While large firms can create independent games, they are usually designed by an individual or a small team of as many as ten people, depending on the complexity of the...
also took advantage of the model by providing inventive and innovative titles that do not need the larger budgets usually required by blockbuster games, while earning significant amounts of revenue due to the fact that these development teams often consist of only one or two people.
The Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
has been cited as a primary influence on the increased usage of the free-to-play model, particularly among larger video game companies, and critics point to the ever-increasing need for free content that is available wherever and whenever as causes. On the PC in particular, two problems that are specific to the platform are video game piracy and high video game system requirements. The free-to-play model appears to solve both these problems, by providing a game that requires relatively low system requirements and no cost, and consequently provides a highly accessible experience funded by advertising and micropayments for extra content.
Some of the earliest games that adapted the free-to-play model after using another model were subscription-based games, such as The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar
The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar
The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game for Microsoft Windows set in a fantasy universe based upon J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings...
(2007), Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is a fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by a Norwegian computer video game developer company, Funcom, and is published by Eidos Interactive for the PC platform...
(2008), Champions Online
Champions Online
Champions Online is a free-to-play superhero-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game by former City of Heroes/Villains developer Cryptic Studios based on the Champions license. The game's rules and setting are loosely based on the HERO System ruleset...
(2009), Heroes of Newerth
Heroes of Newerth
Heroes of Newerth is a free-to-play science fantasy, action real-time strategy game developed by S2 Games for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The game was heavily inspired by the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne custom map, Defense of the Ancients and is S2 Games' first game title in the...
(2010), and League of Legends
League of Legends
The BetFred League of Legends was a darts tournament featuring some of the legends of the game of darts which commenced in May 2008. The tournament is broadcast on Setanta Sports in the United Kingdom....
(2009).
Free-to-play is still a fairly "young form of gaming", and the video game industry is still attempting to determine the best ways to maximize revenue from their games. Gamers have cited the fact that purchasing a game for a fixed price is still inherently satisfying because the consumer knows exactly what they will be receiving, compared to free-to-play which requires that the player pay for most new content that they wish to obtain. The term itself, "free-to-play", has been described as one with a negative connotation. One video game developer noted this, stating, "Our hope—and the basket we're putting our eggs in—is that 'free' will soon be disassociated with 'shallow' and 'cruddy'." However, another noted that developing freeware games gave developers the largest amount of creative freedom, especially when compared to developing console games, which requires that the game follow the criteria as laid out by the game's publisher.
In comparison, Charles Onyett says in an editorial for IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
that "expensive, one-time purchases are facing extinction". He believes that the current method of paying a one-time fee for most games will eventually disappear completely, perhaps after the next generation of consoles has arrived. He admits that major video game franchises will continue to have few problems selling many units, but notes that smaller companies with lesser known games will have trouble selling their games due to prohibitively high prices and will instead have to switch to the free-to-play model to survive. Onyett continues by describing pricing models in video games as being in a "state of flux for some time now", concluding that this would naturally lead to the decline of one-time purchase prices. He claims that the reason that it feels as though the free-to-play approach is new is due to the fact that it has mostly been limited to computer games and outside North America until only recently.
Concept
Some games have both a free version, and a pay-to-play version that offers the full version of the game and all available updates. Free-to-play games with pay-to-play components utilize the freebie marketingFreebie marketing
Freebie marketing, also known as the razor and blades business model, is a business model wherein one item is sold at a low price in order to increase sales of a complementary good, such as supplies or software...
technique to draw in a user base with this advanced type of game demo
Game demo
A game demo is a freely distributed demonstration or preview of an upcoming or recently released video game. Demos are typically released by the game's publisher to help consumers get a feel of the game before deciding whether to buy the full version....
. The term "free-to-play" is frequently heard in the context of MMOs. In comparison, the term "forever free-to-play game" (FF2P) is used to distinguish MMOGs that promise to never charge a subscription fee from those that are currently free-to-play but may become pay-to-play in the future. It applies only to online game
Online game
An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...
s, because while a conventional single-player freeware game becomes free forever as soon as it is downloaded to the player's hard drive, a free online game may start charging a fee and instantly convert into a pay-to-play game.
Many game developer
Game developer
Game developer may refer to:* Video game developer, an individual or company working on video game production* Video game publisher, a company funding video game developer* Video game producer, a manager of game development team...
s keep a free-to-play version available so people can try the game before paying the membership costs. It also helps attract more players to the game. Other developers generate revenue by selling in-game items that enhance the player's in-game experience. In-game items can be purely cosmetic (vanity items), enhance the power of the player (power items), or accelerate progression speed (booster items). A common technique used by developers of these games is for the items purchased to have a time limit; after this expires, the item must be repurchased before use can continue. In-game advertising is another method that can be used by game developers to supplement income lost from providing a game for free.
Free-to-play games are free to install and play, but once the player enters the game, they are able to purchase content such as items, maps, and expanded customization options.
The free-to-play model has been described as a shift from the traditional model in the sense that previously, success was measured by multiplying the number of units of a game sold by the unit price, while with free-to-play, the most important factor is the number of players that a game can keep continuously engaged, followed by how many compelling spending opportunities the game offers its players. With free games that include in-game purchases, two particularly important things occur: first, more people will try out the game since there is zero cost to doing so; and second, revenue will likely be more than a traditional game since different players can now spend different amounts of money that depend on their engagement with the game and their preferences towards it. It is not unlikely for some players to spend tens of thousands of dollars in a game that they enjoy.
Critics of the free-to-play approach are concerned that if players that paid for special items subsequently become better at a multiplayer game than those who did not purchase the same items, then it will not be as enjoyable as other games since players who paid more money are more successful than those who simply rely on skill. Instead, some suggest that payments should only be used to broaden the gaming experience without affecting the gameplay itself. They also claim that the secret is in finding the balance between a game that makes players want to pay for extra features to make the game more special, while also ensuring that players who decide not to pay not to feel as though they are getting an inferior product. The theory is that players who do not pay for items in a game would still increase awareness of the game through word of mouth
Word of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
marketing, which ultimately benefits the game indirectly even though it does not directly receive income from a specific player. A common concern about the free-to-play model is whether or not free games have to constantly request that the player buy extra content in order for them to survive or continue in the game, and if so, at what point does it become an annoyance or make the player feel uncomfortable about it.
Examples
There are many games specifically designed around the free-to-play model. The largest number of monetized (revenue generating) free-to-play games are developed in South KoreaSouth Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, where they dominate 90% of the gaming market. There are free-to-play, pay-to-connect games where there is no charge for playing, but often the free servers are congested. Access to uncongested servers is reserved for fee-paying members.
Free-to-play games are particularly prevalent in countries such as South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
and the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
A survey carried out by market research
Market research
Market research is any organized effort to gather information about markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy...
firm VGMarket in July 2011 for global payments company PlaySpan, owned by Visa Inc., received responses from 1,006 American gamers aged 13 to 65 (with an average age of 25, 72% of whom are male, with an average income of US$68,897) for questions related to the purchase of virtual items in video games. The respondents answered based on how much money they thought they spent on virtual goods, rather than their actual spending patterns, and respondents are not necessarily the same ones from the previous year, making year-by-year comparisons possibly less reflective of actual spending patterns. All dollar figures were in United States dollars. Among the respondents, 31% said they had spent real-world money on virtual goods, and 57% of these made purchases at least once a month. More notable statistics, however, were focused on the gender split. For both MMOs and casual games, women spent more money on virtual goods than men. On average, women spent $111 a year in MMOs and $62 a year in casual games, while men spent $74 and $28 respectively. Another significant statistic was the change in spending from the previous year. For MMOs and console/PC games, the average amount spent was up 20% to 90% year-on-year, depending on category. However, for casual games, the average amount spent was down in all categories, by between 20% to 60%. Overall, all types of virtual content experienced an increase in average spending year-on-year, while average spending on virtual gifts dropped from $30 to $23 per year.
Mobile analytics company Flurry reported on July 7, 2011, that based on its research, the revenue from free-to-play games had overtaken revenue from premium games that earn revenue through traditional means in Apple's App Store, for the top 100 grossing games when comparing the results for the months of January and June in 2011. It used data that it analyzed through 90,000 apps that installed the company's software in order to roughly determine the amount of revenue generated by other popular apps. They discovered that free games represented 39% of the total revenue from January, and that the number jumped to 65% by June, helped in part by the fact that over 75% of the 100 top grossing apps are games. This makes free-to-play the single most dominant business model in the mobile apps industry. They also learned that the number of people that spend money on in-game items in free-to-play games ranges from 0.5% to 6%, depending on a game's quality and mechanics. Even though this means that a large number of people will never spend money in a game, it also means that the people that do spend money could amount to a sizeable number due to the fact that the game was given away for free.
Major video game company Electronic Arts first introduced the free-to-play concept in one of its games when it released FIFA Online
FIFA Online
EA SPORTS FIFA Online is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online football game which was announced in early January 2010 and later released on May 26 of that same year. It featured microtransactions which was affirmed by EA that "they would be optional and WOULD NOT have any impact on the...
in Korea. The company gave away discs containing the game away for free in the country, and instead charged money on items such as roster updates and new uniforms. They learned that 10% of all Korean households had downloaded the game, and that they made more money using this model than they would have made if they sold the game using traditional methods. The company introduced the free-to-play concept in one of its games to a North American audience in 2008, when it introduced its Play4Free program that debuted with Battlefield Heroes (still in beta at the time), and which provides free software but includes the option for players to make micropayments within games. Players can pay to customize the design of their characters and increase their character's abilities.
In addition to making in-game items available for purchase, EA also brings in revenue from its free-to-play titles by integrating in-game advertising into its games. In August 2007, EA completed a deal with Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
-owned Massive Incorporated
Massive Incorporated
Massive Incorporated is an advertising company that provides software and services to dynamically host advertisements within video games. Massive Incorporated was purchased by Microsoft in May 2006 for approximately $200 million to $400 million....
, which lets Massive update and change in-game advertising in real-time within EA games, especially those focused on sports since advertising is an "essential component to create the fiction of being there". Other EA titles such as Battlefield 2142
Battlefield 2142
Battlefield 2142 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Digital Illusions CE and produced by Electronic Arts . It is the fourth game in the Battlefield series...
and Need For Speed: Carbon
Need for Speed: Carbon
Need for Speed: Carbon, also known as NFS Carbon or NFSC, is an Electronic Arts video game belonging to the Need for Speed series. Released in 2006, it is the tenth installment, preceded by Need for Speed: Most Wanted, succeeded by Need for Speed: ProStreet in release order and succeeded by Need...
include in-game advertisements that appear in virtual billboards.
With its Free Realms game targeted to children and casual gamers, Sony makes money from the product with advertisements on loading screen
Loading screen
A loading screen is a picture shown by a computer program, often a video game, while the program is loading or initializing.-Loading times:Loading screens that disguise the length of time that a program takes to load were common when computer games were loaded from cassette tape, a process which...
s, free virtual goods sponsored by companies such as Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
, a subscription option to unlock extra content, a collectible card game
Collectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
, a comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
, and micropayment items that include character customization options.
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation. A sequel to the original mod Team Fortress based on the Quake engine, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows...
(abbreviated as TF2) is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States...
. Later released as a standalone package for Windows on April 9, 2008, and for Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
two years later. Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation. A sequel to the original mod Team Fortress based on the Quake engine, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows...
is distributed online through the Steam (software) system. While retail distribution was handled by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
. In June 2011, the game became a free-to-play
Free-to-play
Free-to-play refers to any video game that has the option of allowing its players to play without paying. The model was first popularly used in early massively multiplayer online games targeted towards casual gamers, before finding wider adoption among games released by major video game...
title, supported by microtransactions for unique in-game equipment through Steam (software).
id Software's Quake Live, a browser-based relaunch of another one of the company's games, Quake III (1999), keeps its revenue streams more simple than other free-to-play games by only making money through in-game billboards. It has been reported that they will offer paid-for content in the future, such as new character models and maps. However, it may be more difficult to make money from Quake Live due to the fact that players can simply purchase the full version of Quake III and receive all extra content for free.
Edmund McMillen
Edmund McMillen
Edmund McMillen is an American video game designer who is known for his unique visual style and innovative gameplay design, as well as his emphasis on the importance of careful level design and rewarding difficulty curves.-Early life:...
, an independent game developer and co-creator of games such as Gish
Gish (video game)
Gish is a 2D PC platform game developed by Alex Austin, Edmund McMillen and Josiah Pisciotta and distributed by Chronic Logic, Stardock and other distributors. A sequel was announced, but subsequently canceled in late 2009 when Edmund left Cryptic Sea....
(2004) and Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy is an independent video game designed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes and developed by Team Meat. It is the successor to McMillen and Jonathan McEntee's October 2008 flash game Meat Boy. Super Meat Boy was released on the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade in October 2010, on...
(2010), has claimed that he makes most of his money from sponsors. One way that he makes money from his games is to, instead of charge for them, place an advertisement for an advertiser's website into the introduction of a game as well as the title screen
Title screen
A title screen is the initial screen of a computer, video, or arcade game after the credits and logos are displayed of the game developer and game publisher. Earlier title screens often included all the game options available while modern games have opted for the title screen to serve as a splash...
. Video game development company Flashbang Studios, creator of Off-Road Velociraptor Safari
Off-Road Velociraptor Safari
Off-Road Velociraptor Safari is a free downloadable vehicle combat video game released on January 29, 2008 by Flashbang Studios. The game requires the Unity plug-in to run, and can be downloaded from the developers' website...
(2008), monetizes some of their games by offering a subscription service to players to provide access to extra features on both their website and in their games, which do not affect gameplay itself.
Canadian video game developer BioWare
BioWare
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer founded in February 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. BioWare is currently owned by American company Electronic Arts...
announced Dragon Age Legends in May 2010 and launched it in February 2011. The title is a free-to-play Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
game that ties in to the Dragon Age
Dragon Age
Dragon Age: Origins is a single-player role-playing video game developed by BioWare's Edmonton studio and published by Electronic Arts. It is the first game in the Dragon Age franchise...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
franchise. Greg Zeschuk
Greg Zeschuk
Dr. Gregory P. Zeschuk is a VP and Group Creative Officer at BioWare Corp. and Electronic Arts. He co-founded BioWare in 1995 with BioWare’s other co-founder and Group GM/CEO, Dr...
, vice president and co-founder of BioWare, remarked in an interview that there was a good possibility that free-to-play would become the dominant pricing plan for games, but that it was very unlikely that it would ever completely replace subscription-based games. He concluded by noting that either a subscription-based game should offer much more content than a free-to-play game, or that it should be possible to obtain the extra content by spending roughly the same amount of money in a free-to-play game with micropayments.
External links
- "Making money with 'free-to-play' games" at CNETCNETCNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
- "What Are The Rewards Of 'Free-To-Play' MMOs?" at GamasutraGamasutraGamasutra is a website founded in 1997 for video game developers. It is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb , a division of United Business Media, and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine Game Developer...
- "Is free really the future of gaming?" at TechRadarTechRadarTechRadar is an online publication focused on technology company which looks and reviews the most available tech today. TechRadar is owned by the Future plc company, the sixth-largest in the United Kingdom. It has a great number of reviews. Such as: Tablet Computer, Smartphone, PC, Macintosh,...
- "Is Free the Future of Gaming?" at MMO Hut
- "Will Free-To-Play be the Standard Model for MMOs?" at Free To Play Games
- "Free-to-Play Games Ready to Dominate Gaming Market" at MMOBomb