Comments on: How Could All Games Be Free to Play?

By: Deceth

Deceth — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:42:40 +0000

I think there is an important distinction to make here. If we are taking about huge gaming projects that have development teams with hundreds of developers, artists, etc, then I don’t see the free model working. These are professional projects, with big demands and high expectations. Not to mention they are currently making billions of dollars, so why change?

However, in the casual gaming market, there is huge potential for free gaming. That’s because a casual game can be made much faster, has much lower expectations, and can be done with a very small team. With this type of game, making up expenditures is easier, so you can risk giving the product for free. You can then use micro-transactions and advertising to turn a profit. Since you can churn out a few games per year, there is good potential for growing profits.

Personally, I am using the donation/micro-transaction/advertising model for Battle City, an open source game I am developing. It’s more than a casual game, but definitely nothing professional. The game is a multiplayer action/strategy tank wars/city building game, available for free to everyone. Special items can be purchased through donation, and the website has advertising. Right now, I don’t make a profit, but do see enough income to pay for the games server. This is a hobby for me, not my job, so that’s fine. I’m not sure I could make a living off of the free model… or maybe I just need to make a better game? lol :)

For anyone interested, you can check-out the game at http://battlecity.looble.com

By: Steven Egan

Steven Egan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:25:59 +0000

I think one way to have free-to-play games is making a game that is potentially interesting to multiple investors who are not interested in the monetary gains of selling the game. Have a cool mechanic, then figure out how you could use it to benefit others. I have one design that I plan to try to work this way. It could benefit a particular company, because the main mechanics of the game deal with an item almost identical to what the company sells. It could benefit education efforts in certain subjects, because they are also key to the game mechanics.

It’s basically product placement, but rather than picking the product first, you design parts of the game and figure out ways to make it marketable to many companies. Lower money contribution for some product placement and consumer education seems like a good idea to me for trying to get investors.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:19:12 +0000

I don’t think it’s possible to have all games for free, we need to eat and that’s not free yet!

I also think there’s a certain ‘feel good’ factor to paying for a game, as I mentioned in my post that buying is a game:
http://brandfeelsgood.com/2009/pricing-a-game-risk-and-reward-gameplay/

By: wazoo

wazoo — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:06:02 +0000

@Tyler: Donationware never seems to succeed as a business model though. No matter how great the software, I haven’t come across an individual or company that has “made it” via donations alone.

@Sebastien: That’s kind of my analysis as well…get eyeballs to your site and content and try to direct them to your “big ticket” items.

I think the market was heading there eventually but this “rush to the bottom” that the portal companies have embraced is speeding up this horizon whether or not you in fact compete in that arena.

By: Jörgen

Jörgen — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:05:09 +0000

@Sargon: If the world go Star Trek, it is possible :)

By: Katherine

Katherine — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:53:19 +0000

What about the ransom model of games? That means the game is essentially free for those who do not want to pay for it, as long as the cost of developing the game is met. So it isn’t that the game will be free for everyone, but as long as you like types of games that are reasonably popular under this model, it is entirely possible to play games for free.

Reminds me, I must buy some Kongs or whatever Kongregate’s money is called so I can tip people that make artistic games.

By: Sebastien Larocque

Sebastien Larocque — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:04:41 +0000

I like free games as a player, but not as much as a developer. I like the ad-supported model without intrusive ads. The only solution I see at the moment is to make a free game with a community around it and sell fan stuff like T-shirts, posters, etc.

People want to get everything for free. Games are almost the only free entertainment stuff you can get. Movies are usually not free, books too.

The solution is not to make all games free, but some. My best hope with free games is to attract gamers to my website to sell other stuff or get paid with web ads.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:00:57 +0000

Step 1: Make a *good* game

Step 2: Release it

Step 3: Publicize like crazy and get lots of people to play and enjoy it

Step 4: Tell people if they want more games they have to donate, and when the donation gets up to a desired amount of money (which you tell the customers ahead of time), you release your next game/add-on/expansion/etc.

By: Sargon

Sargon — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:48:28 +0000

Well, you do want to make money somehow?
Like it was said here, someone needs to pay somehow for your game, in order for you to earn money out of it.
So why do people demand free games if they will pay for the games in the back door?
Or do they want other people to pay so they could play your game?
In that case(like already said here), you really need to focus on the people who are willing to pay and not the people who want others to pay for them.
Also, you can always release a free game in the hopes it will become so popular that a lot of people will want to pay for your next game.
Of course, making games is also fun and not all buisseness.
But I was wearing the hat of a buisseness man in this case.

By: Juuso

Juuso — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:29:40 +0000

@Ilya: true. there’s also ad-supported & paid tv channels. good points.

@Brian: very good points about finding the right people. that’s so true.

@Jörgen: not sure… I think people are willing to pay for stuff they really want. But still, I think this is at least interesting to think about.

I wasn’t actually thinking just pirates when I made this blog post. I’m also thinking about the customers who have bought games…