The Free Zone: Expanding F2P To Other Platforms
Richard looks beyond PC games at other ways the free-to-play business model has worked its way into our gaming lives.
Column By Richard Aihoshi on August 24, 2009
Although I've played on quite a number of platforms, it would certainly be accurate to say I'm predominantly a PC gamer, and have been for many years. In this respect, I mean "regular" client-based titles. So, I've been watching with interest as both MMOGs and the free to play space have begun expanding to embrace other possibilities. Most of my attention has been focused on the web-based sector, but the complete picture includes more.
For example, I recently came across Mind Twist, an F2P strategy offering that will launch on Facebook and iPhone. While the play will be primarily head to head, it's described as incorporating a form of massively multiplayer, persistent meta-game with elements such as tournaments, friend lists, guilds, digital object collections and the ability to customize the strategy you employ. Currently in development at Mind Control Software, its up-front attention grabber is its designer, Richard Garfield. On the off chance you don't know who he is, he's the creator of a property of which you're undoubtedly aware, Magic: The Gathering.
Company spokesman Randy Buehler admitted Mind Twist may not foster the same sense of engagement as a more typical MMOG world. Nonetheless, he believes many people will find it compelling, particularly due to the meta-game aspect, which is certainly vital to MTG's success. The target audience is "thinking gamers" who appreciate depth of strategy that requires appropriate levels of knowledge. At the same time, he pointed out that as in the casual sector, long sessions and grinding won't be necessary; single matches will reportedly take only five to 15 minutes.
Obviously, I was curious about what led to the choice of the aforementioned launch platforms. Buehler gave a couple of reasons. The first is business-oriented. He said they were simply the easiest ones to publish on that provide access to a suitably large number of potential users via central servers. He also referred to the way social networking can interact with a competitive strategy game. Since the play will be turn-based, he explained that it's easier to make matches across devices. And Facebook has various elements built in that facilitate the meta-game.
There's also a potentially far bigger, broader and more significant question involving how the fit between games and social platforms will continue to evolve. It has been my contention for some years now that the game industry's primary avenue for growth will be learning to embrace and to attract audiences outside its traditional base since waiting and hoping for the masses to become hardcore only works slowly. Some characterize this and bemoan it as going casual or dumbing down. Neither term is completely accurate or inaccurate. However, hoping the trend will reverse itself is a waste of time; it's not going to happen.
"There is a ton of activity on social platforms right now, and I definitely think it's an area that will continue to see tremendous growth for quite some time," Buehler stated. "Many millions of people are playing games on them despite the fact that most are still pretty mediocre right now." To expand on this, even though few are serious gamers, it's an undeniable, vital fact that there are enormous numbers of them, so many that even monetizing a small portion at a relatively low average rate would add up to billions of dollars.
Buehler readily admits that Facebook and iPhone aren't the right platforms to target those who demand advanced visuals and immersive virtual worlds. That's not who his team is after. Instead, he believes Mind Twist will appeal on a different level, one that will hold users with "deep strategies that you can't stop thinking about even when you're not playing" plus social relationships between real people rather than avatars.
Since I haven't seen the game, I don't have any idea how accessible its initial learning curve will be. However, I'd have to assume that just understanding the rules will be a sufficient barrier to exclude those whose ideal level of complexity is match three. As a result, the potential target audience is only part of the two platforms' full combined user base.
I'm very interested to see how well the F2P business model will work on non-traditional platforms, which is why I'll be watching Mind Twist and a couple of other intriguing projects as they progress over the coming months. My gut feel, although not based on much, is that we'll see some significant successes when the right projects and market situations intersect. I don't have a good sense as to when that's likely to happen. If Richard Garfield has an MTG-like success left in him, maybe quite soon.
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He is the former Editor of RPG Vault and his column, focusing on free to play MMOs, appears on MMORPG.com every Monday.
Unless I missed it I didn't see talk of how they're going to make money off of this, and that is why f2p always bugs me.
If it's going to be micro transactions for various little things, I won't buy them and I'd certainly prefer it to not be "f2p" and cost money up front as opposed to nickle and diming a person to death.
If it's going to use ads how annoying will they be and will it work? Quake Live recently announced it had to add some kind of subsriber plan in the near future because advertising was not covering the costs. So even if there is advertising it might not be enough to keep a f2p going. This in turns means that the initial cost of a game has to be lower since the revenues might not be there which results in a less enjoyable game.
So far every f2p FPS I've tried has been horrible, and/or given an unfair advantage to those who pay with more health or better weapons. The only exception has been the America's Army series which was developed to be a giant recruitment tool so the cost and level of it makes sense.
I admit that f2p MMOs are evolving and might one day be at a level I'd enjoy, the pace they are improving is very nice. But f2p in all other genres has been disgusting and made the games unejoyable.
I have no problem paying money for a quality game and never will, so hopefully most games continue that route.
Well, another F2P article from Richard.
I was already worrying, since his last 2 were not.
Been dabling with Realm of Empires on Facebook lately. It is a f2p massive real time strategy game. The only ingame communication is mail so the vast majority of players use skype to communicate. It is a fun game, but much too time consuming if you are in a war. I have noticed that a lot of players quit the game due to not having enough time to devote to it. Of course is you buy all the extra abilities in their item shop, time needed to spend in game can be lessened some.
I think this new game you are talking about would be more to my liking, not having to dedicate so much time to it. But there are games springing up on facebook, left and right. There are Vampire Wars and Mafia Wars games and I am sure many more I am unaware of.
We get it.
You like F2P....i'd say stop kicking the dead horse, but by this point the horse has been kicked so many times It's just dust in the wind.
Ok, we get it Richard. You love FTP games. Quit shoving it down our throats. Come back to us when there is a FTP that doesn't suck.
I swear if I read on more article from Richard about FTP I'm gonna die of hysteria. Get a new topic. This horse is dead.
Thank you Mr. Aihoshi for being the voice on F2P games I just recently quit the F2P game 2029 I could not take anymore lopsided W vs W I played for over 400 hours not sure don't care and then I only got to lvl 68 while others were at lvl 83 out of a possible 90 lvl cap then you do something that is called reborn you get the privilege of running the same grind over with the grind cut in half so you get to lvl up again your toon faster and yes with out paying out of your wallet. I for one did not spend a dime on this game just to prove a point you do not get anything out of this game unless you buy from the mall. Only then you get to be on top.
I am sorry Mr. Aihoshi but unless F2P games are true to form and they don't make it lopsided with W vs W then I do not see any reasons why I should give another F2P game a chance.
Again ... in life, there are no such things as "free". Sooner or later there is price to be paid in this or another way.
Obviously, Richard's segment is always concerned with F2P games. If you don't like reading about F2P games, don't read his articles!
Personally I'm very interested in them but I'd like to read more about F2P games that aren't MMOs and aren't on the traditional platforms. For example, Facebook was mentioned in this article. There are very low barriers to entry on this platform, microtransactions seem to be tolerated and it's very easy to see which games are popular and which games your friends are playing, also patching is done automatically and regularly. If a game is popular, the platform itself acts as a giant ad with all the news feeds generated by your friends playing.
For example Pet Society has almost 16 million unique monthly players and around 70 of my RL friends have played it at some point with about 20 active each day, there is a content update each week. Ok so it's just a game where you buy clothes and furniture for your avatar with a few minigames such as racing and fishing - no mobs to kill yet :)
Most Facebook games aren't as involving even the simplest MMO, instead focusing on very short playtimes, sometimes as little as a few mouse clicks per day. The better games allow you to play as much or as little as you want. As MMOs become increasingly casual I believe we'll see some convergence.
There are drawbacks though, most Facebook games are single-player, using friends to boost your stats or income. Multiplayer is pretty much limited to poker games. The target audience is very mainstream, more mainstream even than WoW and the one game that tried to break the mould (Guild of Heroes, a Diablo clone) failed so badly that it was scrapped by the game owners!
I hope one day I can play something like a super-casual WoW in Facebook, from as little as a few minutes per day, for free.
Not all free to play games are bad. There is one i am currently playing and one i am waiting for.
I am of course talking about Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2... game that go to show you don't need to pay a montthly fee for something good!
Please don't put Guild Wars on the same level as Free To Play games, GW simply follows the default retail model (pay for the boxes/expansions, no monthly fee).
About the article. Yes, F2P should move to Flash/Java/iPhone/Twitters/etc, and stay there. Maybe that way it can truly appeal for the casual gamers without it being all about a massive grind and milking money from those that wish to avoid it, look cool or win.
Please don't put Guild Wars on the same level as Free To Play games, GW simply follows the default retail model (pay for the boxes/expansions, no monthly fee). = Free to play
I get what you are saying though, Guild Wars is far above all other free 2 plays!
Once again we have a lovefest from Richard on F2P. Once again we here another F2P story of woe this time from Isturi. Don’t forget mate that Mr. Aihoshi, on his own admission, only plays these games up to about level 10 to 15. So the crap that hits the fan at later levels is never seen by him.
GW is defiantly not free to play, it keeps a level playing field for all players. And it is a quality game so definalty not F2P.
I had to laugh about the move to mobile technology and how ‘inevitable’ he thinks changes in gaming are. The logical end result of such thinking would be to throw our PC’s out the window and play on our mobiles! After all there are more people using mobiles than PC’s right? You can play game on them right? The world of marketing is not the reason we live on this earth, but sometimes he seems to forget that.
I get what you are saying though, Guild Wars is far above all other free 2 plays!
Um no. PAYING to play a game is oddly enough not FREE TO PLAY. Most console and PC non MMOs still follow the model of a 50-60 dollar box and the game is yours, that isn't free to play not even close actually. It is a very traditional form of retail and a form of PAYING for the game.
To help you out F2P is getting a game for free and being able to play the game in some form for free, hence the term FREE to play.
I get what you are saying though, Guild Wars is far above all other free 2 plays!
Um no. PAYING to play a game is oddly enough not FREE TO PLAY. Most console and PC non MMOs still follow the model of a 50-60 dollar box and the game is yours, that isn't free to play not even close actually. It is a very traditional form of retail and a form of PAYING for the game.
To help you out F2P is getting a game for free and being able to play the game in some form for free, hence the term FREE to play.
No, they are free to play. You are playing it for free hence it's free to play. I don't get why this is so hard for you to understand? Or... you just a troll? If so, GTFO!
I have not read one thing this man has written about that I enjoyed. Ever. Write something good for once, please. And stop with F2P, they are not free at all because they are designed so that unless you spend hundreds upon hundreds of hours leveling, it is impossible to do anything at the same level as someone who buys stuff.
Hmm great idea, F2P cr@p is flooding the MMO market what other mediums can we ruin? Oh hell lets just go for it, how about F2P healthcare, fire and police, cause free stuff always delivers a quality product. Ohhh wait.....
Very nice post.
I am currently testing continent of the ninth. Its all in Korean and is F2P. Has a really cool combat system. There is a lot revolutionary about it, and a lot of it could be easily formatted to western mass market appeal to the extent it could complete with wow (and i am not a person to say that lightly. I know niche games from mass appeal games) . If this entered the western market after being formatted for a western crowd it would really tranform for the better the f2p field for MMOs. But if it was release just with an english patch and its korean form, people would be impressed by the combat for a little bit then bored with the grind.