Richard looks beyond PC games at other ways the free-to-play business model has worked its way into our gaming lives. Check back each week for a new free-to-play focused column in Richard Aihoshi's Free Zone.
"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.
Read it all here.
