Free-to-play games putting pressure on triple-A

April 5th, 2013, 16:34 Posted By: wraggster

In an increasingly fractured market there are less and less outright villains in the games business, save for one business model: free-to-play.
Those that don’t find F2P creatively satisfying, or who see it as a challenge to their business, are the most vocal. Most recently that debate has spilled over into consumer commentary as companies like EA make this a more aggressive part of their strategy (and for good reason when its boxed products are missing quarterly guidance and causing its CEO to commit hara-kari).
After my trip to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco last week I’ve got some bad news for the haters: free-to-play doesn’t just have an edge over the market at the moment, those games are getting deeper, more complicated, better looking and richer (in all senses of the word).
They are challenging console games. They are more like core games than ever. And they are making as much money as them.
EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW
This seemed to be the biggest theme at the conference in terms of games content (outside of broader themes about concerns over the representation of women in the industry and managing the costs of next-gen).
This shift was reflected in the conference itself. Once upon a time sessions would have been on ‘is free-to-play evil?’. These days it has a track all of its own, and the naysayers are in the minority.

"There is lapsing audience that these games are appealing to who are dabbling in new types of experiences in lieu of innovation on console."

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