Mark Robinson is COO of GamesAnalytics, a specialist monetisation company.

After sitting through a number of industry talks recently, it's becoming apparent that although the business case for free-to-play games is hard to dismiss, most developers don't like it very much - possibly because there are too many freeloaders.

With only a tiny percentage of players paying to play, the vast majority happily enjoy the experience for free, and potentially jump from game to game.

Without any loyalty, there's no guaranteed audience and no longterm guaranteed revenue stream either. No wonder developers are agitated.

We are the championsAlongside Facebook, the mobile sector has championed the freemium model; both being quicker to embrace it than their traditional videogames kin.

The new model has certainly shaken things up, with the smartphone top grossing charts dominated by free titles.

Indeed, in mobile, it's often 'new' developers who have embraced the free-to-play model quickest, with demands of infrastructure, traditional forecasting assumptions and development mindsets of the old guard being less flexible than even they perhaps realised.

Do we have a problem?

Of course, one on level, we got involved in the games industry to make great games and somehow it just feels wrong that people are playing with our precious creations for free.

But free doesn’t mean worthless and it's this mindset that needs to change.

There is considerable value exchange with each player at the heart of the free-to-play commercial model and this is where the opportunity lies.

Hello Bob

Let’s take a potential customer: Bob.

Bob is in-store looking at the latest boxed release of Call of Duty. He's played previous releases. He picks up the box, reads the blurb on the back and looks at the price.

Then he puts it down again and leaves the store. A missed opportunity...

Wouldn't it be great if you were there to tap him on the shoulder and say "Hang on Bob, why not try it? We can give you a personalised experience to play the game how you like it that offers greater value for money?"

That is essentially what the industry is driving towards with the free-to-play and streamed models.

In enabling players to experience your game for free, in return, the player allows you to gather vital information such as individual playing styles, attractiveness of features or barriers to engagement. They are telling you how they want to experience the game.

But are you listening?

The sound of silence

For free-to-play games to reach their true potential, developers need to achieve a better understanding of the all people playing their games - paying or freeloading. 

Trying to work a freemium business without adequate analytics is indeed worthless. Using data to understand and respond to players and their motivations is the mindset leap that successful mobile developers and publishers have to embrace.

Harking back to the crowd shouting in unison in Monty Python's Life of Brian, "We are all individuals! We are all different!", we have to start treating players as such.

That's the greater recognition mobile developers should aspire to. It's not about resenting free loaders but enabling players to choose how they play and what they pay.
For more information about Game Analytics, check out its website.

Mark will also be speaking at the one-day F2P Summit in London on 28 March.