Free-to-play games may not have the greatest reputation in some quarters, but if Gabriel Leydon is to be believed, it's the model that will rule on mobile and console in the years to come.
Speaking at 2012 DICE Summit in Las Vegas, the Addmired CEO said the advantage of free-to-play games is that they take away the risk from the consumer and drop it straight into the lap of the developer.
Gamers no longer have to fear spending $70 on a title they may hate, while the model also forces developers to deliver quality goods if they're to make money longterm.
Duty of care
"Nobody talks about how bad it is to charge somebody $70 for something they don't like," offered Leydon.
"You can't know what you're getting because it's another sequel with $100 million of marketing.
"One day after Call of Duty is out the used section in GameStop is filled with them. You have an army of consumers who paid $70 and lost $40 by trading it in."
Echoing statements made by PapayaMobile's Oscar Clark at Develop Liverpool in November, it's Leydon's view that keeping players engaged and most importantly monetised in free-to-play releases will, eventually, lead to quaity releases coming out on top.
Naturally, that means developers risk losing money if the game they deliver is substandard, but Leydon argued that's a preferable system to the current one, where publishers are averse to taking risks on new IP due to inflated development costs.
Risk and reward
"It removes the risk from the consumer, the consumer pays nothing to try out the game," continued Leydon, whose studio specialises in free-to-play MMOs for mobile.
"I want the consumer to play for months without paying. Good free to play encourages players to stay and that's where the longevity is because the risk of an online pass, consoles that can't play used games, DLC and all this stuff, after I've paid $70... Why would do I do that? I can play lots of great games that are free."
Leydon also claimed that many western companies still have much to learn.
Zynga, he stated, makes a smaller profit from its 200 million players on Facebook than Japanese social giant GREE does from its 30 million user base.
"They make better and better games than most western developers," alleged Leydon, claiming Chinese, Korean and Japanese developers currently have the edge.
[source: GamesIndustry.biz]
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With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.
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