Free to Play explained by experts. The Top F2P Monetization Tricks

Kuvneril

Hello everyone. This is my first thread on mmorpg.com.

Here is an interesting read on f2p monetization methods.

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/RaminShokrizade/20130626/194933/The_Top_F2P_Monetization_Tricks.php

All credit goes to Ramin Shokrizade for his excellent explanation.

I also recommend reading article comments and answers.

 

From the comments section:

Question: "Do you think this will be even more the norm -perhaps even in console games- as the industry moves forvard?"

Answer: "If we all go for the easy money and make money games, it will become the norm and our consumers will be forced to surrender to the model if there are no alternatives. If even just a few of us can make high quality skill games (like League of Legends and World of Tanks) but bring them to the social and mobile environments, the money games in those markets would quickly lose market share, ending their reign of..."fun pain". As far as I can see money games are 99% of the market right now for F2P in social and mobile, so it could stay like that for a while. 

With F2P skill games like World of Tanks moving into the console space, I don't think that environment will be nearly as friendly to money games as social and mobile is now."

 

Discuss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gdemami

I think the author is even more stupid then he thinks F2P players are...

Aysono

Ramin is partially right.

 

Consumers are not becoming more adapted to the F2P model, most of the them have already adapted it as the de facto standard in the industry now.

 

This PlaySpan survey tells a great deal of the story:

 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/playspan-and-magid-gamer-survey-finds-more-than-100-million-americans-prefer-free-to-play-games-2013-03-21

 

82% of women prefers F2P.

 

"The shift in free-to-play games is becoming the norm in the gaming industry and this survey reinforces that trend," said Robert Crawford, vice president of Frank N. Magid Associates. "We're seeing free-to-play game revenue outpacing pay-to-play games when looking at the long-term average spend per year. It's important that game developers recognize this change and be able to monetize it through new free-to-play gaming platforms."

theAsna

I like games. The emphasis lies on "game". There are certain expectations I have towards a game.

1) You should be able to achieve in-game goals mainly through in-game activities.
2) A tutorial is OK, but I don't want constant hand holding.
3) Playing the game should be fun in itself. There is no need for rewards every 5 steps you do.

This microtransaction fashion (and especially the f2p label) leaves some shale aftertaste. I understand that on one hand it lowers the entry barrier to a game. But on the other hand I can't be sure that the game's conception hasn't been "tweaked" (or rather butchered?) to better blend in with the monetization scheme.

This recent trend is slowly alienating me from MMOs and other of today's games. Luckily after 40+ years of computer games (for various platforms) there is a lot of choice.

mmoguy43

I haven't read it yet but I skimmed over some of his comments

 

like:

"Vijay, realize I am pro-F2P, and not enthusiastic about retail business models for games. In the retail model the only thing that matters is a "Time = 0" sale. You don't care what the consumer experience is after time=0 because you already have their money. So while I understand Dan is being satirical, I actually am in agreement with his assertions. But I'm most interested in games that generate revenue at T > 1 Year. In fact, I think it is time that we start thinking about making games that *increase* their revenues over time, not drop off after a quick revenue extraction. EVE Online's ability to maintain a fairly flat revenue curve shows just how powerful even that half step is."

 

I atleast agree on this point. Games should increase in value from the gamer's perspective (which is adding more features, not just more of the same type of content) and in turn will draw more players and more revenue.

nariusseldon

Since most players don't pay .. the tricks don't work as well as they think.

Plus there is competition and choice. Personally, i welcome all the tricks. I have yet to seen one that pry even a cent out of me. And i can always go to the game where fun is not reduced by whatever monetizaton methods they are using. There are tons of such games.