For many, free-to-play is a dirty word – but not for Sony, who's seeing significant success from the controversial business model. Speaking as part of a panel at the Game Developers Conference overnight, SCEA employee Sarah Thompson – who's in charge of the platform holder's free-to-play business – said that the organisation's seen surprisingly positive results in this sector over the past few years.
"We're really looking at this as a significant part of our digital business," she said of the future of free-to-play, as heard by GameSpot. "I think that it's going to be a really a big chunk of our revenues in the next few years; three to five years. And it's already growing at amazing rates that are really quite surprising." She added that no one could have foreseen this happening a few years ago, but now it's emerged as a key strategy for the company.
"I think that it's really stabilising the business," she added. "And I think that it's future-proofing us. I think that it's really taking us into where we need to be as a company. As a company, we do fully believe in free-to-play." This has been evident for a while, of course, with David Jaffe's forthcoming arena shooter Drawn to Death adopting the model, as well as Sony San Diego's secretive Kill Strain. We suspect that more will follow.
What do you think of the format, though? We reckon that it can be done well – the millions of people playing DOTA 2 and League of Legends on a daily basis are evidence of that – but the microtransactions have to be handled with due care. We don't mind tossing a few coins to a title that we're really enjoying, but when those pay barriers get in the way of the game – well, we'll find something else to play.
[source gamespot.com]
Comments 22
Oh dear.
Mobile gaming trash, won't wash
Ok, more games that I'll never play...
Free to play, expensive to fully play.
I've played $0 total for the 4 or 5 free to play games I've played over the years. And that isn't going to change. Really wish people handled their money better. Because as sickening as this sounds, he's probably right.
Bleh
If this is the case I'll find a new hobby…
As long as it's not Pay-to-Win I have no issues with free-to-play models.
If by free to play you mean free to save me money sure why not. I've yet to find a f2p game I enjoyed, I got my time into clash of clans but once I hit the very obvious buy things part (everything was on I think a 7 day cooldown) it became an uninstalled app. I paid 1$ for angry birds because my daughter loves it but that's it.
While there are legitimate concerns, I'm still amazed at how many people would just dismiss a game just because F2P.
I see a future approaching where I am no longer a "modern" gamer, because I think that in 15 years it's all going to be free to play popcorn games. Bummer.
@adf86 It's the ads, the pay to win, the constant reminder to spend money (sometimes subtle, sometimes aggressive), the three different kinds of in-game currency, one of which can only be paid for in real money... I just don't like the model at all. Let me pay for a game once, and then play it.
If free to play games become the norm then that will be my cue to bow out of gaming on current hardware and invest in retro gaming
@glassmusic I don't disagree with you but that's more the mobile market. In Sony's case with games like Killstrain and Drawn to Death their saying they want them to be proper F2P (probably cosmetic stuff being the only things to buy) but yet I remember the comments on here when they were announced and they were so dismissive just because of their preconceptions of F2P. It's not just exclusive to Sony games either. There were similar reactions when Fable Legends went F2P as well.
Haven't paid a dime for any free to play games...
@BLPs
Yea, Bill Gates may be getting tiny bit richer from me if Sony continues to.baffle me with idiotic nonsense like this "vision".
Letting me down, Sony....
Pay 2 win mobile games, an industry using barely legal psychological gambling ideology to entrap todays youth into a cycle of false success and debt. The gameplay is simple requiring little to no skill, the graphics appeal to children, progression is married to funding, The game mechanics are obscurely named and difficult to explain leading to initial logical reasons to learn, however this is a facade to enable an emotional connection to fleece you of more money. They are a bane of the industry, a worrying look at the future and an investment bankers wet dream.... I posted this on the forums yesterday and posting it again as I hate pay to win rubbish.
Horrendous! Free-To-Play is tortures! Leave that rubbish on mobile devices Sony! #LongLivetheVita
Just saying, some of my favorite games so far have been f2p.
Most notably warframe on ps4. I've spent over $200 on that game as well as probably 250 hours.
You can't just assign a $60 price tag to games that are being constantly updated. I figure that if I can play a game for over 100 hours and not be tired of it yet, than it deserves my money.
There's plenty of free-to-play trash on Xbox One as well and with MS taking Fable Legends in the same direction I don't know why people are losing their sh*t over this. I don't care for the f2p model myself but the way I look at it is as long as it doesn't mean fewer AAA games along the lines of Uncharted or God of War, who cares? You're not forced to bother with the f2p. Now if it means fewer of the bigger budget games then I have problem with that but I can just simply move on to other platforms if I have to. This isn't only a Sony issue though. Its just the only console maker flat-out saying f2p is going to be a big part of its business. Sticking your head in the sand if you think this won't be huge for many, maybe even all companies in the future however. It's a worrying trend because it's one I could see driving me completely away from this hobby but just looking at the current trends f2p does have a really big future, no point in denying it.
RIP gaming.
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