Why console game design and free-to-play don’t mix – and what needs to change

http://media.edge-online.com/wp-cont...h-Of-Clans.jpgFrom just a distant drum beat ten years ago to a deafening crescendo today; there’s no denying the popularity of free-to-play games right now. Although some hardcore players tend to dismiss free-to-play as a fad or cynical business model, the huge financial success of games like Clash of Clans, Candy Crush and Real Racing 3 has made this movement increasingly difficult to ignore.As a result, Sony and Microsoft are now embracing a free-to-play future, with the release of titles like LittleBigPlanet, Planetside 2 and War Thunder. However, do publishers and developers with a long heritage in console game design really have the understanding and skills required to make the transition to free-to-play?The thing that publishers and developers often overlook is that free-to-play is a type of game and not just simply a business model. Therefore simply creating a game, throwing in some in-app purchases and giving it away for free won’t equal free-to-play success. The approach is much more fundamental than this and developers need to stop thinking about building a product and start to better understand how to run a service.At the core of free-to-play is good gameplay, there is nothing more predictive about how likely someone is to spend money in a free-to-play game than how long they play. Unlike premium products where a good brand or strong marketing can convince players to buy the game, with free-to-play the game needs to be fun from the moment players start playing if it is going to have any hope of making a return on the investment. This drives a service mentality; keeping the customers happy is key and as we all know from playing Diner Dash your players require constant care and attention.

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