Why Namco Bandai’s biggest names are experimenting in free-to-play

http://media.edge-online.com/wp-cont...volution1.jpegTekken Revolution is free to play. Released in June exclusively for PS3, it has a starting roster of eight characters, and features both solo and multiplayer modes. Each play costs a virtual coin, which regenerate at a rate of one per hour in singleplayer or per half-hour for online. When these run out, you can buy Premium Coins from the PSN Store. It’s just one of Namco’s many experiments in free-to-play gaming.Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada, who is heading up Namco Bandai’s adventures in F2P, notes that, far from being a futuristic or even contemporary model, the approach has its roots in the same place as Namco: the arcade. “The outlay in the arcade is very low. For just ¥100, you can try out a game, or a particular character in that game, and see whether you like it,” he says. “So this is a way to attract new players who might be interested in Tekken, but [aren’t] necessarily willing to spend $59.99 to try it.”Namco Bandai’s first F2P trial run with a big-name series came at the suggestion of board members in June 2012, who felt a new approach could work for its Gundam games. It did. Mobile Suit Gundam: Battle Operation is a six-on-six mech battler, and its daily limit pay model brought in ¥700 million (£4.4 million) in months, success enough to persuade the company to try going F2P with some of its other key series. Since then, Namco has announced SoulCalibur: Lost Swords (PS3), Ridge Racer Driftopia (PC/PS3) and Ace Combat Infinity (PS3).

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