Could free-to-play (F2P) gaming really be the future of the industry? That seems to be the sentiment shared by a lot of studios. Count Epic Games (Gears of War, Unreal Tournament) as being part of that list.
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, talked about this scenario in his GDC Taipei keynote. The Epic boss talks about how future growth in gaming will be fueled by F2P.
Nowadays the high end of the game business is in these console game…Activision invests almost $100 million per year in Call of Duty." And who can realistically afford to do that.
Aside from this point-of-view, Sweeney notes that they've been "very very surprised to see how fast smartphone and tablet devices are improving."
In relation to this, he even admits that their iOS "core" game Infinity Blade is more profitable than Gears of War — a franchise which most people would consider to be Epic's bread-and-butter.
The most profitable game we've ever made, in terms of man years invested versus revenue, is actually Infinity Blade. It's more profitable than Gears of War.
While core gamers might scoff at his remarks, keep in mind he's not the only one who thinks this way. It's also one thing to think that F2P might be overtaking the gaming scene, but it's an entirely different matter when Epic's biggest IP is eclipsed financially by a "mere" iOS game, no?
Could we be headed to a F2P gaming future? If so, would you be okay with it?
Source: Gamasutra
