Remedy’s live service title FBC: Firebreak will be releasing soon. But if you were hoping this live service title will be free-to-play, think again.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, FBC: Firebreak is coming in June 17, and it’s going for $ 39.99. It will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store. They’ve also gone out of their way to add it to PC Game Pass, Game Pass Ultimate, PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium.
Going for retail is an interesting choice for live service games for sure. The conventional wisdom, of course, is the most successful games are free-to-play, but the finer details complicate that assertion. It’s true that Fortnite and Marvel Rivals are doing very well as free-to-play games, in the extremely competitive genre, there isn’t a lot of room to compete for attention.
And so, as much as it may seem counterintuitive, it does make sense to charge gamers for a live service game, with the expectation that they will sell more content in the game as well. The most successful games that use this model are arguably annual sports games, and in a way, Call of Duty.
These games do have story campaigns, and their pricing isn’t piecemeal or based around gacha mechanics like other live service games. But they are of course live service in the general sense that they’re made to be played online for an extended period of time, and so players pay for extra content to also pay for that extended support.
The strange thing about this choice, of course, is that Sony also thought the $ 40 price would be the standard for their live service games. They saw unprecedented success from it with Helldivers 2, and unprecedented failure with Concord. But if there’s anything Remedy could learn from Sony’s experience, it would be that they have to make sure that FBC: Firebreak has an immediate and enduring appeal with their players, most of whom will definitely be Remedy’s loyal fans.
If you’re on the fence about FBC: Firebreak over microtransactions, Remedy explained that they will have both free and paid items, none of which will be time limited like Genshin Impact does with their banner events. Remedy also pledges paid items will be only cosmetic, ruling out the possibility of it being pay-to-win.
FBC: Firebreak will also have a deluxe edition, which can be bought as a bundle with the base game or as an upgrade. If you were curious, and you actually do have the time, you can watch a two hour developer update when they shared all this information and more, below.
