While Crytek has been quite vocal in their thinking that free-to-play (F2P) is the future of gaming, they also think that Triple A blockbusters like Crysis 3 and its ilk can work within this business model.
Speaking to the Guardian, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli explains how he thinks a game like Crysis 3 will work with the "freemium" business model.
We'll figure out how to make a game like Crysis 3 work. If the proposition is, the gamer gets the games for free, well, that's better for the gamer. And what's best for the gamer is best for the industry.
The problem is, people aren't thinking like that. Customers have to put up with all this crap right now, legal notices, copyright protection… the best way to get rid of all that is go free. The gamers get what they want – free access – and if your game is good enough you can hook them in, whether that's a single-player game, or multiplayer, or co-op, or an RPG, an RTS, or Fifa, or whatever, it really doesn't matter.
For every game you can find a solution. For every single one of them. It's a creative challenge, nothing else.
Aside from this, Yerli also thinks that the upcoming next generation of consoles (PS4, Xbox 720), will be the last hardware cycle we'll see. He mentions this in direct relation as to why they're creating GFace — Crytek's own social networking platform — and how people nowadays are more akin to play on their iPads, etc.
Look around, look at the younger generation! When I see my nephews, they have never bought a game in their lives; they don't play on the PC at all, they have iPads. In 10 years' time, none of these guys will be buying PC games, they won't be buying console games. Those are the guys who play games. Naturally, very visibly in the next generation, the consoles will have a problem, because unless they reflect the lifestyles of this generation, you can't get them on a console. That's why I'm very vocal about this. I don't think there will be another hardware generation beyond the next one. That's why I'm building Gface.
Crytek is building GFace to interact with their F2P military shooter Warface (pictured above), the game is currently being beta tested in China. There's still no official word if and when Warface will make its way in the US or in other Western territories.
Be sure to give the whole interview a read as Yerli also goes in-depth as to why he thinks F2P will soon overtake traditional gaming and even states that if he's in charge of Sony or Microsoft, he'd make every game F2P.
So, will the PS4 and Xbox 720 be the last console hardware we'll see? Would you be open to triple A games being F2P?
