Freemium is a marketing strategy where a product is given for free but a premium is charged for additional features i.e. free + premium = freemium. It’s likely we’ve all come into contact with freemium in one way or another and has been used in digital media for a long time now.
It has shown some promising results in the mobile gaming and PC game markets and certain people seem to think it could work on the console big hitters too. In theory it offers gamers a better deal. It would work very similar to PSN or XBOX live titles where you get a trial of the game, maybe a couple of levels, and then you purchase an unlock code for the full game.
One thing freemium offers is a chance to try a game before spending up to £50 on it. It could also mean you may be able to avoid buying sections of a game you’re not interested in, if enough options are available. More titles should be available as it makes it easier and cheaper to get a game on a console reducing the risk if the game is a flop.
One of my favorite titles this generation is the much underestimated Valkyria Chronicles. Unfortunately not being a huge financial success the game releasing sequels on hand held consoles. Though this isn’t a problem I would love to have seen another major Valkyria Chronicles make it to full consoles and free-to-play may have made that a reality.
This is all great in theory and might work well when we’re talking about hand-held games and PSN titles or stuff from the 360 Store but I fear for the way this will work on our beloved blockbusters. How would Hitman: Absolution work free-to-play? Which bits do we pay for and which bits are free? It really seems like it will depend on who is in charge of publishing whatever game is running the freemium model.
For this we turn to the mighty marketing of EA. Who else. This article from ps3trophies.org makes for very interesting reading. EA CEO John Riccitiello points out “When you are six hours into playing Battlefield and you run out of ammo in your clip, and we ask you for a dollar to reload. You’re really not very price sensitive at that point in time” Using the free sections of the game to get us hooked and then charging us once we’re invested. It’s so easy once your invested to just pay another couple of pounds on whatever feature the game hasn’t come with.
Perhaps I’m too cynical but I get the feeling this is the reality of the freemium model. How many bits of PC software let you get 70% of the way through whatever task they perform and then announce they’re not free and ask for money relying on the fact your invested and don’t want to have wasted your time.
I also fear for our top budget games. I just can’t see Assassins Creed, Call Of Duty, Hitman, Metal Gear Solid, Far Cry and many more examples working as freemium games. So I find myself at a huge contradiction. I love games and any support for the industry and its many struggling developers is great. I’d love to see more dreams from small developers realized and get more cash into the industry but not at the expense of my experience.
The proposed new console “Ouya” uses freemium throughout and being based on Linux encourages “hacking”. This could be great but I just can’t see it competing with the classic console experience and almost every advocate of the freemium model coming to console blockbusters seems to be either invested in the Ouya in some way or a marketing suit.
Blu-rays have been around for years and I can still find both DVD and BD versions of films in stores. I’m all up for change but we’ve only really just started looking at the potential for changing a controller for other human interfaces. And actually replacing a classic console controller is many years away, if at all on the cards. Disc-less consoles seem realistic but even that progression will take time until discs are no longer available at all and in my opinion is where focus should be.
Despite the fact this is already an option, titles on the Playstation Store are still charging up to £60 for a game when I can get it for £40 in a shop. If these price structures where more realistic publishers could cut out the middle man and essentially destroy second hand gaming while they’re at it. Surely they would get more cash this way without altering our experience.
I’m stuck in my ways when it comes to games and I think freemium should stick with its current applications. I would love to see more developers given the opportunity to create games and obviously I want the industry to have more funds but doing it at what seems like the detriment of the actual games we get to play sounds rather self-defeating to me and I think there are other, better, options for the industry to move forward.
