Not free: This is how companies earn money with free-to-play games
Created: 05/18/2022, 15:08
By: Omer Kayali
Many popular video games are free to play.
Nevertheless, the developer studios generate record sums.
How is that possible?
Free-to-play has proven to be a successful business model.
Titles like "Fortnite", "Call of Duty: Warzone" or "Apex Legends" are played by millions of players.
Although the basic versions of these titles are free to play, free games now account for a large proportion of video game sales.
According to market researchers at SuperData Research (via
Buffed
), 78 percent of total sales in 2020 came from free-to-play games — even though they're free games.
What exactly are players spending so much money on?
Loot Boxes, Season Passes and More: The Cost of Free-to-Play Games
Fortnite is one of the most popular free-to-play games.
© Herwin Bahar/Imago
With free-to-play games, the developer companies and publishers earn money through
in-game purchases
.
However, many gamers usually react very sensitively to it.
The so-called
"loot boxes"
that contain random content have a very bad reputation.
In addition, this random principle is criticized because it is
close to the limit of gambling
.
For this reason, EA had to pay a fine of 10 million euros in the Netherlands for the "FIFA Ultimate Team Packs" in "FIFA 21" - even if it is not a free-to-play title.
In Germany, too, the discussion comes up again and again.
Nevertheless, some concepts have proven themselves, which are accepted by the players and not condemned as "pay-to-win".
Developers therefore usually rely on the following in-game offers:
Additional Content
: Certain items, abilities, or character skins encourage purchases.
Many developers put together whole packages with the season passes, which contain several bonuses.
In-Game Currency
: Players can "transfer" their real money and use the in-game currency to purchase content.
For example, in "Fortnite" these are the "V-Bucks".
Faster progress without restrictions
: Most content can usually be unlocked, but this takes several hours.
It is much faster if you buy a boost for double experience points, for example.
Free-to-Play Games: What motivates players most to make in-game purchases?
A study published on the website
sos-spielsucht.ch looked
into the
motives for in-game purchases in free-to-play games
.
A total of 776 people took part in the survey.
The results looked like this:
reason for purchase | percentage of participants |
|---|---|
to get the most out of the game | 74% |
to continue playing | 48.2% |
to increase the chances of winning | 36.3% |
to increase playing time | 28.5% |
aesthetic reasons | 16% |
Support player community | 12.1% |
different reasons | 16.8% |
Games are also offered as free-to-play titles afterwards
Free-to-play has become mainstream and more and more developers are considering offering their games for free with optional in-game purchases.
The "FIFA" competitor
"Pro Evolution Soccer"
- which is now called "eFootball" - has already dared to take this step.
It is quite possible that other larger titles will follow suit.
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