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There are some game manufacturers that stay true to their traditions. Electronic Arts is one of them, for example. Every year there is a new FIFA part and every year the fans of the game series have to pay a lot of money to be able to play again. The same game company has also shown with “The Sims” that it can be completely different: Here, there were only four versions in all those years, but they all got updates and expansions.
Today, there are hardly any expansion CDs, but these additional contents are called DLC (downloadable content), because these extras can usually be downloaded quite easily. Sometimes they are paid for and sometimes some content is even included in the purchase price. In any case, it can be said that DLC keeps players interested in a game for longer – and that is very much in developers’ interest. In the case of GTA V, for example, the casino expansion caused quite a stir. Here, players can gamble in a virtual Casino and enjoy a real Las Vegas feeling.
A similarly successful concept is Free-to-Play. This is the possibility to try out a game for free. Often, however, the addition of “pay-to-win” is already integrated into the concept. This means that if you want to be one of the best players in the game and enjoy the full game experience, you have to reach into your wallet again.
Free-to-play & DLC – two similar but different ideas
Basically, game developers are always faced with two problems: They always have to attract new players to play their games and make sure that existing gamers don’t lose their fun, because many games (especially MMORPGs) are naturally dependent on the community.
Free-to-play is the right approach to attract players who would not have bought a game if they had to pay for it. Games from unknown manufacturers or games for cell phones are particularly affected by this. Here, the players’ willingness to pay is simply not yet as high, which is why a free download is often the only way for developers to build up a small fan base.
DLC is about offering active players something and preventing them from getting bored with the game at some point. This can be new maps or missions, or even completely new features, like the casino area in GTA V that was mentioned earlier. In addition, there is sometimes DLC that is only intended for single-player, while most of the content is aimed more at multiplayer.
The crucial difference between the two concepts is that DLC usually buys you new game content, but not advantages. It might be new tasks to complete or perhaps new ways to play. But you don’t get a better starting position in the competition with other players.
The situation is different with Free-to-Play, which includes a Pay-to-Win option. As the name implies, you’ll never be among the best players if you always settle for the basic version. The best weapons or items are only available if you invest real money – and that is definitely subject to criticism.
FIFA was already mentioned at the beginning. Here, “Ultimate Team” is an in-game mode with a free-to-play concept. To get the best players, you have to draw booster packs. But there aren’t many of them for free. You have to buy them with money to build a really strong team. In some countries, this has already been banned because it is equated with gambling, which should be forbidden for minors.
What are the trends?
When game companies develop new games, many of them will certainly think about either the free-to-play or the DLC approach. There are many successful games that started out as free-to-play or very low-cost variants and were only able to build up so much popularity because of this. In addition to many smartphone games (e.g. Angry Birds or Candy Crush), games like Minecraft or Fortnite certainly come to mind.
The problem, of course, lies in the financial risk. If game developers have to program a game and then offer it for free download, they need another source of funding. But if the popularity doesn’t grow as quickly as expected, you can quickly get nervous.
In the future, we will probably see more often the concept of game developers releasing initial beta versions of their games for free and not taking too much risk yet by not having a high game depth from the start. If the game then attracts interest, the developers can then expand the games via DLC. This can be paid for and thus subsequently ensure that the studios’ coffers are somewhat filled and that there is a budget to develop the game further.
Of course, there will always be big releases from the top brands. But due to the boom of platforms like Steam, independent developers also have better and better chances to launch popular games.