Comment by drobati | Hacker News Reader

Comment by drobati | Hacker News Reader

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This is not the future of gaming. Look at how badly SimCity flopped.

Let me compare to DotA2 which I play a lot. It's exclusively multiplayer and thus needs an internet connection, yet it's free to play. How much have I spent on it? At this point at least $75+ dollars. THIS IS THE FUTURE OF GAMING.

Valve has the right model. I know valve didn't create the F2P model but it has implemented it the best as far as I know. They have pulled more money out of me giving me a free game then they would have made if they sold me 60+ copy.

EA should of just given out free copies of SimCity. Given out free copies with enough features to keep me entertained without the need to spend money. Then releasing toolsets for modders to create items; resell them to us for profit.

The DLC will surely be created but based on how EA conducts DLC in The Sims 3, I expect expensive expansions and stuffer packs.

Online-only play is exactly what I am talking about as the (dystopian) future of gaming. Pushing more and more of the game into the cloud, so it becomes SaaS instead of worrying about DRM.

Freemium versus pay-up-front are both flavors of that.

Do we know that SimCity "flopped"? It's gotten lots of people angry at it, but that's not at all the same as not making money.

Oh I'm sorry I misunderstood. Well at this point I guess we could say it's at least on pause and certainly not a success.

And you know what's exemplary about DotA 2? All that money you spent isn't even short-cutting grind, it's /only/ on cosmetics.

I can't find a better example of F2P models out there, even my beloved Planetside 2 has some pretty big issues with how its model applies to gameplay.

Team Fortress 2, but that's another Valve game, so it doesn't exactly count :)

It didn't really flop though - EA had an immense amount of pre-orders, and that's all that matters. The money has been made, incentive validated.

Valve's free to play is done well, because they don't force you to purchase items in the game in order to compete or find the game fun. They're aesthetic items that let one customize their characters, instead of crippling gameplay.

If others followed this model, free to play would not be given anywhere close to the bad name it typically conveys.

DotA 2 isn't out and we don't even know their financials, do we?

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