Crytek switching to “entirely free-to-play” development

[Zoop]

In news not even my Magic 8 Ball could have predicted, Crytek boss Cevat Yerli has announced that his studio would be dumping boxed games and moving into free-to-play development exclusively. The company is busy with Crysis 3, Homefront 2, and Kinect title Ryse, but once those games are out, it’s all about the free-to-play market.

“Right now we are in the transitional phase of our company, transitioning from packaged goods games into an entirely free-to-play experience,” Yerli told Videogamer. “What this entails is that our future, all the new games that we’re working on, as well new projects, new platforms and technologies, are designed around free-to-play and online, with the highest quality development.”

That means AAA, multi-million dollar games on a $0 gaming budget for consumers.

“As is evident in Warface, our approach is to ensure the best quality, console game quality,” he said. “That implies budgets of between $10m to $30m – so no compromise there – but at the price-point of $0 entry.

“I think this is a new breed of games that has to happen to change the landscape, and be the most user-friendly business model.”

My Magic 8-Ball said “NO DOUBT ABOUT IT”, but then I asked it if there’s still a future for boxed games, and it replied that, “INDICATORS SAY YES”. I think my Magic 8-Ball needs more coffee or something. Magic 8-Ball said “SO IT SHALL BE”.

http://mygaming.co.za/news/news/3945...velopment.html

Not really sure what to make of it, tbh. In my experience, the majority of F2P games are only worth playing if you're planning on spending money.

[McDangerous]

I get how MP games work with the F2P model, but how will the SP experience be affected? There are still a massive group of people who don't have the ability or the necessity to play online, and as such buy games purely for their SP experiences. Surely you can't say it's free to play but to play the SP campaign you need to pay up? That makes no sense.

The whole online gaming model is really starting to irk me. It used to be that you could buy a game, install the latest patch and you're set to play online, but these days there are mandatory PAID DLC packs that you have to get to be able to play online at all. It's ridiculous! I get that having the opportunity to expand a game you love with DLC makes sense, but at the cost of losing dedicated players who simply can't afford paying R500 for a game and then shelling out another R200 for DLC?

It's pathetic is what it is.

On topic though, If the SP is free to play, that would be amazing!

[Azraphael]

I get how MP games work with the F2P model, but how will the SP experience be affected? There are still a massive group of people who don't have the ability or the necessity to play online, and as such buy games purely for their SP experiences. Surely you can't say it's free to play but to play the SP campaign you need to pay up? That makes no sense.

Also bear in mind that if they go F2P, I am pretty sure all distribution will be via download. I can't see retailers handing out media for free. This becomes a problem for those of us with less than perfect internet.

[McDangerous]

I assume as much yes. The digital distribution thing doesn't bother me, I've been a Steamer for a couple of years now and I actually prefer digital content to disc-based content. The problem these days is that even disc-based content needs online activation 99% of the time, so even if you have disc-based game, you still need the internet to play it. While this isn't the case with console games obviously, I'm referencing PC titles predominantly.

Being always-online has become a permanent reality for PC gamers.

[Soulmantle]

massive group of people

Most of the target markets; US, Asia and Europe are able to handle this business model. Considering that they would lose far less to Piracy what they would loose from country's unable to participate it wont matter.