Reinout te Brake (game investment fund GameOn): “The industry has been pushed in the trend of F2P” Founder
tioning the morality of their creators. And by doing so, the conversation is basically over before it even started – nobody likes to be called immoral. This further explains why for some it’s so hard to just let the others be. He who considers freeto-play immoral, probably wants the model to vanish completely. And therefore others need convincing. (Which in turn is close to impossible, because it would take a lot of free-to-play developers and publishers admitting to unethical behaviour.) – Free-to-play has such a strong pull on developers, that even outspoken opponents like Peter Molyneux, are starting to experiment with the model. It will be interesting to see if it is at all possible to create a successful freeto-play game without compromising gameplay at all. •
Investors have shown in the past that they are pushing studios to explore new trends. I haven’t always liked that, because to get money you needed, for example, to completely focus on mobile games. It is challenging to make sure that you are one of the first and don’t end up in the league of „we are also mobile” and „we are the next Supercell”. If I look at GameOn, we are very willing to explore new models where payments, organic growth, retention and in game-purchasing are being used optimally. The industry has been pushed in the trend of F2P, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t innovate on that and create an ultimate successful model! Isn’t the focus on free-to-play dangerous because in its current form, the model is too young? It has not proven itself for the long term. I cannot say I agree with this. If you look at some recent success stories, I think more people get experienced with free-to-play. Of course, it’s still challenging, but if you see how the industry is sharing knowledge, the good and the bad experiences, then I am extremely confident. Still, having said that, I am looking at a model of a small payment to install or buy the game, with premium features that can be bought in the game. For example: Give the first ten levels for free, like the game, then pay an x amount, otherwise you cannot continue. So needless to say, we need to keep exploring to keep increasing revenues within the gamesindustry.
Eric Diepeveen (Stolen Couch Games): “Our game annoys users on purpose” Free-to-play developer During the concept phase of astaway Paradise, we created a modC ular structure. All aspects, from graphics to control, are designed to increase retention and monetization. Everything you do in the game is part of a loop that either earns us money or gets us more users. Our game annoys users on purpose so they will make an in-app purchase.
We manipulate the players so we can continue to make games. If there is a group of players who still enjoy our game, we’ve done well. That the quality of a game is influenced by business decisions is no news. Almost all AAA-games are much more polished in the beginning, much less at the end. Simply because just a small percentage will play the end.
We’re back! c o n t r o l conference II Developer focused November 2014 The Netherlands controlmagazine.net 2013 ROSTER INCLUDED: BUNGIE, CD PROJEKT RED, 343 INDUSTRIES, BLENDO GAMES, VLAMBEER, GUERRILLA GAMES, LARIAN STUDIOS, VANGUARD GAMES AND MANY MORE!