The free to play business model has transformed the game industry in recent years, and continues to do so. This shift has occurred so rapidly that anticipating future permutations appears impossible, yet in order to evolve and further expand the audience, that is exactly what F2P game developers need to do. Aki Järvinen has worked through the change with a number of titles under his belt. He argues that we can learn by looking back at the F2P shift and chart its evolution through a number of both successful and failed examples. Aki will offer insights into the evolution of F2P, and point at future directions where you could take your product in terms of game design and monetization techniques.

1. Free to Play: Evolved
Aki Järvinen, Product Lead, Ph.D.

2. Aki’s dev path

3. One headline here
•Exciting text goes here

5. How has F2P
evolved?

6. Agenda
F2P History
F2P Shortcomings
Free vs Paid
Evolved vs
Devolved
F2P Evolved

7. Crash Course to
F2P History

8. F2P Games Timeline
•1997-2007: ‘The MMO Era’
Achaea,
Dreams of
Divine Lands
launches
1997
NeoPets launches
1999
RuneScape launches
2001
MapleStory launches
2003
Kart Rider launches
2004

9. F2P Games Timeline
•2008-9: ‘Facebook Era’
EA launches
Play4Free
with
Battlefield
Heroes
2008 League of
Legends
launches
2009
Kingdoms of
Camelot launches
on Facebook
2009Happy
Farm
launches
in China
2008 Mob Wars
making $22K
a day on
Facebook
2008 Mafia Wars by
Zynga is
launched on
Facebook
2008 FarmVill
e
launches
on
Facebook
2009
2009D&D
Online
goes F2P
& triples
the
revenue

10. F2P Games Timeline
•2010- ‘The App Era’
SingStar
F2P
reboot
2013
CityVille;
Zynga’s
profitable
year
2010 Backyard
Monsters
launches on
Facebook
2010 ‘Mighty Eagle’
appears in
Angry Birds
(December)
2010
World of
Tanks
launces
2011 Team
Fortress 2
goes F2P;
12X
revenues
2011
Candy Crush
Saga launches
(Facebook;
iOS)
2012
Clash of
Clans
launches
(June)
CSR
Racing
launches
(June)
Puzzle &
Dragons
launches

11. F2P Game Genres Timeline
•Which genres have embraced F2P?
MMORPGs
1997
Virtual Pets
1999
Racing
2004
Shooter,
Farming
2008
MOBA, 4X,
RTS
2009
City sim,
Hidden
object
2012
Match-3
Infinite
Runner
2010

12. F2P Monetization Timeline
•How have virtual goods evolved?
Skills &
Gear
1997
Currencies
Resources,
Consumable
s
Decorative
items
Premium
Ammo
2013
Energy

13. Core vs Surface F2P Models
•Surface: sell more content
•Volume (downloads) matters
•Core: sell virtual goods
•Lifetime value matters
http://www.slideshare.net/gameswithoutfrontiers/free-to-play-tricky-to-design

14. Agenda
F2P History
F2P Shortcomings
Free vs Paid
Evolved vs
Devolved
F2P Evolved

15. Giving F2P
a Bad Name

16. Giving F2P a Bad Name
•Failed Economy
http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/14/3647410/punch-quest-goes-paid-after-free-to-play-failure

17. Giving F2P a Bad Name
•Bad Design
•F2P ‘Devolved’
•Rises from
insecurity
regarding the
quality of the
game

18. Giving F2P a Bad Name
•Pay to Win
•Alienating non-
paying players
•Yet, there
should be also
a benefit for
those who pay
http://thedoghousediaries.com/4443

19. Agenda
F2P History
F2P Failures
Free vs Paid
Evolved vs
Devolved
F2P Evolved

20. Free Fun
vs
Paid Fun

21. The F2P Defense Argument
•“Free to play is more fair (than, e.g. a $60
console title) to the customer, because they can
decide if they pay, and how much they pay.”

22. The F2P Defense Argument
•But...
•This only holds true, if the game supports it’s
premise:
•the more you pay,
•... the more fun and engaging the game
becomes!

23. Spending = Fun/Convenience ++
•“Ultimately the whole structure of the game must
be as much about having an enjoyable
experience as well as being able to make
the experience more enjoyable by injecting
money, with the knowledge that the more
money you put into the game the more it
becomes enjoyable.”’
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/181419/7_ways_to_fail_at_freetoplay.php?page=3

24. Flipside:
accommodating non-payers
•Case: World of Tanks
•Answers: Yes. And Yes.
http://taugrim.com/2013/07/03/competing-in-world-of-tanks-without-premium-ammo-56wr-3000-battles/

25. Agenda
F2P History
F2P Failures
Free vs Paid
Evolved vs
Devolved
F2P Evolved

26. F2P evolution
• ‘Devolved’
• Pay to win
• Aggressive merchandizing;
bad design
• ‘Time to shop’ < 60s
• Excessively whale-driven
• Spending exhausts
engagement
• Evolved
• Grind & master to compete
• Clear value proposition; good
design
• Shop that solves player needs
which arise organically
• Whale-accommodating
• Engagement relative to
spending

27. F2P Evolved
Monetization
Engagement
Retention
Fun

28. Make Better Games!
•= The Challenge
remains the
same!
•It is in every F2P
developers
interests to evolve
F2P, not devolve
it!

29. Let’s not give F2P a Bad Name!

30. Thank you!
twitter.com/grandcrugames
twitter.com/aquito