While it seems that piracy and issues of DRM management continue to grow with each passing year, the emerging trend of offering games for free could eventually become a way to ultimately eliminate both problems. With high profile developers like DICE bringing their popular Battlefield franchise into the realm of free to play, this business model is becoming an increasingly lucrative prospect.

I am by no means calling for the eradication of cutting edge graphics and triple A production values from the gaming industry, but instead suggesting that the play for free model provides an alternate to the astronomical development costs of current generation titles. Anyone with any doubt as to the viability of this model only needs to take a glance at the Korean video game industry where free to play games have an almost 90 percent market share. By literally nickel and dimeing it’s way to the top, popular Korean free to play MMOs show that even by no charging upfront, it is always possible to turn a profit.

With other forms of media going free in the online space such as music and television, games have no reason to shy away from the earning potential that this opportunity provides. While advertising in games is nothing new, Battlefield Heroes is supposedly relying predominantly on add revenue to fund development and upkeep of the online venture. The strategy is elegant and simplistic by providing a unique experience as well as allowing for a growth of the user base at an exponential rate because price is no longer a barrier to entry. Along with the zero cost to play, many of the titles that are free to play have very minimal hardware requirements, making the ability to pick up and play all that more appealing.

With the issue of DRM rearing its head in the ever-present battle between publisher and pirate, most recently with the release of Spore, free to play games have no such problems. With everyone playing the game for free there is no one to complaining, and instead of having pirates steal revenue by illegally downloading and playing, the publishers can instead capitalize on the increased community and cash in on the additional revenue from in game transactions and advertising.

Whatever direction the industry pursues, one thing is clear: Something has got to change. Publishers are continuing to abuse downloadable content as a revenue source while often times not providing a worthy experience, and often charging simply to unlock features already present on the retail disk. The free to play model, while not a fix all option, has the potential to change the industry for the better. This new model will hopefully foster a newfound sense of creativity while making sure the money goes directly to the minds responsible for the product, instead of being sold 5 dollars cheaper with a used sticker slapped on it.

-Eric Wall

Tags: Battlefield Heroes, DICE, DLC, Free To Play, Game Design, Game Industry, Korean, MMO, Predictions

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