How Do You Feel About Games Adopting the Free-to-Play Model?

[DarkDesertFox]

Now I'm not talking about apps because that's a whole conversation on its own. I'm talking about games released on consoles and platforms like Steam. There have been a lot of cases of games moving free-to-play lately. Some examples include Rocket League, Fall Guys, Halo Infinite, Overwatch 2, Destiny 2, etc. At first, I was okay with the free to play model back when Fortnite started. I thought it was a good idea since the paid stuff was just cosmetics. However, now I think this model is really becoming a problem. Especially with the growing popularity of battle passes. Battle passes are not healthy for a game in my opinion because they force you to grind levels making by having you play the game as long as possible. The introduction of battle pass challenges also makes you play the game in a way you don't want to as well.

For example, they might ask you to get a certain number of kills with a weapon, playing a mode a certain amount of times, playing a specific character/getting challenges with them, and so forth. This also encourages people to quit lobbies once they've completed or failed to get their challenge. They also give bread crumbs to the people playing for free. If you want to earn real rewards, you need to buy the battle pass or other separate purchases. Finally, they can end up putting so much focus on cosmetics, main content may suffer. I do not like this direction for gaming, but what do you think?

 

[michito]

I'm fine with some console games being F2P as long as they aren't like... AAA or huge games and such (I had the F2P pokemon and kirby games on my 3DS and had fun with them but they were silly spin-offs, not actual/main games). I'm already on the fence with DLC, especially if they're day-1 or preorder ones, so adding almost-obligatory payments to that isn't the best thing.....

It does make me worry about the future of games though, micro transitions are way more lucrative than 1-time payments so it's no wonder lots of series are hopping on the F2P train. I just hope franchises balance it and just make 1-2 F2Ps as easy cash grabs if they want extra income and continue making full/1-time-payments games for the rest of us.

 

[.: Meri :.]

I'm sure free-to-play console games like those work really well for a lot of people, and I'm glad they're there for that, but I just personally find them kind of stressful and would rather buy a game outright. I don't mind a bit of grindiness in games, but I really don't like the battle-pass model for the reasons you've mentioned. I like to play games in my own time, not feel like I have to play a certain game now or risk missing out. I've got too many other games I'm playing (and too many more that I want to play) to try and keep up with something like that.
I do wish that games wouldn't switch from one model to another though. It can be a huge overhaul that isn't necessarily fair to long-term players, so I think that if they really want to switch from pay-upfront to a F2P battle-pass model or vice versa, making a sequel or spin-off title is better.

 

[Flicky]

With the exception of mobile games, I don't care for them. Just give me a full game, and let me explore it without restrictions. I'll play these games, but never bother to pay or even become fully dedicated, especially when all it takes is for them to announce that they're closing the game and bam, all of your money is gone, as is your hard work.

Know what I hate more though? Paid DLC. I paid the full amount for this supposedly 'finished' game. Now you're asking me to pay half of that price again for some extra levels or potentially fall behind other players? Seriously? I miss the days when companies just created genuinely great games with good post-game content. If DLC exists, I expect it to be more like HHP, where it's basically a game on its own (like HHD was) but with added compatibility with your main game, not 'here's five more levels, once you've finished them, that's it I guess'.

I do see a very expensive future for gaming if we continue down this path.

 

[Corrie]

I hate them in apps and I hate them here too. I'd rather just buy a game outright and own it, rather than depend on a company 'controlling' the game and the future of said game. Not to mention, yeah it's free to start but eventually you'll get suckered into spending money on the game to progress faster or to keep up with your friends.

Gaming truly is getting expensive. Until DLC, loot boxes, pay to win, etc type games stop making money, I doubt companies will stop with this method of making money.

 

[Seastar]

Based on the experience I had with all the free-to-play Pokemon games on the 3DS and Switch, I am not really enjoying the idea. I eventually got stuck in every one of those because I refused to partake in their micro transactions and without doing that, the game starts to get really slow and difficult.

 

[Neb]

I feel like every game I’ve played with a free to play model has made it worse. Even games that make purchases optional still pressure you into paying by forcing free to play players to grind. It’s one of the reasons I find it so hard to pick up games like Genshin Impact and Pokémon Go again.

 

[Mattician]

I'm not a fan of free to play games that are pay to win and sell progression and/or power.

If they only sell optional cosmetics that's totally fine with me.

 

[Alienfish]

Yeah I agree it's not healthy with passes or just freemium stuff for those that are obviously needed to play or such. I mean I'd rather pay and have everything from start as a full game rather than having those passes and stuff like that, yeah.

 

[Croconaw]

I’m really not a fan of them, lol. I’m really not.

 

[Kitsuragi]

it depends imo. i played TF2 for many years of my life and adored it since scrap wasnt hard to come by, cosmetics dont matter, just fancy weapons if you want them. some people play completely base game and are really good at the game with no problem.

i also play guild wars 2, an MMO, and there's not a huge progression push locked behind money. the DLCs often go on sale and there's lots of cosmetics you can buy, but GW2 also has an in-game currency to premium currency conversion (and vice versa) that, with enough time and possibly luck which is literally a mechanic in the game, you can get great items to sell and get the premium currency, free. grind is not really unheard of for MMOs, and some MMOs really disrespect your time when it comes to grind, but i find guild wars 2 is one of the more acceptable ones since it's not required to have anything premium.

i haven't played genshin impact and probably never will because with a burning passion, i hate gacha games. i got sucked into mobile gacha games for a year and lost so much money because my impulsive spending was awful.

 

[Drawdler]

It suits some games but now I actively avoid them. I really prefer the “buy it, you get everything” model from old games. Even when the monetisation isn’t really egregious in f2p I always feel some pressure just from it being there. It feels wrong wanting to progress and seeing that literally spending more money would be a useful strat.

Like I would still try some very very rarely. Once every few years, let down that barrier and try one that looks interesting. I tried some and kind of enjoyed them. The nagging feeling never went away. No matter how much I like the game I can never really immerse myself in f2p. I don’t get my hopes up.

I really like card games but multiplayer card games are f2p for the most part so sucks for me /:

Paid games with mtx on top can get out. That’s actually disgusting. Those are one thing that ruin my enjoyment of games, they’re definitely creeping in more and more over time. People used to joke about how awful horse armor for $2.50 was and now we talk about how those jokes are in retrospect and how innocent that is in comparison. I won’t be buying new ms/sony consoles and after some things I disliked on Switch idek about buying Nintendo consoles, it’s not like my backlog is too small or something anyway. It’s just one thing turning me off from modern games anyway but that’s another topic.

 

[thebigguy]

Now I'm not talking about apps because that's a whole conversation on its own. I'm talking about games released on consoles and platforms like Steam. There have been a lot of cases of games moving free-to-play lately. Some examples include Rocket League, Fall Guys, Halo Infinite, Overwatch 2, Destiny 2, etc. At first, I was okay with the free to play model back when Fortnite started. I thought it was a good idea since the paid stuff was just cosmetics. However, now I think this model is really becoming a problem. Especially with the growing popularity of battle passes. Battle passes are not healthy for a game in my opinion because they force you to grind levels making by having you play the game as long as possible. The introduction of battle pass challenges also makes you play the game in a way you don't want to as well.

For example, they might ask you to get a certain number of kills with a weapon, playing a mode a certain amount of times, playing a specific character/getting challenges with them, and so forth. This also encourages people to quit lobbies once they've completed or failed to get their challenge. They also give bread crumbs to the people playing for free. If you want to earn real rewards, you need to buy the battle pass or other separate purchases. Finally, they can end up putting so much focus on cosmetics, main content may suffer. I do not like this direction for gaming, but what do you think?

i like it but... i hate microtransactions instead of just being able to earn rewards

 

[Crash]

i absolutely hate the free-to-play model and do think it's hurting the future of gaming big time. it really upsets me to see how many companies are getting away with blatantly ripping people off using loot boxes & microtransactions in games that are usually not even fully fleshed out or worthwhile without the paid content. although there's always going to be people willing to shell out the cash without recognizing (or caring) about the long term consequences, it feels like things are getting worse, with more customers just forking over the money instead of fighting back against it and forcing the video game industry to go back to charging ~$60 for an actual complete game that doesn't rely on nickel and dime-ing every second of gameplay.

 

[LuchaSloth]

I'm middle-of-the-road on the whole thing.

I love having the option of just "having" random time-killer games that I can play without spending a cent. (I actually play quite a few of these when they are available). At the same time...microtransactions or "pay to win" schemes are genuinely terrible. So...yeah, it's about half and half for me. I guess I'm in favor the format when the games can actually be played and enjoyed...but it often feels like the developers intentionally hobble the gameplay for anyone who isn't buying "coins" or "gold" or "gems" or whatever...and this is more annoying than just paying full price for a game, tbh.

If I can play the game regularly without "time limits"...and advance (even slowly but surely)...then I'm happy to play. But if it feels like it is almost impossible to advance without spending some form of real money, then...nope.

 

[nageki]

i think for me it kind of depends on the series.....if it's a new thing like fall guys it works, fall guys rules, but when an established IP does it it feels really wrong and shallow. like for example the different pokemon f2p stuff that's come out over the years on switch/3ds they all feel like cash-grabs after the first few levels/puzzles and it's disappointing. also depends on whether it gates your progress if you refuse to spend money on it or not. mobile/browser games are a whole other thing don't even get me started lol

 

[Bulerias]

Definitely not a fan. I realize this is going to have shades of "old man yells at cloud," but I tend to associate these games with a cluttered interface and a slew of pseudo-content that just seems to artificially inflate the actual substance of the game. I realize that's somewhat vague, but the best example I can think of is launching a mobile game like FE Heroes or even the mobile Mario Kart game after a few months of not playing -- there's this barrage of notifications regarding collectibles with unclear utility, an incredible number of options without an immediately obvious objective, etc. And this isn't at all equatable to open-world games like Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring, which throw you into a vast world and invite you to explore it, with tangible rewards for going off the beaten path. I just don't think the free-to-play model is conducive to substantive gameplay.

 

[Newbiemayor]

I pretty much feel the same. I don't usually bother with F2P games because they can be pretty bad for strictly F2P players and often use predatory tactics to make you pay money. And I don't think mobile gaming will ever heal from micro transactions :/

 

[huuussein]

it really depends on the game, but i feel like these days, sadly, a lot of games (especially fps games) truly have to adapt to this f2p model in order for their games to become successful. i personally don't mind paying a couple bucks here and there for a battlepass or cute skins for my characters or weapons, but seeing how absurdly expensive some games make their skins is kind of a shame. sure, you are not required to buy anything in a free game because the cosmetics only serve as an aesthetic upgrade, but it's still offputting seeing such high sums. for example, i feel like most fortnite cosmetics are reasonably priced and affordable, but in other fps games i've enjoyed like valorant or apex the prices are insanely high and turn me off from putting more money into the games. and as a fan of overwatch i'm still undecided about their switch to the f2p model for overwatch 2, on one hand i'm glad that they found a way to attract more players as overwatch kind of dying, but on the other hand i liked how paying for a game once still gave you the chance to collect all upcoming skins for free. all in all i just think it's necessary for some games or whole genres in general to create f2p games, as that's the easiest way to attract as many customers as possible.

 

[Midoriya]

Not going to vote because to be honest, I don't really care. Gaming companies were bound to head in this direction eventually. If it didn't happen yet they would have just came up with some other insane system for getting people to shell out more money. And the main concept behind gaming purchases in general hasn't changed. In the past before any of this happened, it was still up to the consumer to decide whether or not they buy a game. And it requires self-control to be honest. The only thing that's really changed is they've made it more enticing to spend more money. But those with enough self-control can still say no, as I have seen a lot of people do.