An urban theme, Free to Play, Open World RPG.
The game looks great, wish it wasn’t F2P.
Why is everyone against F2P games?
Well, games can’t really be free. For F2P to work, they need to sell micro-transactions, and to do that, they need to make the game so that people are willing to spend money on micro-transactions. So, if nothing else, these games are designed to be huge time sinks.
Also, many of these games are designed to constantly bombard you with newer / shinier thing to make you want to spend. This specially effects kids.
Just couple of reason why I don’t like them.
That being said, if I had access to this quality of free to play games when I was young, I couldn’t have been happier. I didn’t had any money back then, so to be able to spend so much time in such high quality games, without paying anything, would be great for me. I wouldn’t even have minded pay-to-win games back then, as long as it let me grind away without paying anything.
I actually like F2P games for a couple of reasons.
First of all, they are free of course. And some are pretty entertaining, like Overwatch 2 or Fall Guys, I don’t think there’s a pay 2 win aspect on some, they are mostly cosmetics that you pay for. Also, “heavy” pay 2 win items discourages new players, so they usually keep that at the minimum. Usually, not always of course.
Second, I prefer a free game with a micro-transaction side (it is totally understandable they have that) than a game like Gran Turismo 7 or most fighting games, that go full price and still have the micro-transactions. That feels like I’m being ripped off.
I feel the negative feeling towards the F2P games is what made games like Killer Instinct for PC/Xbox to be unsuccessful. And it’s a shame, that game is awesome, I still play it to this day (but ended up purchasing all characters for like 1 dollar on a sale I think).
They are valid points. Fall Guys is really fun. I would even put Fortnite in the same category. It’s probably biggest F2P game that isn’t a pay-to-win. You can not buy anything other than cosmetics. And if you pay for one battle pass, you get enough in-game currency from it that you can buy next battle pass without paying. Well, without paying money, you still have to play the game enough to reach level 90 or so to get all that in-game currency, which requires regularly playing it.
Though, I still think the way they market these cosmetics, are a bit predatory, they effect the younger audience. At least that is what I have seen in the kids I know. So, while game-play wise these are good games, I am against these on principal. But if you have to make a F2P game, this is currently the best model to follow.
As for the micro-transactions. I hate paid games with micro-transactions, so I completely agree with you on that point. If you make a game paid, don’t ask for micro transactions, and if you want to add micro-transactions, make the game free to play!
