Please tell me all of you read the article we posted yesterday about Crytek’s expectations of being entirely free-to-play by 2018, because if you didn’t then go there and read that and come back… I’ll wait… Done? Okay, cool, let’s move swiftly on.
So. Free-to-play. Who gives a shit, right?
Only, I kinda do.
See here’s the thing about Crytek’s proposed free-to-play system. They are not implementing it in pre-existing platforms because there is no pre-existing platform which can properly support it currently, so they have moved towards using their own platform called G-Face. If that isn’t the most sexually suggestive name for a platform… or is it just me? In any case, G-Face is going to slot in next to your Steam and Origin installations, meaning that you have yet another platform to stockpile.
Even if it works through Origin, it’s still going to be a pain, the same way uPlay is a pain to anyone who has played a Ubisoft title released recently, on PC. It’s the same sort of principle of ‘launch platform in order to launch other platform in order to launch game’, and to be honest it’s just silly. But that is how it must be, because Crytek want to be free-to-play.
First issue then, is yet another platform to add to our growing collection, and you can be sure that there will be yet more in future if the idea of free-to-play grows without major adoption from Steam and Origin, or indeed Xbox LIVE and PSN.
The second issue is a far simpler one, and that’s availability. See, a free-to-play title essentially gives you a portion of the game to run around with and, should you enjoy yourself sufficiently enough, asks you to pay money for more of the game. Think of a playground which has free entry and allows you to try out the swings and the see-saw, but should you wish to enter the jungle gym or, dare I say, that rotating thing which always makes me sick, then you have to cough up. And no, I don’t mean like when I go on that rotating thing which always makes me sick.
Now that’s okay for an online multiplayer title which can cordon off certain maps / areas of the map, weapons and so on. Again if it only allows you to level up to a certain point while giving you full freedom else-wise, the way The Old Republic now does. But what about a singleplayer offering? How will that work, exactly?
There are two ways I can see free-to-play being implemented for a solid, triple-A singleplayer offering which we’re going to hypothetically call Crysis 4.
The first is quite simply that you play the first few levels and must then pay to finish the game, or play further levels or what have you. Great. Awesome. I can actually work with that. It means you get an extended demo at no extra cost apart from the bandwidth that would come from downloading the game. But then if you’re paying for the rest of the game, then you are in essence paying for the game, which completely breaks the whole free-to-play ideal.
The second is a little more complex and involves the ever-loved microtransactions model, where it could either be quite pleasant (unlikely) or quite nasty (likely). The former would probably involve giving you the game to play, in its entirety, for free, and then asking if you’d like to pay for custom skins for your character and weapons, or other entirely cosmetic differences. Or perhaps there are ammo dispensaries in levels where you could opt to pick up ammo off dead enemies or, for real money, buy ammo at these machines in-game. From there we move to the other extreme, which could involve being charged for everything from picking up a weapon to accessing the next level and by the end of it, you’ve effectively paid more for the game than you would if you just bought it at retail.
I would like to see a free-to-play model that works and with the new fee-to-play microtransactions in Dead Space 3 it certainly seems that publishers are greedy enough to actually go ahead with such a thing if they think there is enough potential for money in it, but I worry about how this would affect the singleplayer experience. Unless this means Crytek is moving away from that entirely, in which case I wish them all the best and will be perusing their forums for a thread which explains how to bypass the G-Face platform in order to play their games… What?! They’re free-to-play. Don’t hate.
Do you have a possible alternative, or any thoughts to share regarding free-to-play triple-A singleplayer offerings? Share them below. We won’t even charge you.
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