Why You Should Care About Free-To-Play Games

Turbine's DDO Unlimited recently went from traditional pricing to free-to-play

This whole free-to-play thing isn't going anywhere. This year at E3, I probably spent more time checking out free, advertising- or microtransaction-supported games than I did traditional retail products. Some were good, some were not, but the trend is blindingly obvious. "Freemium" (mark your calendars, this is the only time I'll willingly use that "word") titles are a big part of PC gaming moving forward, like it or not.

Plenty of folks don't need me to tell them that this is what's up. If you're like me, though, you've been trying not to look at the writing on the wall. Maybe it comes from a prejudice against "kiddie" fare like Runescape, or perhaps you just love the triple-A blockbusters and don't want to see them go. Either way, read on, and see why we can't keep our heads buried in the sand any longer.

In a lot of ways, this trend is the development community recognizing certain truths about PC gaming that smart companies (read: Blizzard) did long ago. Free games make so much more sense when you look at the reality of PC gaming:

1) There's little or no hardware barrier to entry. With few exceptions, free games are built to run on true lowest-common denominator hardware. We're talking Intel integrated laptop chipsets here. Makes sense, when you figure that around 50% of the 3D chipset market belongs to Intel, versus 29% for Nvidia and 18% for ATI/AMD. That's an awful lot more people you're able to get your product to and make money off of.

2) Piracy is neutralized. Illegal downloading is murder to the triple-A market, and we all know it. Who pirates a free game? Ever hear of anyone running bootleg MapleStory servers (with more than five people playing on them)? It's a lot easier to make a living when huge swathes of your potential market aren't stealing your product for free.

3) First hit's free, man. Games aren't narcotics, but it's obvious enough that giving someone a taste of your product to entice them to buy more (or click on more ads, or whatever) can be a good marketing strategy. Free-to-play takes it to extremes, but since the costs incurred for each free user are so microscopic, it works out.

4) Broadband is finally mature enough in the U.S. to support large-scale consumer digital distribution and scale the market large enough for free games to make a profit. This point has obvious applications all across the gaming spectrum, but it's not as critical to any other sector as it is to free-to-play (well, maybe MMOs).

This movement has been picking up steam for a long time in North America, and we're finally to the point that the games are worth playing and talking about (no offense, Runescape! But seriously, no way would I ever play it. No matter how much my nephews beg me to). Asian companies that have seen huge successes in their home territories have started to take the Western market seriously and release products that are localized well and/or somewhat changed to fit better with our culture (and are actually good. Sorry, Risk Your Life: Path of the Emperor!).

So tell me: What free games are you enjoying? I promise not to make too much fun of you if it's Runescape.

NEXT UP: Awesome sub-$20 PC games, and not just the old stuff. Write me in the comments or email me and tell me what your favorites are!