Free-to-play or $70 – The Future Price of Video Games

Free-to-play or $70 – The Future Price of Video Games

Free-to-play still remains popular, but Take-Two thinks otherwise with a $10 price hike.

Ever since Fortnite took the world by storm by the millions, more and more developers are looking at Epic Game’s free-to-play success as the blueprint for the next gravy-train in the industry. However, NBA 2K publisher Take-Two Interactive hopes to shift the status quo.

Fortnite wasn’t the first to realize the potential of a free-to-play model – both League of Legends and DOTA had already shown that profit isn’t limited to initial game-sales. They weren’t even the first to implement battle passes; they did, however, execute it in such a way that the future of monetization changed almost overnight.

Costing absolutely nothing, except for access to the now overshadowed co-op survival mode ‘Save the World’, Fortnite still managed to rake in a mind-boggling $1.8 billion in 2019 alone. While other games usually cost around $60 as per industry “standard,” almost all of Fortnite’s income came from the sale of micro-transactions.

Epic raised the revenue from micro-transactions as a whole increased by 49% thanks to their game’s massive reach and influence. Battle Royale became the hot new item, and immediately it seemed developers were more than eager to follow suit. However, you could argue that it was Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds that initially started the BR craze, while Fortnite simply capitalized on it.

In any case, the deciding factor that got people playing was the price. If two games offer a similar experience, and one of them is free, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that people will gravitate towards the safer bet. By not having a cost-of-entry, many thought to themselves, “What have I got to lose?”

Now, with the power of hindsight, it seems laughably obvious that free-to-play would be the latest trend. The objective is no longer to get players to buy your game, it’s to get players to spend money once they’re in. Making your product free to access is an excellent way to get your foot in the door – especially if you’re marketing towards a younger demographic that usually doesn’t have much disposable income.

So if you’re a kid with no job, little allowance (if any), and are looking for something free that isn’t a Flash game you’d find on ArmorGames or Kongregate, Fortnite would be incredibly tempting. And unlike flash titles and many other free-to-play games, Fortnite happened to have the blue-ribbon pedigree of Epic Games – the developers behind a little franchise known as Gears of War.

So not only is the game free, but it also comes at the hands of those responsible for one of the best-selling franchises of the seventh console generation. Knowing this, it seems all but inevitable that Fortnite would go on to be the massive juggernaut we know today.

This then brought upon tons of BR’s like Battlefield V’s ‘Firestorm,’ Apex Legends and now Infinity Ward’s Warzone – the latter two also following in the free-to-play, Battle pass fueled model. Now with the announcement of Halo: Infinite’s multiplayer also being free, and it’s not hard to guess that this trend of luring players in toward the marketplace with free-entrance isn’t going anywhere.

Conversely, publishing giant Take-Two Interactive is going in the complete opposite direction by debuting NBA 2K21 at $70 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

There isn’t any written rule that the standard price for games is $60, it’s just expectation gamers have become used to. Usually, games break the norm by being cheaper or by justifying the price increase with early-access, exclusive content, or incredibly unique ‘Collectors Editions’ that include physical items like working night-vision-goggles.

When asked about the decision, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnik said the “extremely modest price change” reflects the “quality of the experience.” Zelnick also argued that “There hasn’t been a price increase for frontline titles for a really long time, despite the fact that it costs a great deal more to make those titles.”

Many found that response unsatisfactory as Take-Two had made $2.668 billion in net revenue for the fiscal year 2019. If that wasn’t bad enough, NBA 2K20 had already caught a lot of flak for including un-skippable ads in a full-price game in addition to accusations of promoting gambling-like mechanics.

The combination of NBA 2K20’s underhanded practices and Take-Two’s Interactive’s weak response left many players wondering if other companies would follow suit should the ends justify such lucrative means. It happened with Fortnite - why wouldn’t it happen again?

Constant, long-term monetization will continue to be the lifeblood of the industry. The future of game-prices is diverging, but the days of paying $60 once haven’t gone anywhere – yet. This doesn’t mean they aren’t numbered.

Jose is a left-handed techno-mancer with an affinity for IPAs, big dogs, and black-and-white movies. Rebels are scum, Empire for life.
Gamer Since: 2004
Favorite Genre: RTS
Currently Playing: Mortal Kombat 1, Rimworld, Baldur's Gate 3
Top 3 Favorite Games:Wargame: Red Dragon, Metro: Last Light, Battlefield 4