Free-to-play games have always been met with caution. Something is rarely free for no reason. Traditionally, free games have been of lower quality, and it has been a method for indie developers to showcase their ideas to see if there is interest. But lately, large gaming companies have started to offer free games or free-to-play games. The concept has spread across genres, and it benefits both players and developers.
NetEnt offers demo games
Free-to-play can look a little different. A common variant allows players to play the game with basic features and pay to unlock more advanced equipment or gameplay. Another popular variant is demo games, which are common in the casino industry.
NetEnt, the market’s leading casino games operator, has chosen to gather its award-winning video slots as demos in one place. They have combined their classic slots with their branded slots. In other words, you can find games like Starburst and Twin Spin along with Jumanji, Guns n’ Roses and Jimi Hendrix. Players can try all the games for free or with a bonus. This gives them a chance to explore the range and discover the quality of both action and graphics. Once they feel they have found the slot games they want to play for real money, they can move on to any of the online casinos that have NetEnt’s games in their range.
Sportsbetting, on the other hand, is one of the niches where you can’t play for free before trying with real money. Instead, the best bonus betting sites will give their players free bets or match bonuses so the players can try it out for an affordable price.
Classic gaming companies change concept
The rise of high-quality free-to-play games, such as League of Legends and Dota 2, has prompted several gaming companies to switch to offering their games free-to-play.
Activision, the company behind the Call of Duty games, chose to release the battle royale version of Call of Duty: Warzone as free-to-play. Originally, the game mode would have been included in the Black Ops 4 game, but they chose to release the game standalone to attract more players to the franchise. In addition to being free-to-play, the game is available for cross-play, which means that players can play against each other regardless of their device.
Another game that has become free-to-play is Rocket League. This game could previously be purchased on Steam. When the game company Epic bought the game’s developer, Psyonix, they chose to make Rocket League available as free-to-play on their website. Interest grew so much that the Epic Store servers couldn’t handle the pressure when that happened.
Games: product or service?
The games industry has begun to split into two camps. Some believe that games should be bought before they are played, and those who think that today’s games are similar to services. Depending on where this discussion ends, we could see a change in how we pay for games.
Some believe that free-to-play, or rather free-to-start, will grow. Players will get a free basic offer with the possibility to buy add-ons for smaller transactions. Others believe that subscription services will become commonplace, meaning that players pay a monthly fee to play as much as they want. A few believe that we will continue to buy games separately.
Whatever the future holds, it seems that more players are interested in deciding how they play and at what cost. That’s true whether it’s free video slots at NetEnt, or free FPS and MMORPG games.
