Namco Bandai Says Freemium Games Are Hurting High Quality Titles – Gives Consumers Unrealistic Pricing Expectations
If you fancy yourself an Android gamer, you’ve probably noticed the growing trend of “free” titles landing in the Android Market. More and more game publishers are switching over to the free-to-play or “freemium” business model, offering their games free of charge — but with a catch. Players soon learn that a game is sometimes unplayable without buying various in-game items via in-app purchases to progress.
I have a love/hate relationship when it comes to freemium games in the Market. I think when executed correctly, a game can be enhanced by in-app purchase. For instance, when buying upgrades or power-ups — things that enhance gameplay. Where things turn sour is when an in-app purchase is practically required just to progress in a game and that’s where players are get salty, resulting in low ratings for the app.
If free-to-play games aggravate you as a consumer, a few game publishers aren’t too particularly fond of them either. Namco Bandai is one such game publisher who had some rather harsh words to say about this new “free-to-play” business model that’s been sweeping the nation. During a videogames conference in Europe, Oliver Comte, Namco Bandai’s senior VP for Europe said he believes free-to-play games are hurting the industry by giving consumers unrealistic pricing expectations that bigger triple-A titles cannot possibly compete with.
“Free-to-play games can’t be high quality. We need to put certain value on certain work. When you’re a big company, you can’t take risks too quickly, you can’t make a change just because there’s a fashion for a couple of years; you want to be there in 20 or 30 years.”
I would definitely disagree with Mr. Comte when it comes to the quality of freemium titles. I’ve seen plenty that are more full featured and graphically impressive than anything Namco Bandai can churn out although, I do believe he’s right in saying consumers are beginning to expect every title to come with a $0.00 price tag.
That being said, developers have to make their money somehow — whether through ads or in-app purchases — so remember that the next time you leave feedback in the Market. Developing ain’t easy and freemium games don’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Would be nice to see developers being offering 2 versions of their games — full priced and freemium. Now, that’s a trend I could get behind.
[Via IndustryGamers | PocketGamer]