Crytek's showing at E3 this year was fairly polarizing; on one hand, Warface is a new multiplayer shooter from the developers of the Crysis series. On the other, it's a free-to-play social game, something that hardcore gamers by principle detest.
But it's also a triple-A, hardcore shooter, Crytek assures, and the free-to-play model shouldn't hinder shooter fans from enjoying it. They're so confident in this that they've announced that once all their contracts to produce traditional retail gamers (Crysis 3, etc.) are up, all their games moving forward will be free-to-play on their new social platform, GFACE.
"As we were developing console games we knew, very clearly, that the future is online and free-to-play," said Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli.
"Right now we are in the transitional phase of our company, transitioning from packaged goods games into an entirely free-to-play experience. What this entails is that our future, all the new games that we're working on, as well new projects, new platforms and technologies, are designed around free-to-play and online, with the highest quality development."
The budgets will remain triple-A, but the entry price for consumers gets knocked down to $0. Yerli added that the way the market currently works is detrimental to consumers.
"If you look at what kind of games are done in the packaged goods market, with DLCs and premium services and whatnot, it's literally milking the customers to death," he said.
We can't argue with that. But how can F2P games ever be profitable without milking customers for their money? Will you ever embrace the free-to-play revolution? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter.
[via Videogamer]
