Crysis developer Crytek going free-to-play

[Guild McCommunist]

Crytek, the developers behind such notable games as the Crysis franchise, are turning into a free-to-play developer, once their current contracts are completed.

This news comes from Cevat Yerli, CEO of Crytek, who said that "the future is online and free-to-play,"

However, Yerli stressed that Crytek's free to play games won't be lazily done or low budget. Yerli said that the games will be "triple-A" quality and will have budgets consisting from $10 million to $30 million.

On microtransactions and DLC, which are currently the source of much controversy in games (particularly free-to-play ones), Yerli had some stern words for developers: "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."

Crytek is currently developing Crysis 3 and Homefront 2, with Crysis 3 recently making multiple appearances at E3. As a side note though, neither of these games will be free-to-play, only everything after that.

Source

 

[machomuu]

I don't know if this is disappointing yet, I'll wait to see what they develop first before making any judgments, but it certainly is an interesting move on their part.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I feel this kinda puts the last nail in the coffin for Timesplitters 4, I don't see that game going free-to-play. Well, maybe a F2P MMOFPS type of set up like TF2 might work, it just wouldn't be Timesplitters 4.

 

[shakirmoledina]

google have most of their projects free to apply. facebook is fully free. youtube (as a separate entity) is fully free. wikipedia is fully free (but i guess they arent earning anything). these websites are top visited and earn the most online.

Google guys said here in tanzania that we are losing a lot in youtube and we could put a lot of stuff on our first page of google but we arent bcz ppl will not be happy. take care of the people and automatically the money will roll in. they are succeeding.

 

[Rydian]

Wait what.

"We used to sell games for money, but now we're going F2P! F2P's practices in regards to earning lots of money suck, BTW."

I don't know what to think.

 

[Hadrian]

Blacklight: Retribution on the PC showed that you can make a quality good looking and great to play free to play title.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Wait what.

"We used to sell games for money, but now we're going F2P! F2P's practices in regards to earning lots of money suck, BTW."

I don't know what to think.

Well I think they're criticizing current F2P practices and look to implement something so, um, "radical" that it won't be so shit.

Although Valve around mastered F2P games so you're not going to get far unless you're them or feel like having hats in all your games.

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

As much as I don't want it, I can totally see TF4 being F2P. Look at all the characters TF2 and 3 had, with a total of like 5 different stat sets + a couple attributes like small or fireproof. Give a few characters for free to cover all the bases, and charge $1-3 per-DLC character. A few more for classic maps, arcade challenges, or special game modes, and all that. I'd prefer to buy a game that was complete and feature-filled out-of-the-box like the other TimeSplitters games, so if they don't offer a reasonably-priced complete version and a basic F2P, I won't be buying it, assuming it actually exists.

 

[Gahars]

Crytek, if you give me a good, free to play Timesplitters sequel, I will take back every bad thing I have ever said about you. I will sign a blood oath if you need that to convince you.

Come on. Do it.

 

[stanleyopar2000]

FUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKK

god knows that the growing Fremium genre is *almost* all the time a fucking waste for making it free....

Play for Free

Pay To Win.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

FUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKK

god knows that the growing Fremium genre is *almost* all the time a fucking waste for making it free....

Play for Free

Pay To Win.

Well only shit devs make shit freemium games. Play for free only becomes pay to win if you're bad.

Good devs (like Valve) have realized this and made pretty large cash off of their F2P games (well, only one game is officially released but Dota 2 is basically just a selective release).

 

[Rydian]

If somebody said "What other than Minecraft started indie and got really popular?" then I could answer.
Terraria, Cave Story, LIMBO, Bastion, Super Meat Boy, Braid, and the list goes on.

If somebody said "What other than TF2 has done F2P with microtransactions properly?" I wouldn't have an answer. I can't think of a single one, and of the many, many games that adopt an "F2P" model, the vast majority are bad. Like, Pay2Win (Pay2Win is not just paying for good equipment) and $99 barrel of smurfberries bad.

 

[Gahars]

If somebody said "What other than Minecraft started indie and got really popular?" then I could answer.
Terraria, Cave Story, LIMBO, Bastion, Super Meat Boy, Braid, and the list goes on.

If somebody said "What other than TF2 has done F2P with microtransactions properly?" I wouldn't have an answer.

The upcoming Dota 2? League of Legends? Tribes Ascend? Super Monday Night Combat?

A fair number of games use the Free to Play approach poorly, sure, but there are still a fair number of ones that use a good (or at least, reasonable) approach.

 

[Rydian]

If somebody said "What other than Minecraft started indie and got really popular?" then I could answer.
Terraria, Cave Story, LIMBO, Bastion, Super Meat Boy, Braid, and the list goes on.

If somebody said "What other than TF2 has done F2P with microtransactions properly?" I wouldn't have an answer.

The upcoming Dota 2? League of Legends? Tribes Ascend? Super Monday Night Combat?

A fair number of games use the Free to Play approach poorly, sure, but there are still a fair number of ones that use a good (or at least, reasonable) approach.

I read up on it since the thread, and DOTA2 lets you pay for EXP increases (and I don't know why people are pretending that's not Pay2Win). For the others I'm not sure, don't have any experience with them, mind tossing details at me?

 

[nryn99]

If somebody said "What other than Minecraft started indie and got really popular?" then I could answer.
Terraria, Cave Story, LIMBO, Bastion, Super Meat Boy, Braid, and the list goes on.

If somebody said "What other than TF2 has done F2P with microtransactions properly?" I wouldn't have an answer.

The upcoming Dota 2? League of Legends? Tribes Ascend? Super Monday Night Combat?

A fair number of games use the Free to Play approach poorly, sure, but there are still a fair number of ones that use a good (or at least, reasonable) approach.

I read up on it since the thread, and DOTA2 lets you pay for EXP increases (and I don't know why people are pretending that's not Pay2Win). For the others I'm not sure, don't have any experience with them, mind tossing details at me?

hmmm...afaik there's nothing you unlock using levels. besides cosmetics. which doesn't affect stats.
but like i said before, it must not hinder some status visual effects or it may affect the outcome of a match.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

hmmm...afaik there's nothing you unlock using levels. besides cosmetics. which doesn't affect stats.
but like i said before, it must not hinder some status visual effects or it may affect the outcome of a match.

A friend of mine has been a devout Dota 2 player since the beta opened up and I can ask him when I see him. But I'm rather sure the entire profit of Dota 2 is reliant on glorified virtual hats.

Valve really loves virtual hats.

 

[Rydian]

Having users pay for cosmetics is the way to go.

 

[machomuu]

Having users pay for cosmetics is the way to go.

I like it when publishers/developers use purely cosmetic merchandise to capitalize off of their free products. In games like Mabinogi, I feel sort of left out because there is a lot in the game that would otherwise alienate you if you didn't buy them. However, when it comes to cosmetics, it's merely a matter of preference, and thus you have no real need to feel alienated because someone's wearing a Toaster Hat and you're not.

 

[Gahars]

If somebody said "What other than Minecraft started indie and got really popular?" then I could answer.
Terraria, Cave Story, LIMBO, Bastion, Super Meat Boy, Braid, and the list goes on.

If somebody said "What other than TF2 has done F2P with microtransactions properly?" I wouldn't have an answer.

The upcoming Dota 2? League of Legends? Tribes Ascend? Super Monday Night Combat?

A fair number of games use the Free to Play approach poorly, sure, but there are still a fair number of ones that use a good (or at least, reasonable) approach.

I read up on it since the thread, and DOTA2 lets you pay for EXP increases (and I don't know why people are pretending that's not Pay2Win). For the others I'm not sure, don't have any experience with them, mind tossing details at me?

I remember hearing about Dota 2 offering Experience bonuses (x2, x4, etc.) as a rumor, but I can't find anything about it now. From what I can find, the things you can purchase are only cosmetic. All of the heroes are free from day one.

(From what I've picked up from my friends who play the game) League of Legends does not have all the heroes as free; the developers are constantly creating new characters for the game, and they have to be purchased. However, the developers frequently offer free weekends for characters so players can test them out before making a purchase. There are also alternate skins to purchase.

Super Monday Night Combat, like Team Fortress 2, appears to offer cosmetic items that can be traded with other users.

Tribes Ascend has a mix. You can earn new classes, weapons, etc. through playing the game or purchase it upfront (I remember Battlefield doing something similar). From what I've heard of the game, though, this really hasn't affected much in the way of the game's balance. There are also cosmetic items to purchase as well.

I'm a little iffy about some of the info, so if I made a mistake or two somewhere, by all means correct me.

 

[nryn99]

Having users pay for cosmetics is the way to go.

I like it when publishers/developers use purely cosmetic merchandise to capitalize off of their free products. In games like Mabinogi, I feel sort of left out because there is a lot in the game that would otherwise alienate you if you didn't buy them. However, when it comes to cosmetics, it's merely a matter of preference, and thus you have no real need to feel alienated because someone's wearing a Toaster Hat and you're not.

haha, i was reminded of a time in a game where everyone's having christmas themed items and i'm the only one wearing halloween themed items.
it's because i wasn't able to attend a certain event.

yes preference. unless everyone wears the same theme. let's hope it won't be like that.