Istiaq Ahmed Emon

Have you noticed a trend where a lot of game developers are adopting the free to play model for their games? Have you ever wondered why? According to various analytics sites, including Activeplayer.io, Statista, and mmo-population the most played games by average monthly player count include:

• Valorant – 22 million players
• Overwatch 2 – 23 million players
• Counter Strike: Global Offensive – 35 million players
• Call of Duty Warzone 2 – 50 million players
• Genshin Impact – 62 million players
• Apex Legends – 63 million players
• League of Legends – 120 million players
• Fortnite – 250 million players

What do all these games have in common? They’re all free to play. But are they really free? How do these games make money? Each of these games provide an option to buy in-game digital items which need to be purchased through real life currency. These in-app purchases are also known as microtransactions.

Game developers push these items in such an unavoidable way to the player which evokes a desire to purchase them. You open the game and the first thing you see is a pop up of the in-game store. The game recently got updated adding new content, most of which you have to purchase through real life currency. There’s an ongoing event including an updated store, the game pops up a window of the new items. Many of the items are limited timed exclusives which induces a fear of missing out among the players.

Free to play games are also referred to as live service games since they provide a periodically purchasable recurring premium pass. This premium pass gives the player exclusive access to various in-game item. The premium pass and the purchasable in-game items are priced modestly compared to a full priced game so the player doesn’t feel intimidated when purchasing them.

There’s a saying among game developers which goes something along the lines of “People don’t want to spend $10 upfront for a game but they’re okay with dropping $100 on the same game, if it’s free, over the course of a few months”

A game being free to play makes it way more accessible to a wider audience. As the price of admission is nothing, more people are willing to try them out. As opposed to a premium game where you spend an X amount of money upfront to even gain access to the game.

If a friend of yours refers a game to you, which one are you more willing to try out? The one that’s free or the one that costs you money? Even if you choose to not purchase any in-game items, word of mouth is very important and each subsequent person who tries the game may choose to purchase it. That’s why having a wide audience is very important to game developers.

Let’s take the most popular game in the list for example, Fortnite developed by Epic Games. Fortnite is raking in an average of 250 million monthly players. Using a variety of different sources including Statista and businessofapps, it is estimated that Fortnite has made around $20-25 billion since it has entered the gaming marking in 2017.

CEO of Epic Games Tim Sweeny himself has stated that Fortnite has made “$5.1 billion in gross revenue in 2020”. If we were to assume only 10% of the player base spends $1, then that’s still $25 million in profit per month. And judging from Epic Games’ revenue we can say that number is much higher.

Even so, the number of players not willing to purchase microtransactions is getting increasingly rarer day by day. There are lots of players who thought they would never buy anything, myself included. But the sheer amount of exposure these games get, coupled with the unavoidable nature of the microtransactions, even the most stubborn of players eventually give in and buy something.

Being an avid gamer myself, I never thought I would be someone who purchased any microtransactions. But eventually I too gave in. Playing games like Apex Legends and Overwatch 2, seeing various in-game items pushed in such a way, I found it very hard to refrain myself from purchasing them.

I finally succumbed to my urges and pulled the trigger. I even went as far as purchasing the premium pass. Friends I’ve referred these games to, also shared a similar mindset to me about not wanting to purchase any microtransactions. They too eventually caved and bought various in-game items.

These days, free to play doesn’t necessarily mean free. But rather it means paid for by microtransactions. So, the next time you’re playing a free to play game, ask yourself this, are you really playing the game or is the game playing you?

The writer is currently studying at Jahangirnagar University in the BBA-Marketing Program.