In 2012, GAMESbrief will move on from arguing about whether free-to-play works to how to make free-to-play work.
As I wrote in my last Gamasutra column of 2011, freemium has won and it’s time to move on. Even if you don’t believe free-to-play will take over all aspects of gaming, it’s hard to argue that it doesn’t work, isn’t profitable or doesn’t make games the players love.
So in 2012, I am going to be much less strident about the value of the business model and much more focused on the how-to.
How to cross-promote and acquire customers more cheaply.
This is all the context of my ARM Yourself framework (Acquisition – Retention – Monetisation) and the free-to-play spreadsheet that I have already published for free.
Importantly, I will also try to talk more about fun in games. Metrics-led design has value, but without fun, there is no game.
So here’s to more fun in 2012.