Freemium. Games. Those two words have changed the landscape of the gaming industry...and not in a good way.
Games like Candy Crush, The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff, and Spongebob Moves In have taken mobile platforms by storm, with (literally) millions of dollars being spent on in-game items that mean absolutely nothing.
Popular TV show South Park hit the nail right on the head with their latest episode, "Freemium Isn't Free".
Since Zynga first popularized (read: made a boat load of money off of) Farmville via Facebook and mobile platforms, companies have been scrambling to release freemium games to grab a piece of the pie. What's resulted has been nothing short of shocking. Horrible games being release by (sometimes) reputable companies as a blatant cash grab. Long dead Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games such as Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online have even taken this "freemium" approach wherein you can play the game for free, but must pay to unlock all of the features of a game. While this is a nice way for some players to interact with the basic concepts of a game, you're going to end up paying money if you want to do anything beyond whatever the developer considered "basic content".
This represents a huge problem for the gaming industry as a whole. With the rising popularity of freemium games, and free-to-play based MMO models, where does this leave larger AAA titles? Where does this leave indie developers trying to make a great game at a reduced ($5-$40) cost?
The answer: potentially dead in the water.
That might sound like a stretch, but when you think about it the potential outcome is scary.
Why would anyone want to pay $60 dollars for a game when you can play something for free and pay an amount totally of your choosing, at a time that you choose, to unlock other content? Why would anyone want to back something on Kickstarter or IndieGoGo when there is no guarantee the game is going to be fun/engaging/simple/insert words of choice here.
To think that South Park, a show normally taking such concepts and blowing them out to such sadistic proportions as to make Lady Gaga look sane, hit the nail on the head with this one floored me. Whats next?!
While I do believe freemium games have a place in the gaming industry, the pace and scale of which they are growing scares me to no end. I love video games of all kinds. From shooters, to RPG's, to skill required-smash the keyboard-throw something at a wall-games. I don't want to see these great games, and great potential for games go by the wayside because a publishing company is too greedy to let something innovative or creative go through.
What do you think of the rise of the freemium game? Is it good for the industry? Bad? Or are you indifferent? What games do you play? Let us know in the comments.