By Contributing Author
Mobile gaming can be a weird pastime at times, especially for those who try to understand the payment models. There are many games that are free-to-play, also known as freemium games, and it may have seemed when they first became popular, they were truly free. We learnt that this is not the case, and while this may have proven controversial at one time, it seems people are accepting it.
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The idea behind the free-to-play game is that you download it at no cost to yourself. You can play the game as much as you like without having to pay a thing, but what you will find is the ability to extend your enjoyment with extra payments. This can be through more lives to use on the game, more resources for your strategy game, or more chips in online roulette.
The fact about these payments is that they are built on giving the player the choice. You don’t have to spend this money, but it appears that many people have chosen to do so, and why is this? The simple fact is that these payments, also known as microtransactions are often cheap, and are easy to use. They extend your play, and make the game more enjoyable in the long run.
For those who like to take the hard route, or tend to not want to put money into a game like this, the ability to play is still there. The fact that there is a choice though is in the end the most important aspect of the game. The fact that this works for free games is very telling, when paid games tend to be more controversial when they include microtransactions.
What is the future of microtransactions in gaming? We know that it will remain to be strong in mobile gaming, but looking at console and PC games, there is evidence that microtransactions do have their place. Just looking at Overwatch and its Loot Box system shows this, as does the “episode” model that Hitman uses.
Mobile gamers will always be more accepting of paying money into their games, mostly because the games are free-to-play before voluntary payments are made. The simple fact is, it is more accessible to add money to a free game to get more out of it, than to pay full price for a Triple-A game and be expected to pay more.
