Land of the Freemium

Here in the states it's Independence Day. In the spirit of festivity I thought I'd write about something that's vaguely related to a synonym of "independence." Let's talk about "freemium" games.



Freemium is a type of game that has gained huge popularity in the mobile gaming market. A freemium title is simply a piece of basic software that can be acquired for free, but the better stuff must still be purchased. If you've ever downloaded a free game that wanted you to purchase levels, weapons, extra lives, or even something cosmetic, you have dealt with a freemium title before.

Freemium games aren't evil in and of themselves. They do an amazing thing by letting anyone experience the game for free, and then allowing users to invest in the game if they find that they really click with it. "Try before you buy" if you will.

It also lets people spend at their own pace. Killer Instinct, which is releasing for Xbox One, is going to be a freemium fighting game. Downloading it will give you access to a single character with the option to purchase more characters later. So rather than someone spending $20 and only playing 2 or 3 characters regularly, they can purchase those characters individually for a few dollars each.

It also lets game creators do fun things in the game. Almost every freemium game I've played has a lot of cosmetic items for purchase. Costumes, weapon skins, menu screens... things that don't directly affect gameplay usually fill the majority of their store. Stuff like this can be a lot of fun because it shows a user's dedication to the game, and also sets their own character apart from the "free" looking characters spread across that game.

In a utopia, freemium would be an ideal model because it would let users play at their own pace, and game creators would be able to make whatever fun cosmetic upgrades and new maps/weapons they wanted. Of course this is the real world, and in the real world people suck.

While games like League of Legends, Team Fortress 2, and Happy Wars do freemium right, they are very much the exception to the rule. Many freemium titles are nothing more than cash-ins from the game creators, who purposely put you at a disadvantage because you aren't playing the game. Many MMOs are guilty of this, making your character practically useless unless you spend $5 for a new sword, or spend 20+ hours trying to earn enough money to buy it with in-game currency.

One popular way for freemium creators to show their greed is to strong-arm people in to paying for the game. This is usually seen in the form of in-game ads all over the place. I'm not talking about games like Angry Birds that advertises their own game on the pause screen. I mean those who put ads everywhere. On top of chat windows, near important buttons, or just throwing up 5-20 second full-screen ads periodically is nothing short of bully tactics, especially when they have a line of text by the ads that says "Sick of ads? Click here to get rid of them!". Telling me I have to pay to not be annoyed by a game is proof that this isn't a game, but a reimagining of paying the mob protection money so they don't break your legs.

One thing that's always blown my mind is in-game purchases that get your something temporary. One popular type of game has you planting a farm or building a town, with things eventually taking up to 72 hours before you can interact with the planted crops or newly-completed building. But there's another way! You can always buy an in-game currency, which can only be gained with cash, and use that to instantly finish whatever you're waiting for. This is always done so that you can construct more buildings, which take longer to complete, and thus making you want to buy more currency. It's a vicious cycle in a game that has no real end - all you do from beginning to end is build, wait, build more.

Unfortunately this model works, and simultaneously sucks, because of our culture. We live in a world of "I want it now," and we're more than happy to pay $.99 to make our pumpkins in Farmville grow instantly, rather than waiting 8 hours. We'll pay $4 for the Sword of Eventual Uselessness, knowing darn well that we'll have to pay even more money later on when we hit another area of the game that can't be passed without spending even more. And after spending so much, we can't stop playing because we've already spent $80, and we don't want that to go to waste by not reaching the "end" of the game.

Unfortunately, there usually isn't an end to the game because we're not really playing games. Games with a purchase price can safely have an end because, for the most part, they've gotten all the money they can out of their customer. They don't have the compulsion to keep offering content behind a pay wall because that's not their customer base. If I pay $5 for a game, I expect to experience everything the game has to offer. Some games still offer in-app purchases that make content easier, but that's usually to pass a difficult level, and is never a matter of "pay this or lose 8 hours of your life."

I would argue that games with any form of payment that isn't 100% optional, or at least stated up front (a la Killer Instinct) is just a facade. Real games, free or not, are meant to be enjoyed. Bad freemium games are incredibly shallow and built on meaningless progression, eschewing story or even fun gameplay mechanics because they aren't needed. Instead they give you bursts of progress followed by asking you to pay to keep that feeling of momentum going. They make things arbitrarily more expensive and make you choose between spending $3 on gold coins, or several days earning them in the game. It's fascinating from a psychology standpoint, because if someone wants to get a full gaming experience out of a free game, odds are that they'll be paying $100+, rather than $3-6 for a mobile game, or even $60 for a AAA title on console or PC.

The fact that enough people will pay to remove ads; get more in-game currency; or pay for something that doesn't persist through the entire game (i.e. a 100% XP boost for an hour) is so popular that game makers keep doing it is also a bit saddening. It means that they aren't being challenged to make better games that make us want to pay. It tells me that they get away with bullying people out of their money by pretending that their game is worth the investment, even though they'll just be pressuring that same person to pay more money in a week. And of course, it means that people are far too trusting (or short sighted) in thinking that this will be the only time they will have to pay money for a game they got for free.

This post isn't meant to spark a revolution or even move you to action. It's just something that has always bothered me ever since I first hit a cash wall in a game. If you've ever paid money in a game, trust me that I'm not judging you. It's tempting because it's so easy, and after investing 5 hours in a free game it sucks to just put it down without seeing what's on the other side of that wall. I can't wait for this whole freemium model to collapse on itself because too many people are trying to take advantage of kids and people with expendable income. Until then, I'd encourage everyone to support paid games that deliver a full experience, rather than ones that hold our fun hostage.


See you tomorrow!

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