Wilson said Tripwire, a small independent studio founded in 2005, has been able to sell a total of 1 million PC software units by offering free downloadable content, making the title more attractive to gamers as time went on. I know they need the money - but they won’t be getting it that way from me.' 'It would make me feel like I have paid the money to buy a new car and then I have to pay Ford to be allowed to drive it every day too. If some companies go that way, I’d expect to see them offer something new and different for that money - persistent worlds, ever-expanding gameplay, giant servers - something that justifies me laying out money every month.' 'I don’t think there is any decent justification for subscription models for online multiplayer, except to rake in more cash. He's generally against charging for a boxed FPS in conjunction with a monthly fee. 'Giving players the opportunity to buy extra stuff is just fine, so long as they aren’t 'forced' to do it,' said Alan Wilson, VP of Roswell, GA-based Red Orchestra and Killing Floor developer Tripwire Interactive. That's likely not the case - smart companies will think of new ways to add value to an online experience to justify a recurring fee.įirst-person shooter developers have varying opinions on the monetization of their specialty genre.

Such talk taken out of context leads to speculation among gamers that Activision and other publishers may simply tack monthly fees onto existing online gaming services provided today. 'We expect the publishers, led by Activision, to devise a way to extract value from consumers who are playing online,' he said recently. Oft-quoted analyst Michael Pachter with Wedbush suggested that the times are over when game publishers can sit back and watch gamers play titles like Call of Duty for hundreds of hours for free online.

Recent speculation about charging subscription fees for online shooters came about when Activision CEO Bobby Kotick - who has before mentioned a Call of Duty MMO - openly mused this summer how he 'would have Call of Duty be an online subscription service tomorrow' if he could. Increased monetization of online shooters is coming, and gamers adamantly opposed to emerging business models should probably get used to the idea.

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