Free-to-play (F2P, FTP) refers to any
gameA game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas...
that has an option of allowing its players to play without paying. Some of these games have both a free version and a
Pay to PlayPay to Play, sometimes pay for play, and payola, is a phrase which has been used for a variety of situations in which money is exchanged for services or the privilege to engage in certain activities. It always refers to a rarely prosecuted form of bribery called commercial bribery...
version that offers the full version of the game and all of the updates. Free-to-play games with pay-to-play components utilize the
freebie marketingFreebie marketing, also known as the razor and blades business model, is the concept of either giving away a salable item for nothing or charging an extremely low price to generate a continual market for another, generally disposable, item. The concept was pioneered by King C...
technique to draw in a user base with this advanced type of
game demoA game demo is a freely distributed demonstration or preview of an upcoming or recently released computer or video game.Demos are typically released by the game's publisher to help consumers get a feel of the game before deciding whether to buy the full version.-Distribution:In the early 1990s,...
. The term "free-to-play" is frequently heard in the context of
massively multiplayer online gameA massively multiplayer online game is a video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on personal computers...
s (MMOGs).
Many game developers keep a free-to-play version running so people can try the game before paying the membership costs.
Free-to-play (F2P, FTP) refers to any
gameA game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas...
that has an option of allowing its players to play without paying. Some of these games have both a free version and a
Pay to PlayPay to Play, sometimes pay for play, and payola, is a phrase which has been used for a variety of situations in which money is exchanged for services or the privilege to engage in certain activities. It always refers to a rarely prosecuted form of bribery called commercial bribery...
version that offers the full version of the game and all of the updates. Free-to-play games with pay-to-play components utilize the
freebie marketingFreebie marketing, also known as the razor and blades business model, is the concept of either giving away a salable item for nothing or charging an extremely low price to generate a continual market for another, generally disposable, item. The concept was pioneered by King C...
technique to draw in a user base with this advanced type of
game demoA game demo is a freely distributed demonstration or preview of an upcoming or recently released computer or video game.Demos are typically released by the game's publisher to help consumers get a feel of the game before deciding whether to buy the full version.-Distribution:In the early 1990s,...
. The term "free-to-play" is frequently heard in the context of
massively multiplayer online gameA massively multiplayer online game is a video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on personal computers...
s (MMOGs).
Many game developers keep a free-to-play version running so people can try the game before paying the membership costs. It also helps attract more players to the game. Other developers, for example Softnyx or Nexon, generate revenue by selling in-game items that significantly enhance the player's in-game experience. In-game items can be purely cosmetic (vanity items), enhance the power of the player (power items), or accelerate progression speed (booster items). A common technique used by developers of these games is for the items purchased to have a time limit, after this expires the item must be repurchased before use can continue.
The term
forever free-to-play game (FF2P) is used to distinguish MMOGs that promise to never charge a subscription fee from those that are currently free-to-play but may become pay-to-play in the future. It applies only to
online gameAn online game is a game played over some forms of computer network. At the present, this almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology; but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...
s because while a conventional singleplayer
freeware game becomes free-forever as soon as it is downloaded to the player's hard drive, a free online game may start charging a fee and instantly transform into a pay-to-play game.
There are many games specifically designed around the free-to-play model. The largest number of
monetized (revenue generating) free-to-play games are developed in
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
and
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, where they dominate 90% of the gaming market. Companies that pioneered the Korean monetized free-to-play model are Nexon,
NHNNHN Corporation is an Internet content service operator headquartered in Seongnam, South Korea and established in 1998. It operates the Naver portal, which is the most popular Internet portal and search engines in South Korea, and Hangame, the country's number one online game portal. It also has...
,
YNK InteractiveYNK Interactive is a game publisher company founded in 2005 based in Orange County, California. A wholly-owned subsidiary of YNK Korea, a Korea online game developer and publisher...
,
Neowiz- Company history :NEOWIZ is an internet and online game service company in South Korea founded in 1997. In 1998, NEOWIZ released the world’s first automatic internet access software, One Click, which helped users skip different settings for internet access through dial-ups...
,
Astrum Online EntertainmentAstrum Online Entertainment is a Russian holding company which operates in the online entertainment market of Eastern Europe. Founded in the beginning of December, 2007, it incorporated four companies, which specialize in development, publishing and operating online games: Nival Online, IT...
and Aeria Games.
There are Free-to-Play, Pay-to-Connect games such as
Knight Online, where there is no charge for playing but often the free servers are congested. Access to uncongested servers is reserved for fee-paying members.
Play 4 Free
Play 4 Free is a specific, brand of free-to-play games such as EA:
Battlefield HeroesBattlefield Heroes is a cartoon-style action video game developed by EA. It is played from context-specific third- and first-person shooter perspectives. The game is said to be placing less emphasis on skill and strategy, and will be less demanding on computer specifications than the previous games...
, Aeria Games:
ShaiyaShaiya is a MMORPG created by Sonov Entertainment and published in North America and Europe by Aeria Games and Entertainment....
, and Nexon: Maple Story
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