Develop-Online, the group that initially broke the news that Team Fortress 2 would be going to a free to play format, effective immediately, has a great interview with Valve's Robin Walker.
There is plenty more where this came from over at Develop-Online. Could this be the title that finally unseats Counter-Strike as the top played game on Steam?
How will Team Fortress 2 be monetised? Just through microtransactions or in-game ads and other routes?
Right now we’re only planning on using the items you can purchase from the in-game store.
Is there a concern that you've let the genie out of the bottle? A triple-A high-quality game for free will change expectations on what you charge for other games, will it not?
We’re always improving on the relationship we have with our customers, and we’re willing to run experiments if we think it will help us learn how to do that better.
Is the free-to-play move motivated as much by a desire to get people to try the game as it is monetary?
Sure. It's a belief of ours that in multiplayer games it's generally true that the more people playing the game, the higher value the game has for each individual customer.
The more players, the more available servers in your area, the wider variety of other players you'll find, the greater the opportunity for new experiences, and so on.
Another way we think of it is that there are a class of players who will never pay us a dime, for a variety of reasons. We're not upset by that, it's just a constraint we need to design around. The interesting problem to solve is how to make those freeloaders produce value for our paying customers. Obviously, getting those free players into the game is the first step to doing that.
Right now we’re only planning on using the items you can purchase from the in-game store.
Is there a concern that you've let the genie out of the bottle? A triple-A high-quality game for free will change expectations on what you charge for other games, will it not?
We’re always improving on the relationship we have with our customers, and we’re willing to run experiments if we think it will help us learn how to do that better.
Is the free-to-play move motivated as much by a desire to get people to try the game as it is monetary?
Sure. It's a belief of ours that in multiplayer games it's generally true that the more people playing the game, the higher value the game has for each individual customer.
The more players, the more available servers in your area, the wider variety of other players you'll find, the greater the opportunity for new experiences, and so on.
Another way we think of it is that there are a class of players who will never pay us a dime, for a variety of reasons. We're not upset by that, it's just a constraint we need to design around. The interesting problem to solve is how to make those freeloaders produce value for our paying customers. Obviously, getting those free players into the game is the first step to doing that.
There is plenty more where this came from over at Develop-Online. Could this be the title that finally unseats Counter-Strike as the top played game on Steam?