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Crytek: All future games are going to be free to play

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I just watched Mel Gibson die at the end of Braveheart. I couldn't hold my tears back any longer, my passion for my country was just too much. I've never been so proud to be English.

The gaming industry is changing at a rapid pace lately. We’ve gone from cartridges that we had to blow (dust out of), to CD-ROMs, DVDs, Blu-Ray discs and cloud-based gaming in recent years, highlighting a new trend in the industry.

We’ve also got big budget games, preferring to offer a freemium service to subscribers, giving them an entire world to play with for free, with the option of only paying for the game if they want more.

And now, Crytek is going to be joining that list.

Speaking to VideoGamer, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli confirmed that the developer behind such games as Crysis and Far Cry would be shifting their efforts into the world of free games, as he felt that the current model of development was “milking customers to the death”.

“As we were developing console games we knew, very clearly, that the future is online and free-to-play,” Yerli said.

Right now we are in the transitional phase of our company, transitioning from packaged goods games into an entirely free-to-play experience.

What this entails is that our future, all the new games that we’re working on, as well new projects, new platforms and technologies, are designed around free-to-play and online, with the highest quality development.

The first such game that will be going free to play, will be the multiplayer FPS, Warface, once Crytek has finished work on its other traditionally boxed obligations. “As is evident in Warface, our approach is to ensure the best quality, console game quality,” Yerli said.

That implies budgets of between $10m to $30m – so no compromise there – but at the price-point of $0 entry.I think this is a new breed of games that has to happen to change the landscape, and be the most user-friendly business model.

Its all part of a new strategy from Crytek so far, as the developer feels that games will eventually move away from standalone products and become fully-fledged services instead, something that they feel is crucial to wards gamers not being exploited.

If you look at what kind of games are done in the packaged goods market, with DLCs and premium services and whatnot, it’s literally milking the customers to death.

It’s also a handy manner to cut out the publishing middleman, but whether or not this risky new direction works out for Crytek, truly is up in the clouds.

Last Updated: June 8, 2012

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