Valve has announced that they will now be supporting free-to-play (F2P) titles on the Steam service. Yes, there have been free games on Steam before, such as Alien Swarm, but those are not to be confused with the F2P model. Instead of once-off purchases or subscriptions, F2P gamers can make micro-transactions to purchase in-game enhancements, additional content, and customise their experience.
Five games have been launched along with the announcement. These are: Spiral Knights, Forsaken Worlds, Champions Online: Free for All, Global Agenda: Free Agent, and Alliance of Valliant Arms (AVA).
Valve is launching the games with an incentive scheme. Beginning today (Wednesday 15 May 2011) with Spiral Knights and concluding Sunday with AVA, each of the five launch titles will offer exclusive in-game content to those who try the “F2P game of the day” on Steam. Specific details on the F2P games of the day and their exclusive in-game content will be made available in the coming days.
In-game transactions in all of the titles will be supported by Steam’s micro-transaction backend system that is available to Steamworks partners and currently used in Valve’s Team Fortress 2.
“The introduction of Free to Play games is another example of the constant evolution of Steam,” said Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. “Free to Play games offer new game genres and game experiences for customers, while offering developers and publishers new revenue opportunities and the ability to reach customers in areas of the world where the traditional packaged goods model is less popular than F2P.”
Steam now supports free-to-play games << Comments and views
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