Next-gen consoles need free-to-play games to survive: Crytek

Speaking to NowGamer at Gamescom 2013, Crytek’s Warface Senior Producer, Wim Coveliers said that Sony and Microsoft needed to embrace the coming wave of free-to-play (F2P) titles that are slowly gaining market share on the desktop PC.

If they don’t, Coveliers warns, both consoles could face irrelevance when the model takes over the standard retail model used by all major game publishers today.

“I think we’re going to a model where you have these really big releases, that will still be there and that millions of people will still buy, but for the average game, especially new IP, that might not be the most valid way of getting your game out there anymore,” said Coveliers.

“To make free to play work, developers also need to shy away from the temptation of just making everything multiplayer. I want to see single-player free to play, I want to see how people do that. I think there will be some misteps and it will be difficult, but I think over time, as people embrace the free-to-play method, they will want to see other things than just multiplayer games,” said Coveliers.

Both the Playstation 4 and Xbox One will be hitting shores internationally in 2013 before the year is out, with the PS4 coming to South Africa on 6 December at a price of R6299.

Microsoft South Africa has not committed to a launch date or prices for the Xbox One locally, fuelling speculation that it will only reach our shores in late 2014.

So what if you’ve saved up enough money for the console itself, but don’t have enough left for any games?

Sony seems to know that this will happen, and have planned a bevy of free games to play at launch to keep you busy twiddling the thumb sticks instead of just twiddling your thumbs. The table below lists the free-to-play titles for PS4 owners and those who take out a Playstation Plus subscription.

In addition, every PS4 console at launch will ship with a free 14 day trial of Playstation Plus, enabling you to play and finish #Driveclub and Resogun without buying them.

Sony’s Playstation 4 will be launching with roster of fifteen launch titles that will be available for purchase both in-store and online, including Battlefield 4, FIFA 14, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, and Ubisoft’s much-awaited Watch_Dogs.

Source: NowGamer

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