Free-to-Play: Making Money From Games You Give Away

1. Economics: How the Money Works

The games industry, like music, TV, books and almost every entertainment medium today, is undergoing a rapid and confusing change. Retailers are struggling and publishers are panicking as the internet revolutionizes how their businesses function. Many don’t understand why it’s happening or what to do about it. They are floundering.

However, the games industry is lucky to have a solution. Free-to-play games allow you to build a relationship with your players as they interact over months or years with a single product that can evolve around them as they spend—or not. F2P games are the single best example of using the shift from new digital economies to create a new model and relationship between content producer ...