The model has been used by games such as Star Wars: The Old Republic, Apex Legends, Fortnite Battle Royale, and the majority of the MOBA games, which offer the "full version" of a product free of charge, while users are charged micropayments to access premium features and virtual goods, often in a piecemeal fashion.
[10] The free-to-play business model in online games was later realized by Nexon in South Korea to a degree first catching more major media attention at the time.
[citation needed] The free-to-play model originated in the late 1990s and early 2000s, coming from a series of highly successful MMOs targeted towards children and casual gamers, including Furcadia, Neopets, RuneScape,[13][14] MapleStory, and text-based dungeons such as Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands.
[17] In particular, the Nikkei Shimbun reported in September 2012 that Cinderella Girls was earning over 1 billion yen in revenue monthly from microtransactions.
[2] Turbine as of September 10, 2010, has given an F2P with Cash shop option to The Lord of the Rings Online which resulted in a tripling of profit.
[21] Sony Online Entertainment's move to transition EverQuest from a subscription model into a hybrid F2P/subscription game was followed by a 125% spike in item sales, a 150% up-tick in unique log-ins, and over three times as many account registrations.
The model was picked up by larger developers and more diverse genres, with games such as Battlefield Heroes,[9] Free Realms, Quake Live and Team Fortress 2[8] appearing in the late 2000s.
Traditional real time strategy franchises such as Age of Empires and Command & Conquer both attempted free-to-play titles.
As of 2012, free-to-play MOBAs, such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm, and Smite had become among the most popular PC games.
[28] The success in the genre has helped convince many video game publishers to copy the free-to-play MOBA model.
Gamers have cited the fact that purchasing a game for a fixed price is still inherently satisfying because the consumer knows exactly what they will be receiving, compared to free-to-play which requires that the player pay for most new content that they wish to obtain.
For example, with its Free Realms game targeted to children and casual gamers, Sony makes money from the product with advertisements on loading screens, free virtual goods sponsored by companies such as Best Buy, a subscription option to unlock extra content, a collectible card game, a comic book, and micropayment items that include character customization options.
[8] In 2020, a study from Germany concluded that some free-to-play games use the "money illusion" as a form to hide the true cost of products.
[43] This theory is that players who do not pay for items would still increase awareness of it through word of mouth marketing, which ultimately benefits the game indirectly.
[41][44] In response to concerns about players using payments to gain an advantage in the game, titles such as World of Tanks have explicitly committed to not giving paying players any advantages over their non-paying peers, while allowing the users buying the "gold" or "premium" ammo and expendables without paying the real money.
[8] Some psychologists, such as Mark D. Griffiths, have criticized the mechanics of freemium games as exploitative, drawing direct parallels to gambling addiction.
In February 2013, Eurogamer reported that Apple had agreed to refund a British family £1700.41 after their son had purchased countless microtransactions whilst playing the F2P game Zombies vs.
[49] Pointing to the disruptive effect of free-to-play on current models, IGN editor Charles Onyett stated in 2011 that "expensive, one-time purchases are facing extinction".
[51] In February 2015 Apple began featuring popular non-freemium software on the App Store as "Pay Once & Play", describing them as "Great Games with No In-App Purchases ... hours of uninterrupted fun with complete experiences".