Mobile and console game developers have been dabbling in the “freemium” business model with their products for some time, and King.com’s Tommy Palm believes that said business model could be the way that the market heads in the future.

Speaking with IGN, Palm stated, “The micro-transaction is so strong and it’s definitely a much better model. I think all companies have to transition over to that. If you talk to many hardcore gamers, they’re not happy about it right now, but if you asked them about the long term, ‘Do you want to continue playing your favorite game for years to come ‘ And the answer will be yes.”

Pricing will play a huge part when it comes to the F2P market. “I think for companies it is very important to find a good balance. Free-to-play games are difficult to do, and you really need to be good at making it feel balanced to the gamers. So it’s not too greedy.

“At King, for instance, we took the decision to make our games truly free-to-play, so you will never end up in the position where you’re forced to pay. So you can play all the way to the end without having to pay. For instance, in Candy Crush, of the players who are on the last level, more than half of them didn’t pay to get there.”

Source: IGN