Free-to-play (F2P) games are booming. Whether you play on PC, console, or mobile, new titles are being released every year, with a huge 85% of gaming revenue now coming from F2P games. It’s a massively exciting time for the genre, though there’s speculation surrounding whether or not F2Ps will be a part of gaming’s long-term future.

Are Free-to-Play Games the Future?

The short answer is yes — F2P games are the future.

The main reason for this is because of mobile gaming. There are now over 3 billion mobile gamers around the world, making it the number one gaming platform, even more popular than PC and console. 90% of all mobile games are F2P, such as the highly popular Call of Duty: Mobile, so this is a model that consumers not only like but have gotten used to. On top of this, the free-to-play mobile gaming market is projected to reach 83.21 billion US dollars in 2024, meaning developers and players benefit from it.

F2P games are also going to be a big part of the future thanks to the rise of sweepstakes casinos, which you can find at SweepstakesGurus.com. Since 2020, millions of people have switched to sweepstakes casinos, which are online platforms where you get to play casino games for free without having to bet any real money. For example, Chumba Casino now has over 1 million monthly players, thanks in part to its catalog of 150+ free casino games.

There’s also the element of consumer preferences. In these economic times, gamers no longer want to spend over $50 on premium games — and it’s hard to blame them! According to Digiday, 35% of gamers now prioritize F2P games because console and PC releases have become too expensive. Simply put, free-to-play releases are more economically viable for them. They get to save money while still enjoying games that countless other people have also downloaded. Really, it’s a no-brainer.

A Brief History of Free-to-Play Games

The free-to-play gaming model dates all the way to the early 2000s. Back then, F2P ‘MMO’ (Massively Multiplayer Online) PC games were the big thing. Millions of people were playing games like MapleStory, Runescape and Ragnarok Online, all because they were free. Essentially, it was one big wave.

Then, for a little while, free-to-play games experienced a dip in popularity before suddenly exploding again towards the end of the 2010s following a rise in mobile gaming and the need for something fresh and exciting. Fortnite was one of the driving forces behind this, kick-starting a new era for F2P games and influencing the release of countless other popular F2P battle royale games in the following years.

Flashforward to the present day and F2P games are now dominating all of the major gaming platforms, with battle royales being one of the most popular sub-genres within this niche.

How Free-to-Play Games Make Money

Many people are still racking their brains when it comes to F2P games. Specifically, they’re confused about how they make money. After all, if you release a game for free, how can any profit be made? The answer is actually quite simple: in-game microtransactions and ads.

In-Game Microtransactions

All of the popular F2P games you can think of, from Warzone to League of Legends, offer players the opportunity to make in-game purchases. These are also known as ‘microtransactions’.

Usually, microtransactions are extremely small and cheap, so players feel incentivized to buy them based on the fact they already got the game for free, to begin with. For example, what harm could spending $3 on a new character skin cause?

Interestingly, though, what happens is (because so many people are spending money on microtransactions) the developers get to make lots of profit, as these small microtransactions add up to huge sums of money over time. It’s a genius sales strategy on behalf of games companies — and one that’s going to stick around for a long time.

Ads

Free-to-play games are also sustainable because of ads.

If you’ve ever played an F2P game before, such as on mobile, you’ll no doubt have encountered ads, which usually pop up in the menus or in-between gameplay. Sure, these ads can be a little on the annoying side, but they ultimately allow the companies to make money while still providing consumers with free games.

Without ads, F2P games wouldn’t exist. This is why many see them as the perfect exchange. For example, millions of people get to enjoy the fast-paced and exciting action of Candy Crush for free, and it’s all thanks to the in-game ads. And if you dislike ads to the point that you want to move them from the F2P games you play, it’s even sometimes possible to block in-game ads.

The Most Popular F2P Games Right Now

There are now countless F2P games across all of the major genres, from first-person shooters to arcades. In terms of popularity, some of the biggest F2P games right now include Dota 2, League of Legends, and Call of Duty: Warzone. Remember, these games can all be downloaded for free and come with optional in-game purchases if you want to improve the overall experience, whether it’s through buying extra weapons or map expansions.