Right now, many AAA titles take tens of millions of dollars to make and market and cost $60 when they release at retail. Nexon America CEO Daniel Kim does not think that this high risk model, which tends to make publishers adverse to taking chances, is sustainable long term.
“I think at some point the console makers have to make a decision about how closed or open they’re going to be to the different models that are going to be emerging,” said Kim. “Today it’s free-to-play, and I’m convinced that that one is going to continue to flourish and expand into other genres and other categories, but there may be something else completely and entirely different that comes out that again changes the industry.”
“If your mind is just set on keeping the current model of buy a game for $60, play for 40 hours, buy another game for $60, play for 40 hours, that model I think is eventually going to change,” he cautioned. “It’s going to have to change. How they will adapt I really don’t know, but I hope that they’re aware enough to understand that the value proposition of free-to-play is not going to go away.”
“Dungeon Fighter is being released as a Microsoft Xbox Live Arcade version of the game. But again we had to modify the game and the business model to fit their restrictions or requirements. It’s not free-to-play, it’s DLC essentially,” he noted. “Which is not really truly how we like to service our games, we like to service our games completely free-to-play, no limits, and earn the players’ business by convincing them there’s value in purchasing stuff.”
Source: GamesIndustry International
