Free-to-Play, Browser-Based Gaming Experiences Will Become More Popular

Free-to-play games that can be accessed either through social networks, like Facebook, or right from browsers, like Google Chrome or Firefox, will become more popular throughout this year, as companies and gamers will realize the importance of such projects, at least according to TechSavvy Global analyst Scott Steinberg.

Last year saw the release of quite a lot of high quality, free-to-play experiences, either in the form of social games, like Dragon Age: Legends, or full pledged online titles that became open for all gamers, like DC Universe Online.

Games industry analyst Scott Steinberg believes this trend will become even bigger throughout this New Year, with companies starting to realize that they can draw in more customers and still produce decent amounts of profit.

“While free-to-play and freemium opportunities don’t suit every game (see: the recent closure of high-profile virtual world LEGO Universe), expect to see more titles and companies transitioning over to the business model,” Steinberg told Industry Gamers.

The analyst credits the progress of web technologies, including HTML 5 or Adobe Flash 11, that allow quality experiences to be delivered only through a web browser, instead of forcing gamers to download and install various programs.

“Already, many companies are looking to deliver browser-based experiences that rival retail releases for scope and depth, and independent of platforms like Facebook. Given the lack of friction – virtually anyone can dive in and play anywhere from a variety of hardware solutions, paying whatever they choose as the go – and the ready-made user base, game developers are almost certainly going to pour more efforts into free web games in hopes of nabbing a sliver of that huge audience.”

As such, it seems that, while triple-A titles for platforms like the PC or consoles will still be popular, free and browser-based experiences will become much more numerous in the next 12 months.