14 DAY TRIAL // The world of free to play games is getting larger and soon Steam, one of the most innovative developers in the world of video gaming, might be the latest company to launch a project in the field and see how it fares in the long term.
While talking with Barre De Vie about the recent initiative to launch free to play video games on Steam Doug Lombardi was asked whether Valve was actually working on its own free title and then said simply “Yes.”
He also said, “In some areas of the world, free-to-play games are already paying more than traditional games. This trend continues for some time and we believe it will continue. There are other free-to-play Steam coming in with the use of micro-transactions.”
At the moment Steam is working on Defense of the Ancients 2, a game based upon the very popular Warcraft III mod, and that game could use the free to play model, allowing gamers to engage one another without paying anything and offering them the option to use currency to purchase cosmetic changes and, possibly, competitive advantages.
On Steam gamers can choose from five free to play and micro transaction titles: Global Agenda: Free Agent,Forsaken Worlds, Champions Online: Free for All, Spiral Knights and Alliance of Valiant Arms.
Steam is also set to get more titles in the genre in the coming months and the Steam based versions for all the above titles will get exclusive in game content.
They are also using the micro transaction features embedded in the Steamworks suite from Valve, which means that the company gets to keep a percentage of the money they earn in exchange for giving them access to such a big potential player base.
At the moment Steam has more than 30 million active accounts, allowing free to play games to get the audience they need to sustain a profitable game world.