14 DAY TRIAL // Christofer Sundberg, a creative director and one of the founders of Avalanche Studios, says that he sees both subscriptions and microtransactions as the main business models that will drive the games that will launch on the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.
He is stating via Twitter message that, “Micro-Transactions, subscriptions and other biz models will be the next generation of games. It is that simple.”
The developer accepts that free-to-play is at the moment seen as a sign of a low quality experience, but he also believes that there are plenty of chances for developers to create new games that change the situation.
Christofer Sundberg adds, “There will be f-ups for sure. Hopefully we can lower the initial price-point and build the game with the community instead.”
At the moment, the team at Avalanche Studios is working on a Mad Max game that will be launched on the Xbox One from Microsoft, the PlayStation 4 from Sony and the PC, probably in 2014.
But the team is best known for the work it has done on the Just Cause series and its open world mechanics seem uniquely suited for a new title that takes advantage of the extra computing power of next-gen consoles.
Neither of the two titles is using microtransactions or subscription-driven business models, but the team might announce their introduction in the coming months.
At the moment, both Sony and Microsoft are reluctant to launch free-to-play games on their platforms because they are worried about their quality.
MMOs like DC Universe Online and Planetside 2 are headed to the PlayStation 4 in the coming months.
Most games in the genre are currently launched on the PC and World of Warcraft, from Blizzard, has remained the most successful of the bunch despite dropping a lot of subscribers to reach a level of 7 million monthly paying customers.