David Perry on free-to-play, bad online games from China

After taking a year “off,” veteran game developer David Perry appeared at Montreal Games Summit 2007 to talk about his supposed vacation. It turns out that he’s going back to the scene with three MMORPGs being developed under his belt, and he talked about the free-to-play model which will make his projects work.

More on David Perry’s keynote speech at the full article!

Father of Earthworm Jim, David Perry, took a year off but ended up learning more than a few things to discuss at  the Montreal Games Summit 2007. The 25-year veteran in the video game industry was supposed to lay his hands off game development, yet came back to the scene with three MMORPGs being developed in China. In his keynote lecture at MIGS ’07, Perry talked about his trip to China and why free-to-play models in online games are successful.

Those keeping tabs on Acclaim know about the MMO titles being developed by the company Perry acquired. The Irish game developer said his teams wanted to look at the free-to-play model, so he visited the east where the online gaming scene is very active. He found out that China doesn’t mind copyrights much, and Korea has MMORPGs in which teens can marry and divorce.

To make free-to-play work, Perry mentioned that licensing is more crucial than in-game advertisement. “DonÂ’t delay or interrupt the gamer at any time with advertising, or require them to click anything to get rid of it,” he said. Perry believes players won’t mind ads if they’re not paying full price, but there should be something valuable in return if players are to stay.

A good reason why free-to-play online games are attractive, according to Perry, is flexibility. “There is a growing wall in front of poor gamers, and every year we place another line of bricks on the top of the wall to make it harder for them,” he stated. Players with money to spend, on the other hand, want the full experience.

That isn’t to say free games with half-hearted item stores will be profitable, because for Perry, “crappy games = zero sales.” He isn’t intimidated by the overflow of free-to-play MMOs from the east though, saying “as long as the free games from China stay bad, then thereÂ’s no problem.”