DICE: Is Retail better than Free-to-Play?

For those of us engrossed in the world of MMORPGs, this latest discussion between developers brooks the question: while Free-to-Play payment schemes may be making MMORPG gaming more accessible, is it having a detrimental effect on the quality of games? Check out  what Nexon America’s Min Kim and veteran game publisher Kelly Flock had to say about this during the DICE Summit. Read on in the full article to find out.

If you’ve played a few MMORPGs in your time, you might have noticed that some (if not most) of the titles you’ve played charge absolutely nothing for your gametime – it’s the in-game items that you can choose to purchase from them that you need actual moolah for. This is the Free-to-Play microtransaction business model at work, and it’s certainly getting its share of followers. The problem is, is it a good or bad thing, in terms of the quality of the games themselves?

This issue was raised during this year’s DICE Summit, where Nexon America director of operations Min Kim and game publishing veteran Kelly Flock argued about their respective business models, on whether or not Free-to-Play was having a detrimental effect on today’s standard of video games.

Flock admitted that while Nexon’s free-to-play/download model is interesting (Nexon is the developer of the highly-popular Maple Story MMO), he did argue that the funds one makes from the microtransactions alone will not be able to keep an infrastructure afloat, and that quality will inevitable suffer. Sure, it was profitable, but not off the games themselves.

Kim then made the rebuttal that for the average MMORPG player, it’s not all about the glitz and glamor of a high-end, high-budget title – rather, the social factor of an MMORPG is more important. It’s all about the societies.

He is also optimistic that soon enough, the quality of free-to-play MMORPG titles will grow – just as long as the money keeps rolling in. And indeed they do roll in, what with 2D-styled Maple Story bring in about US$ 16 million per month. That’s a lot.

So, what do you think? Is the Free-to-Play model an easy way to the money, or will it spell the downfall for MMORPGs in terms of quality? Give us your reactions via your comments.