Is Freemium and Ad Support The Future of Gaming?

On a recent trip to Germany for GamesCom 2012 I bumped into David Rose CEO and CO Founder of We R Interactive, the guys behind I Am Playr a football sim game with a difference. In I Am Playr you play the game through the eyes of a top tier footballer. Part football manager sim, part RPG and heavily social network supported via facebook.

David Rose is a name that any mature gamer should and will know. He has been around for a long time since the start of console gaming. Cutting his teeth at Psygnosis in 1993 working on WipeOut for PS1 before becoming Studio Manager, then moving onto IO Interactive (later Eidos) the guys behind the first Hitman Game. David’s CV is one of the best in the business and I guarantee that if you’re a true gamer you would have played at least one of his games if not all of them.

I got talking to David in a bar while waiting for our late night flight back to the UK. We got talking about the future of gaming....

[LostDjinn]

I certainly hope not. There's no way Ad's will be low impact or tastefully done if this model is accepted. Just think of how greedy some companies are now and then link their revenue to advertising.

I'm not meaning to be overly critical. It's just a $#!&&y combination if abused. Given that the videogaming industry seems to abuse consumers, as naturally as drunken rednecks abuse their right to mullets, it really is worrying.

Edit: I'd just like to state that I meant no offense to the redneck community with this post.

[stevenhiggster]

Like you I certainly hope not, but sadly I think it is. At least some companies seem to be pushing it that way, like EA, look at C&C generals 2.
I think its ok for mmo's but not for other genres.

[LostDjinn]

I hear you Steve and please, don't bring up C&CG2. Command and Conquer was brilliant once. :(

[vortis]

I'm already seeing overtly intrusive ads on a lot of gaming sites (i.e., Gametrailers). You get ads going into the site, ads clicking on an article and then in-article ads. ADS Everywhere!!!

I can't imagine in-game ads being tastefully done at all. If they're abusing ad-spam on websites the way they do, then we can expect the same kind of intrusive measures with games.

[Frenza]

I´d take a good demo and a one time payment over "pay as you go/Freemium" any day.

[DivineHand125]

i hope free to play MMO's adopt this model to prevent them from becoming pay to win.

[TheDivine]

I think it would work well for certain games. Maybe a fee to play COD that plays ads in between matches and each match is brought to you by blah blah blah. It could be interesting and it def works for smaller indy games on mobile phones. I dont want every game to do it but im fine with experamenting. Maybe in game billboards and brand name clothing? Not in mario or ff mind you but f*** it go for it and we'll see.

[3-4-5]

For close-minded people who can't think outside of the box.....yes....

For everyone who is serious about gaming....No

We can't let people who don't love games, but only sometimes play them, Run the industry. It can't happen. Otherwise you get 10 year old girls dictating what games we get...like they do in the music industry.

Stand your ground people. Don't give in to these gimicky APP games.

Wow you swipe your finger across the screen really fast a few hundred times. How fun !

If your Cat/dog can play the game.....then it's not that good of a game.