If you have ever played a free-to-play game, then you have likely asked yourself, how do they make money? When we are immersed in the free games that we love, it is easy to forget that a lot of work went into making these games, so it doesn’t make sense that the games are available to download for free.
Though the games are available to download for free, this does not mean that the game developers get no money at all. Releasing a game that produces no revenue at all would be a terrible business plan and so game developers simply do not do that. They instead find other means of making money through the release of their free game, but these techniques are not widely known. Here is how game developers make money from their free-to-play games.
Advertising
One of the main ways in which game developers are able to make money from their free-to-play games is by including advertising. If you have ever played any of these fun free games in Denmark – gratis spil, then you may have noticed that every now and again an ad will pop up mid-way through your gameplay. This can be extremely annoying when you are immersed in the game that you are playing, but without these advertisements, you may not be able to play your games at all.
Depending on where the game is published, the game developers will either make an agreement with individual businesses to advertise their products, or they will make a general deal with google. For every ad that is watched by a player, the game developers get a certain percentage of money. This money can then be used to pay workers or further develop the game.
In-Game Purchases
If you are someone that plays free-to-play games, then you have definitely encountered in-game purchases. A lot of criticisms that come with free-to-play games is that many of them are not truly free to play, as you have to pay real money to unlock all of the good game features.
Though some games can annoyingly depend on in-game purchases, many of them keep them to a reasonable level. As opposed to depending on in-game purchases to enjoy the game entirely, many games allow you to make purchases that improve the quality of your gameplay. If you have ever played a free-to-play game, there is usually an in-game currency. You can use this currency to purchase items within the game, like weapons or game advantages. This currency is usually dependent on real-life money, but it can also be earned in gameplay.
Your game will never be dependent on the use of in-game currency, but you can use this to improve your gameplay and have more fun with other players.
Cosmetic Features
Another way in which free game developers are able to make money is by adding cosmetic features. Depending on the kind of game that you play, it is likely that you will be using an avatar of some sort. Many games offer you the opportunity to purchase skins or outfits for your avatar and as these features do not strictly influence the actual gameplay, then game developers are free to add an additional charge for these features.
A good example of this being the case comes with games such as Fortnite. This game offers you to purchase something called a battle pass and the main features of this battle pass include having access to a variety of different player skins and models. On top of being able to pay for changes to your avatar’s appearance, you can also pay for fun features such as dance moves and emotes that you can use while you are in-game.
Micro-Transactions
Microtransactions are a very common feature of a free-to-play game and you can expect to find them within essentially every game that you play. Microtransactions can be found in many forms and they can be used to purchase in-game levels and other features.
These transactions are known as micro-transactions because they are just that. You should never expect to spend too much on these transactions as they are not meant to break the bank. As previously discussed, one of the best examples of micro-transactions is in-game currency. An in-game currency usually does not cost too much to buy and in return, you get quite a substantial amount of in-game money to play around with.
Fan donations
Though you are never forced to purchase anything within the free-to-play games, there are some games that have options where you can donate to the game developers. Some games try to operate without depending on in-game purchases as they believe that the game should be completely free. Instead, they depend on the kindness of their players and hope that some of them will have the spare cash to be able to donate to their company.
This system works really well as there is no set price for donations, so some people choose to use the money that they save by not having to pay for the game and they donate that instead. The generous donors make it so that the game can remain free and give others the chance to keep playing the game that they love.