CryTek claim free-to-play title Warface is the first “social FPS”

Cevat Yerli, the CEO of CryTek, the studio behind the visually stunning Crysis series spoke about the upcoming free-to-play shooter Warface and how he hopes it will redefine how people look at games in that category.

In a recent interview with CVG, Yerli discussed the eagerly anticipated online shooter, Warface, which is part of CryTek’s vision to redefine business models for how games are developed and launched especially in the free-to-play games bracket.

Earlier on Yerli questioned why gamers shouldn’t be provided high quality games at low to zero cost. The free-to-play games on offer at the moment are all of low quality according to Yerli and that is something that CryTek hope to change with their upcoming title Warface.

The online shooter will be CryTek’s first foray into the free-to-play genre and the studio is looking to prove that triple-A content can not only survive in the space but thrive.

Commenting on the game, the CryTek CEO, said that Warface “showcases our free-to-play, triple-A approach to online shooting – it’s what we call a “social FPS”.”

Yerli continued, “With Warface we are proving the concept of quality and price point can be high and low respectively. So you can have triple-A quality for an entry barrier of zero cost.”

The move comes amidst a growing sentiment among gamers that they are being over charged for games, especially with certain publishers releasing premium post-launch downloadable content that requires players, who have already purchased the game, to pay extra.

However, that is not to say that Warface will not be absolutely free of cost, as the models that the game is trying to emulate and adapt to the western market has existed in Japan and Korea for quite some time. In fact, Yerli admits that it was during a trip to South Korea that he got the idea of bringing this particular model to the West.

Although the game itself is free-to-play the game will rely on micro-transactions to generate revenue. Suppose a gamer wants a better gun or a new armour load out or item, then he or she can either earn enough in-game currency to unlock it or spend real-world money in order to purchase that item as well.

CryTek are not the only studio to apply this model as Sony is also attempting to test the free-to-play waters with their upcoming game, Dust 514. The game will be free to download and play however, gamers will have the option to purchase extra content within the game with a full load out costing 24 cents.

The next couple of months could define whether or not the free-to-play category of games will in fact become the next big thing or whether they will just be another fad and die away as a failed experiment but either way at least CryTek is really giving it a go with Warface.