That is…in the United States, Europe and Australia…
CryTek is set to release its freemium offering, Warface, across all major territories apart from the UAE and Japan; although no specific release date for the game was announced.
Free-to-play or freemium gaming seems to be an emerging trend in the industry, and although it is nothing new, as it has been around and thriving in Japan and South Korea, it is something that the west has only just started taking to.
Electronic Arts created a whole website where players could download and play a whole host of free titles such as World of Tanks and Battlefield Heroes. Ubisoft also jumped on the bandwagon and announced Ghost Recon Online, which is set for release in the near future.
Sony has DC Universe Online and is set to release the EVE Online tie-in, Dust 514 but CryTek has been one studio that has been at the frontline of supporting the free-to-play model, despite not having released any games on that particular front yet.
However, the studio has been developing their triple-A entry into the free-to-play world and Warface, which has already been released in Russia, is set to for release in three other major territories.
The United States, Europe and Australia are all set to receive their respective versions of the game soon as CryTek looks to stake a claim in the emerging market.
Lars Buttler, the CEO of Trion, commended what CryTek had developed when he said, “CryTek has repeatedly proven their foresight and they are doing that again by leading the shift towards delivering high-quality, free-to-play, online games.”
He continued by pointing out that gamers can expect more in the line of triple-A titles based on the same business model in the future. Buttler said, “We are very impressed with Warface and Crytek’s commitment to polished gameplay, amazing graphics, technical excellence, and real innovation. We very much feel that we are kindred companies and stand strong together.”
Activision has also announced their entry in the emerging market with Call of Duty Online, which is designed to cater to the Chinese market. This will pose a problem for CryTek as they are also targeting the same market with Warface as early on, the CEO of CryTek, Cevat Yerli, claimed that Warface was being optimised to run on low-end PCs in China as well.
Whether or not the free-to-play trend is here to stay or will die down soon remains to be seen but if recent trends are anything to go by then the future of gaming could very well be based on the model.
These are interesting times in the gaming industry with the video games being redefined and the next couple of years could reshape everything the world knows about video games.
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