F2P Business Model for MMOs Crashing?
July 26, 2009 by Joel Tan
Filed under Asian MMO, MMORPG News, Random Rants
If China-based online games developer and operator Giant Online is to be believed, the free-to-play business model for massively multiplayer online games is on a decline. By decline, Giant probably means the market share of F2P online games as opposed to games following a different business model, such as pay-to-play and free-to-play via retail sales.
Giant Online is, of course, citing only local (read: China online games industry) figures as free-to-play online games are, as far as I know, making a killing in other parts of the world. Korea, long acknowledged as the MMO capital of the world, is keen on …read more
Virtual Cash Affecting Real Economy?
July 5, 2009 by Joel Tan
Filed under Asian MMO, MMORPG News
That is the question. Apparently, the government of China is asking the same thing, and the question is enough to merit a memorandum to online game developers and operators to stop accepting real or virtual payment for contests and other random selections that offer virtual currency or items.
Thanks to this new government regulation, a China-based online games operator, Giant Interactive, has decided to shelve a “prize draw” in its in-house developed massively multiplayer online role-playing game ZT Online.
Here’s an excerpt from the story on online games portal 17173:
Giant Closes ZT Draw Citing Regs
Shanghai-based online game company Giant Interactive announced on …read more
