America's development company criticizes the traditional business model if it is too explicit to let the game software pay for 5000 yen

In the Japanese game market,Sales of home video game software are sluggishInside, online games, Mobage, GREE etcGrowth for mobile phones remarkable growthI am showing you.

In such a situation, in the United States"The business model that pays 5000 yen for game software is tough"It seems that opinion is rising. At the start, it is thought that there is an intention to push the model of the company with opinion of a development company developing a free browser game, but the point that it is necessary to change the conventional selling method is again It may be a matter to think about.

Details are as below.$ 60 Games an "Exploitative" Business Model

When playing games, you first need to choose game software and buy it, but in the US it costs about $ 60 (about 4860 yen) to buy one piece of software,Development company Easy StudioGeneral manager Ben Cousins ​​said that it is "a very tough business model" and even "exploitative".

Easy Studio,Electronic ArtsIn a development company under the umbrella"Battlefield Heroes", "Battlefield Play 4 Free","Lord of Ultima","BattleForge"Developed free playable games such as. Naturally Cousins, its general manager, also supports a model that will ask you to decide whether to pay for play first and then decide whether to pay.

"Battlefield Heroes"page of. There is no need to install software, so you can play on the browser, so-called"Browser game"Form.


Ultima seriesFinally entered the browser game with "Lord of Ultima".


Cousins ​​said, "It is nothing other than exploitation to take as much as $ 60 at the stage before playing content," he said, "From an objective standpoint, it is a very tough business model It will be understood that it is said. "

Cousins ​​defines the business model of the free game as "a model that you can play on trial before purchasing." In fact, however, the method has not yet been established and "this year'sGDCHe talked about various ways to monetize free games. For example, it is a model that sells what is an advantage in games, a model that sells content, a model that will allow you to play as many games as you want, paying money. "Each game is exploring what is best between the composition of the game and the customer," Cousins ​​says.

Mr. Cousins ​​compared his company 's way to a conventional game and said, "What we are going to do is to make it possible for anyone to play the game, letting the person who plays like it will pay for it If you do not like the game, the user does not have to lose anything if you do not like it.In the traditional model of paying money, paying 60 dollars for thin content games There is less money to waste on models of free games, so in a free game model, even if you purchase a complete version, you will eventually get cheaper than buying a traditional price game "I tell you.

Although the form of browser game is not a substitute for domestic game, it is not a simple question as to whether household use should be charged or not, but the idea of ​​"letting many people play first" Will it become necessary also for Japanese home games?