Crytek's Outlook on F2P: "Future is definitely free-to-play, but, retail can co-exist"

Michael Dunaway
By Michael Dunaway, News Editor Posted:
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Crytek surprised everyone earlier this year when they announced they would be shutting down the non-F2P portions of the studio. Since then, fans have been left wondering at what point Crytek will actually make good on that statement.

Crytek already has one F2P FPS out in Russia, Warface, with plans for the FPS to come stateside soon. In a fairly lengthy interview with RockPaperShotgun, Crytek's CEO Cevat Yerli gave his opinion on the future of the F2P industry and whether B2P games can or will co-exist in the future.

When asked whether the next Crysis game (Crysis 4 or whatever they choose to call it) will be F2P Yerli responded that “It’s too early to say,” he added:

“I don’t think F2P’s a mutually exclusive way of looking at things. I mean, the future is definitely free-to-play, but likewise, retail can co-exist with it. Premium games can be free-to-play. When I said free-to-play’s gonna be our future, I meant that and I hold to it. But I didn’t mean it for tomorrow. When I say there will inevitably be only free-to-play games, I mean that there might be ones where you can just download them with a free-to-play business model, or you can go to the store and buy it for $60. So that’s what I meant: there’s gonna be free-to-play available, which brings the entry level down to zero from a price perspective.”

Crytek apparently had already considered making a portion of Crysis 2 F2P:

“We even considered a standalone free-to-play version for Crysis 2, to be honest,” he explained. “Launching the single-player as a packaged good and then making multiplayer free-to-play-only. For various reasons, it didn’t happen. We also considered that for Crysis 3, and it didn’t happen again. but there are definitely considerations like that.”

Rest assured Crytek still has plans to transition to an all F2P business model in the future but whether any other large studios follow-suit remains to be seen. We have already begun to see big AAA studios dip their toes into the F2P market with varied success, but most still seem to be firmly committed to providing AAA B2P content first.

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In this article: Warface, Crytek.

About the Author

Michael Dunaway
Michael Dunaway, News Editor

Michael Dunaway has been part of the MMOBomb team for years and has covered practically every major Free-to-Play MMO title since 2009.

More Stories by Michael Dunaway

Discussion (14)

FD_Stalker 11 years ago
I want zombie mod!!!

Mystika 11 years ago
C'mon Spunkify, continue Foreign Fridays...it's a good show.

View 1 reply
cacalips 11 years ago
Nuff said:
i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/6832342528/h5E41201A/

Blackbomb 11 years ago
I hate F2P!! Please make the game that we need to buy like always!

View 1 reply
ali 11 years ago
i would like to see microsoft doing a free2play gears of war with the oroginal graphics style and gameplay it will be exiting to play but on pc not on 360

cacalips 11 years ago
One thing to learn is NEVER listen to the brand names when they speak of F2P and other things. They lie, cover up, or give a biased oppinion on the market because...Well...THEY HAVE TO. I read so many articles from EA, SONY, etc, not to long ago, and they all said F2P is a fail system that should be ignored due to its low quality and or treated like pirate ware or hackers. And of course, look at them today... All forced to CHANGE into F2P models. Change is hard. Change can be expensive. Change makes manegement do something they dont like doing...MANAGING. So yeahhhhh. This whole co exist, rabble dabble babble is poop on a stick. Just tap in to your local forums and communities and blogs of the consumer to see the future of F2P and what not. Box titles will always have a place as they are usually 1)Physcial property 2) More secure and faster installs and packed with the data for pressing systems to their limits 3) Creates a consumer group (go to cheesburgerDOTcom and under video games, there are tons of fan culture praising old cartridge games, and current single player disc games. They will pay big for old cartridges).
4) F2P future is carved out of demand. We do not know what kind of demand the future will have. All we have tod o is keep fighting for what we like with as little restrictions as possible!

Razer 11 years ago
Every other F2P game out there claims to be 'AAA' or 'console quality'. It's all just marketing hyperbole. You can polish a turd, but it will always be a pay2win piece of sh*t.

Zhao Yun 11 years ago
this shooter seems interesting i will try it ofc we need to wait for now but ya it seems like a game i would personally give a try

spell 11 years ago
Is this Homer from MMOHUT???wtf guys.....

View 1 reply
Echoman 11 years ago
No mount for me :(

R0ck3t 11 years ago
MOUNTED!!!!
Good as always ;D

-r0ck3t


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