Have you ever wondered what is the future of Free-to-Play games. I have researched this question in depth in relationship to some work I was doing. Although these ideas are pretty crude but I thought to seek your feedback through this post. So here you.
Democratization of Games: With growing casual, social, mobile and hard-core games everyone can have fun. It’s a trend that will continue and we need to look at audiences that have different needs and expectations from the same game. Your game can take advantage of iPhone and iPad. Explore features like portability, location, always-on and connectivity in case of iPhone. Stunning graphics, family-device, and lying down on the couch ability can be explored on iPad.
Casual/Social Players as viable markets: Casual/Social markets have started showing growth and revenue. Games will grow on to new geographic locations, as well to new social platforms. Your game can cater to contexts wherein players enjoy a one game across their all iOS devices and browser. We sort of cross promote each platform.
International Platforms: Internationally we just started the platforms, and this trend will grow, look at FaceBook, Renren, Orkut, etc. Your game can work on these platforms, or even think of collaborating with these. International content will be a great opportunity. Imagine celebrating a Malian goddess day around the Restaurant City with some special content, and consumables.
Payments are OK: Users have started accepting of payments within games (as well of course there is a growing expectation of FREE). You can take advantage of multiple payment options within Apple Empire, and experiment with global options available.
Location Awareness: This is a great trend, especially propelled by iOS devices and other smart devices. There are possibilities of new game play. Let us say you have a restaurant related game. Then you can design a feature where we visit a restaurant in real world and earn points in your game (of course we have a revenue share type arrangement with the restaurants too.)
