Kabam: IAPs have a future on consoles

It is only a matter of time before studios are able to convince console users to splash out on in-game purchases without a major backlash.

That’s according to Andrew Sheppard, president of free-to-play giant Kabam, who says history has shown studios and publishers can eventually get a hardcore audience to trust new business models.

What you’ve seen over the last year is a number of triple-A games from consoles and PC try to reboot as free-to-play products,” he toldDevelop. That violates something I believe as a consumer, which is an expectation of what the gameplay experience will be. You can’t ask for people to pay you if you haven’t earned their trust and presented value in a way that makes sense.

You’ve seen tension from gamers in the press, but over time it’s faded and people have become comfortable with it – especially with some of my favourite games, like Mass Effect 3. But if you try to take that brand and put it in a different business model, you have to change the gameplay to match that model, and then you’ve asked brand loyal customers to pay against it in a way they’re not familiar with.”

Develop has more details.