TOYLOGIC: AAA games will shift toward free-to-play

Toylogic has touched on the indications of launching Xbox Live’s first free-to-play game Happy Wars, predicting that the release marks further expansion of the model – specifically into the AAA market.

Studio president Yoichi Take spoke on the trending method ahead of his game’s release this Friday.

"I believe it is quite natural that people will gather to play games for free," Take told GI.biz. "I predict that, moving forward, even triple-A titles will be shifting toward Play-for-Free. However, there are game designs that can only be realized as package titles, so I feel that package games and the Play-for-Free model will coexist, and indeed I welcome their coexistence."

Take added that bringing a free-to-play title onto the Xbox Live Marketplace posed great opportunity, but also brought on a sense of responsibility to help the service as it evolves moving forward.

"Because this will be [an] early Play-for-Free title, I do feel a sense of responsibility for helping to develop Xbox Live moving forward," Take said. "At the same time, I also recognize this as a great opportunity."

The microtransaction-supported game will be available as a free download for all Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Toylogic’s president also shared that the odds of a PC version of Happy Wars down the road is ‘quite high’, so long as Microsoft permits.