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GDC 2012: Publishing heavies weigh in on F2P conversions
Like it or not, free-to-play is rapidly coming to dominate every corner of the gaming industry. While that's good on the surface, it also blurs the line between business and design, and it creates a lot of tension for both consumers and developers who are increasingly faced with the challenges inherent in separating monetary decisions from gameplay decisions. One of the more interesting GDC 2012 round-tables featured Sony Online Entertainment executive producer Dave Georgeson, NCSoft publishing director Steve Levy, Perfect World VP John Young, GamersFirst monetization director Joe Willmon, and Digi-Capital Limited managing director Tim Merel, all of whom convened for a mind-meld on successfully migrating subscription games to F2P. As you would expect, the panel was heavy on business-speak, but it also featured plenty of insight into the pricing phenomenon that has become the rule rather than the exception.
