At first glance, free and free-to-play games may seem the same. However, this is not the case. Knowing the difference before downloading a game can save you from spoiling it later. So, what are the differences between free games and free-to-play games?
What is a free game?
Free game, as it’s called, is a game that you can play completely free of charge. So you don’t pay anything to download and you don’t have to buy anything with real money to level up. Is there such a game type? Of course there is, but the status is still not considered “totally free”. Because you usually find such games in a certain subscription service. So at the end of the day, you have to pay a fee, but you pay a certain monthly subscription amount to your subscription service to access all the free games included in the subscription, not per game.
For example, Sony’s PlayStation Plus subscription service. Free games are given here on a monthly basis. While there are very popular games such as God of War, Days Gone, Resident Evil 7 and Ratched and Clank in this list, there is of course the Xbox side of this subscription service offered by Sony. You can access such games only as long as you subscribe to the system. A similar application exists on the cinema side, such as Netflix, Amazon and other similar video streaming services.
What is a free-to-play game?
But what about a free-to-play game? These types of games are also completely free to play games. You don’t pay to download or play; In fact, there are no subscription service fees for such games. You can download and play these games for free, but in-game purchases come into play at different points such as progressing in the game, improving your character, and moving on to the next level. In other words, you pay while you are in the game, not when you download the game.
Some examples of in-game purchases are:
- Upgrades,
- In-game currency
- Make-up items
- New characters,
- New level or downloadable content
These kinds of “free-to-play games” that we also see in mobile games, on the other hand, in order to keep you in the game at some points, you can see the player with advertisements or video displays. “It charges.” So this time, maybe you don’t have money out of your pocket, but this time, the developer of the game does not get this money from you, but by the advertiser through the advertisement or video content it shows you.
The advantage of free-to-play games over “free” games is that they make games more accessible. In other words, it does not leave you directly in front of the door, it gives you the opportunity to play the game in a way; It usually does not require you to pay money, it leaves it to your preference. On the other hand, “free” games allow you to play the games you want, which are included in the subscription system, completely free for a monthly fee. With exceptions of course…
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