Free-to-Play Games Headed to Xbox 360

Free-to-play games are already a very successful business model on PC (particularly in Asia) and soon they might become even more successful by expanding to Xbox Live. IGN reports that free-to-play games are headed to Xbox 360 next year, opening the door for games like FarmVille and Battlefield Heroes to come to Xbox Live.

This is according to what IGN describes as a “trusted source.” The report notes that Joy Ride was to be a free-to-play game before being turned into a traditional retail title for Kinect.

For those unfamiliar with this style of game, free-to-play games are exactly that — free to play. Developers make money by offering microtransactions for whatever is appropriate for the game in question: Additional quests, fancier clothes, new guns, a faster way to level up, etc. The expectation is that only a percentage of the game’s user base will routinely (if ever) spend money, but there will be those who spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars, which is enough to support the game. -1up