Steam support for free-to-play titles

[Tinker]

Valve has announced Steam support for free-to-play titles with immediate effect.

Five launch titles are available now: Spiral Knights, Forsaken Worlds, Champions Online: Free for All, Global Agenda: Free Agent, and Alliance of Valliant Arms (AVA).

Starting tomorrow with Spiral Knights and ending on Sunday with AVA, each one will get a 'F2P Game of the Day' slot which will see exclusive in-game extras up for grabs.

"The introduction of Free to Play games is another example of the constant evolution of Steam," commented Valve exec Jason Holtman.

"Free to Play games offer new game genres and game experiences for customers, while offering developers and publishers new revenue opportunities and the ability to reach customers in areas of the world where the traditional packaged goods model is less popular than F2P."

Source

Steam page

Click here to read the Free-to-Play FAQ.

Little look at Alliance of Valiant Arms

While in game,

While in the Channel List, click Capsule Shop in the left hand menu

Select Add Gcoin near the bottom of the screen

You will then have an option as to how many Gcoins you would like to purchase, select the amount you want by clicking Purchase next to the amount that you would like to buy

The Steam Overlay will open up and provide a transaction summary. Click AUTHORIZE to complete the purchase

Looks like it would cost you around $15 per weapon?

[Parabellum]

So, you can purchase an entire game for $30-50, or purchase one item for $15... It's easy to see why companies are going to F2P models, but at the same time, it's certainly not much value for a customer's money.

[Dannik]

See, I love it when companies release the core game for free, with value added if you want to give them a bit of money. I hate it when it's just a way of getting more cash out of people.

[ApexMods]

Looks like it would cost you around $15 per weapon?

That is ridiculous!

Who would pay this much for an extra in-game gun?!? And it's not even something you own - as with all online-only (and online activated) games it's just a rental until they pull the plug on the servers (which they usually do shortly after their new game comes out), or they even retire the complete platform - as witness when Micro$oft turned off online play for the old XBox.