Do people play free games?

[ppavlovic]

I'm about to make a small, simple game, you can say another tetris clone. I'm ashame (don't get me wrong) to charge money for this game. So, I'm thinking of publishing it for free. Of course, I'll add some advertisement in game that will present other games from my site.

So, dilema is... Will the people play this game more because it's free, or will they play it more if they pay for it ($10 for example)?

[Rainer Deyke]

People definitely prefer free games over games that cost money. I have two very similar games, one freeware and one shareware. The shareware game is superior in all respects, but I still get far more email related to the freeware game than the shareware game.

[anothersomething]

I think that if someone bought the game they'd play it more, but if the game is crappy no one will buy it. So if it isn't worth selling you'll get more downloads and more people playing it if it's free. Really, with any software product, more people will download it if it's free. So unless you can get a 90% conversation rate make the game free.

[lakibuk]

People prefer freeware games.
And magazines prefer freeware games for their cover CDs (if the game is good enough).

[Diodor Bitan]

So could it be a "free game + second version that costs money" approach would work better than the standard shareware one?

[Tom Cain]

So could it be a "free game + second version that costs money" approach would work better than the standard shareware one?

This is the type of approach I have used since 1998 and it has worked well for me. I used to offer 3 of 25 Palm solitaire games free, now I offer 5 of 50. With over 150 directly competing products having appeared over the years, the name recognition and traffic of the free version help paying customers find my product.

I won't say that the more traditional shareware model would not have worked, and it might have worked better. I did not try it. But the free+pay version model can work.

I think this is also the model that launched PopCap.

[Anthony Flack]

http://www.home.sol.se/oskar.skog/crazygame.exe

This game is three things. 1) Free. 2) Tiny - you couldn't possibly charge money for anything so simple. 3) Dangerously addictive - you have been warned.

[Mark Sheeky]

My first ever PC game was/is freeware and still gets the most downloads. People seem much more likely to try a free game, and I'm sure that it drives traffic to my site.

Mark
Cornutopia Games
http://www.cornutopia.net

[Fry Crayola]

With my first title, I'm considering making two different versions. Everyone wants to try before they buy, yet I reckon folk may be put off if they find they've already played a portion of the full game.

Instead, I plan to make a small, completely seperate freeware game with about five levels, none of which are present in the full game (which is an overhead shoot-em-up with a spoof twist). Long enough to provide a taster, but short enough to have them wanting more - which is where the full game comes along with an all-new story, over four times as many levels and a lot of new features.

If the player loves the freeware game, he may well buy into the shareware title. If not, the freeware title can help me gain recognition and an existing customer base, which for my first title is something I really am aiming for.