Paris - Many a gamer heads to the store every few weeks to drop another 50 euros (77 dollars) for a new title. Upon returning home, the game gets played until it becomes boring. After that, the cycle starts again with another run to the store. But a lot of gamers are opting out of the cycle with the help of free online games. But even those games are designed to make a profit for their developers. Often they are supported by advertising or set up to encourage the user to pay money to download extras for the free game.
The simplest free gaming offerings come from Net World Media at www.flashgames.de. "This is about small games, both in terms of play length and file size," says manager Marc Brueggemann. Action and adventure games are on offer, along with strategy and brain teaser titles. "They are usually the work of hobby developers or people who want to build up a reputation."
Another option is the browser game, like those offered by Upjers at www.upjers.de. Games are accessed through an Internet browser.
One example is the business simulator Kapiland, where players work to create a corporate empire. However, players soon find limits. "You can build a certain number of buildings for free," says manager Klaus Schmitt. But if you want to build beyond that level, you are required to switch into the fee-based premium mode. Few players have taken that route so far.
True online games, like the kind offered by Paris-based GOA (www.goa.com), are the next level. The company is best known for its fee-based games like Dark Age of Camelot. But GOA is expanding its offerings with free multi-player online games, such as the golfing game Pangya where players compete with one another and only pay extra for items like especially good clubs.
The industry is still waiting for a breakthrough in the fee-based model. For starters, it's still a niche market. "On top of that, there are a lot of people who manage to play for a long time without paying," says Petra Schmitz of GameStar, a Munich-based magazine. There are also drawbacks to many of the games. "The graphics are usually sub par, since the developers often have tight budgets."
But some big developers are looking starting their own online projects. Hellgate London is one of the first hybrids of a packaged game with online expansions. "Along with the single player option, there's an online option," said Schmitz. The online version is free, but expansions are only available for a fee.
Flagship Studios, the game's developer, is already thinking one step further. As a test for Hellgate, it developed the online game Mythos, which is now scheduled to hit the shelves this year, says Schmitz.
