F2P games coming to Xbox 360 – report

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 24 June, 2011

Pay with Microsoft Points.

Free-to-play games are coming to Xbox 360, according to a new report.

Microsoft is talking with developers to discuss free-to-play game deals, Develop understands.

This will be games that can either be monetised by in-game items or premium upgrade costs, Develop said.

Xbox 360 will incorporate a micro-transactions service using Microsoft Points.

Xbox Live has so far been a closed system, preventing massively multiplayer games, for example, from finding a home on the service.

Final Fantasy XIV Online creator and director Hiromichi Tanaka told Eurogamer last year that a "closed" Xbox Live blocked the game from appearing on Xbox 360.

And PlayStation 3 exclusive MMO shooter Dust 514 is in a similar situation. Developer CCP told Eurogamer at E3 this month that it went with Sony because "at least they have policies that allow us to build the game the way we want".

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 11 months ago

    And this is a good thing?

    http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/6...

  • mumblyjoe #2 11 months ago

    Surely you pay for MS points though??

  • Rack #3 11 months ago

    F2P basically means you can play it for free, but to get anything out of it costs an insane amount of money. That's what the MS points are for.

  • DFawkes #4 11 months ago

    I do hope that Champions Online comes to 360 now, they had it running on 360 dev units but the only thing stopping them was Microsoft. It works great with a 360 controller too, it'd be great to be able to play that on 360 :)

    Not sure if they'd even want to now though, plus the developer changing hands might have stopped that being feasible. But I am a fan of free to play games when they're done well - I don't like having to pay for significant chunks of content, but if it's free to play a good chunk it can be a great way to play games. Steam's recent free to play additions have been very good, and none of them really have heavy restrictions.

  • charliemouse #5 11 months ago

    Hmm. Like Joyride was supposed to be before it was turned in to the Kinect controlled shambles that it is?

  • whizzedout #6 11 months ago

    CCP will want to have DUST 514 on 360, Micro transactions seem to be right up their street and they can make a selection of monocles for the avatar store.

  • PezzaDispenser #7 11 months ago

    Cha-Ching!

  • DanForinton #8 11 months ago

    Unfortunately, F2P does not equate to MMOs.

  • Markusdragon #9 11 months ago

    Have we already forgotten that a F2P game (can't remember which one, but I think it was a Nexon game) was announced for XBL a few months back?

  • kingcrowbar #10 11 months ago

    Maybe Valve could follow up Portal:Still Alive with a free Team Fortress 2:More Hats.

  • Cronan #11 11 months ago

    This is a very good thing.

  • chrisjm #12 11 months ago

    free to play, pay with points. does not compute.

  • makeamazing #13 11 months ago

    So it will be free to play but you will need gold to play it? so then its not really free to play if thats the case... or i have just misunderstood it.

    As someone else said Champions Online might have been able to do better initially if they had been able to get over onto consoles. Shame that it takes everyone else going to Sony before MS woke up.

  • Tryhard #14 11 months ago

    Bobby Kotick brings you COD P4F. But we charge you for ammo.

  • JoeGBallad #15 11 months ago

    :( I remember the days when game would come in a lovely wee box. You'd hand over some money for the lovely wee box and take it home, and it'd have a manual with a nice smell, and a cartridge, or disk, maybe even a map or a novella. You'd put that disk, that you paid for, into your machine, and you would be able to play everything on the disk for as long as you wanted, safe in the knowledge that everything the developers wanted to sell you was on it. In fact, you'd also be safely in the knowledge that it was tested, and therefore able to work properly.

    If there were any wee extras , you'd enter these magically lines of passwords called 'cheats', which you would find in a magazine, or on the internet, or maybe your pal at school would tell you one. You definitely wouldn't have to pay MORE to get all the characters to have big heads or new hats.

    You'd only ever have to type in bewareoblivionisathand and you'd be on your way.

    Truly, Turok, you were right: Oblivion is indeed at hand.

  • patch #16 11 months ago

    If Kotick wants to make a sh*t load of money he should charge for swear words, and the rates go up the higher pitched the voice :)

  • edhe #17 11 months ago

    I'll gladly take some f2p gamey things to fill in time when i'm waiting for other things to download but don't want to fire up a 'proper' game.

    In fact, make all the fullprice games in the marketplace f2p, Cheers!
    Edited by edhe at 24/06/11 @ 13:58

  • coolbritannia #18 11 months ago

    Great, I want MMO's on the console platform. And I'd never buy a PS3...

  • darleysam #19 11 months ago

    Like JoyRide was meant to be?

  • Miths #20 11 months ago

    "Bobby Kotick brings you COD P4F"

    Is that play for free of pay for free - as in, "we don't charge you with any transaction fees"? :)

  • MiY4MOTO #21 11 months ago

    @chrisjm

    Slightly misleading title I know, but basically it means games like Farmvile or Hunted on iOS. Where the initial game "purchase" is free but that developers can fund the game by in-game micro transactions for extra levels, characters etc.

    i.e. Buy a game (similar to Doom's "shareware" origins) getting episode 1 free, then purchase extra episodes in-game for "x" number of MS points.

  • funkateer #22 11 months ago

    Can somebody explain how the introduction of F2P (which I think already existed on the 360?) will mean that MMOs will become possible on the 360 (which I think FFXI proved it already was?).

  • ronuds #23 11 months ago

    Free games are bad, paid-for games are bad, this is bad, that's bad... what do people think is good? Everyone's so damn grumpy.

    And everything Mi4moto said is true - why would he be negged for that? The positive/negative system has become a joke. Good going.
    Edited by ronuds at 24/06/11 @ 15:58

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #24 11 months ago

    What has F2P got to do with closed or opened systems exactly?

    A game that is downloaded and playable on the XBL closed network for free with the option to buy items via MS points has NOTHING to do with MMO developers wanting their game available on XBL but accessing their own network and running their own subscriptions regardless of whether you have a XBL Gold Account.

    Dust, FF14 and Champions will STILL be in the same situation even after certain games on Xbox allow you to buy a pair of pink trousers for your character.

  • Acrid #25 11 months ago

    Micro-Transaction payments for Achievements incoming

  • KD #26 11 months ago

    APB coming to xbox live?

  • Collymilad #27 11 months ago

    Pass.

  • Kanjin #28 11 months ago

    Free to play, pay to win.

  • bodhi85uk #29 11 months ago

    @EddieMink

    Who is A2M? I know AM2, the Sega Developer.

  • man.the.king #30 11 months ago

    @Dizzy

    "And this is a good thing? "

    I don't see MS forcing anybody to play. It's one more choice among a multitude of choices. How is this bad?
    Edited by man.the.king at 24/06/11 @ 16:45

  • acuratebob #31 11 months ago

    Cooooooooooooooool! Sorry hut this is ace news. I so hope that we can finally, well hopefully, play Champions Online on 360.

    Also LOTRO would be nice too. And Battlefield play4free. These three are my faves. Any more will be welcome. But don't be giving us crap!

  • sanctusmortis #32 11 months ago

    If this means the 360 can FINALLY have a proper, working version of TF2, that'd be awesome.

  • BlinkeredAxis #33 11 months ago

    At last, movement on this huge problem by MS.

    BTW, for those who are (obviously) confused about what F2P is -

    You get the game free. You then have the option to buy items with real money (eg cool armour, advanced progression etc).
    PC gamers are very familiar with this concept.

    This isn't invented by MS to make money. It's a in fact an excellent way to get your game to the public, then hopefully make some money if they like it. Surely a good thing?

  • Rack #34 11 months ago

    @Man.the.king Thing is it's a bad choice and it's not ours. For example I was looking forward to the 360 version of Dungeon Fighter. 1200 points, maybe the odd 400-800 point expansion and that's it. Now what? 40 points every time I want to level up, 20 points every time I get a healing potion? F2P generally costs more and is less fun as you feel like a walking wallet.

    Of course the system already exists for them to do these kind of things on top of the initial purchase but it's a much harder sell.

  • uzivatel #35 11 months ago

    HaloVille?