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Ever since the early days of gaming, developers have been trying to draw gamers in by offering them a taster first. The first examples of this were with demos that allowed people to play part in the game to pique their interest. These games would usually influence people to buy the full offering if done correctly. Nowadays, game companies are giving even more stuff away. This is probably to do with the fact that the industry is so competitive, and players know that they can go elsewhere to get free content.
It May Have Started with the Online Casino Industry
The increase in the number of free games available and free offerings to get players started seems to occur within highly saturated and competitive markets. One of the fastest-growing areas of the gaming industry is the online casino sector. This has been one of the greatest success stories of the internet, and a lot of the strategies within it have influenced the gaming industry as a whole.
Because there are so many online casinos out there competing for players, welcome bonuses have become ubiquitous. Indeed, some sort of freebie to entice players is now expected. One of the main ways that players choose a site to play at is by looking at what bonuses are available. There are specialist sites out there that trawl through casino bonuses in order to recommend the best options for players. Some of the examples of lucrative welcome offers include free spins on much-loved games, and deposit matches. The free spins promotions have come about more recently, and these give players a chance to experience the games for free first.
When online casino players take advantage of all the offers at their disposal, it helps them make a decision as to whether they want to continue playing at a particular place. As other offshoots of the gaming industry have become as competitive as the online casino sector, similar free offerings have come about in those places.
The Mobile Market Also Pushed Freebies
The rise of the mobile market took place a bit later than that of online casinos. This brand-new gaming sector came about after the advent of smartphones and really took off in the 2010s. The rise of mobile gaming has been fairly similar to that of online casinos, and the way that developers give away something for free first is also comparable.
Mobile gaming has brought about an original marketing model, known as the freemium game. These games are free to play, but if players want to enhance their experience and have access to better things within the games, they need to pay money. This can come in the form of paying to upgrade items, speed up building, or get access to new weapons and maps.
The console market uses freebies in a slightly different way. On PlayStation and Xbox, free offerings are used as an incentive for people to continue paying for their subscription services. So, in order to play the games online, console players need to pay a monthly fee. The monthly fee seems more worthwhile when players get access to around three games on the house for each top-up payment. Along with these, players can sometimes still find demos available online, especially for major titles like the annual FIFA release from EA Sports.
What Are the Best Games that Give Players a Free Experience First?
When it comes to choosing which games are the best to play for the free experience, it depends on what your favourite way to play is. For instance, in the online casino market, some popular slots like Starburst and Book of Dead are often used for the free spins bonuses. So if players know that they like these games, it enhances the value of the bonus.
The mobile market is the place where players have the widest choice when it comes to free games. Indeed, they could simply choose any genre of game and find the title that gives them a free experience first. In terms of popularity, though, it seems to be that the MMO genre is the most commonly played type of freemium game. This has been shown with the success of Clash of Clans, which is one of the few games out there to have made over $1 billion in yearly revenue. This title gave birth to similar offerings such as Sparta: War of Empires, Vikings: War of Clans, and Terminator Genisys: Future War.
Players have almost come to expect that they will be given free offerings in every sector of the gaming industry. Because of this, game companies have had to rethink the way their offerings are marketed. This has arguably paved the way for library-based subscription services that follow a more Netflix-like model. This means that players will pay a monthly fee to have access to a much greater amount of games for their money than they would have done when paying for individual titles.
