If you're a gaming purist who likens in-app-purchases in mobile titles like Zombie vs. Ninja to cheat codes and you also plan to pick up a PS4 or Xbox 720 when the next-gen consoles arrive, then Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein might be your new worst enemy.
Speaking at the Game Horizon conference in the UK, Rein decided to drop a bombshell:
"The next-gen consoles are going to be fully embracing the free-to-play and these IAP-type business models. So in case you don't know that, I'm putting that out there. Sony and Microsoft are both going heavily in that area."
If true, Sony and Microsoft have certainly been mum on the matter. When a moderator interjected to point out there's been no word from the PS4 or Xbox 720 manufacturers to that effect, Rein replied:
"Well, I'm telling you. I'm telling you what they're telling developers."
Fair enough.
Joystiq reported the exchange and cited an article in this month's issue of Game Informer where Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida revealed the company was working on a "free-to-play type game" for PS4 and was open to experimenting with subscription-based titles.
"We are developing a free-to-play type of game, but we haven't announced it yet. We don't have any subscription-based games in development, but we are not crossing out any type of game; if it makes sense for a particular project, we'll look at adopting different models. We are open for any types of models. Overall, we are increasing investment in the digital side of development, either through digital titles like Journey that we've been doing, but also trying to add more service-based models to our games going forward, like DLCs or additional features post launch."
Still, there's been no indication that PS4 or Xbox 720 are "going heavily" into the in-game-purchase model, so we're holding out hope that the next Infamous game won't require you to purchase your powers with a credit card.
