Making Play-for-Pay a Safe Bet for Game Companies

Electronic Gaming Business, July 2, 2003

Indeed, id's Hollenshead does feel that one of the only risks for a developer is if the higher stakes involved in pay-for-play attracts aggressive cheating, which could reflect poorly on the IP involved. "It's important for people to feel there is a fair game going on," he says.

Which games will go on at these services is also an open question, and both companies are boasting that numerous titles will sign on. Fong says UA is in discussion with many of the top tier IP owners, and Cassidy says, "We hope by the end of the summer to have three more games at the site." For Grove's part, "Our goal is by the end of this year to have three more blockbuster titles and by the end of next year to have 100 games online."

While first person shooters are naturals for this model, Cassidy thinks that real-time strategy and sports titles will work well here, too. Grove thinks that racing games and even somewhat tired genres like flight sims could get a boost from wagering.

"Our biggest challenge is getting people to the site and playing," says Fong, "so when we do these deals with publishers and developers what we're looking for is marketing support." UA appeared with the America's Army exhibit at E3.

The ideal situation for these models is to have a pay-for-cash option built into the multiplay engine for the retail game itself. In the future, and if the model pays off for IP owners, the developer may even want to create custom levels that are optimized for wagering play. For now, however, UA is focused on keeping its own organization lean (12 staff) and exploiting the viral aspect of online gaming and the existing installed base for many of these titles.

YPG has closer to 50 on tech, support and business management, and is ramping up a mix of online and offline marketing, including a take-over at the UGO.com network this summer, demos packed into game magazine discs, and an incentive program with Webmasters for pushing traffic and subscribers to the site.

Much like the build-it-and-they-will-come spirit of the pre-bubble Internet, both companies seem to think that getting users to try the service will get them hooked on the concept. After all, quips Grove, who can resist this offer: "You go in and shoot somebody and get paid on the spot."

OK, well maybe it's not quite like the pre-bubble Internet.

Contacts: Mike Cassidy and Dennis Fong, 650/853-8800, Stephen Killeen, 310/822-5565; Chris Grove, 5(999)-465-5625

[Copyright 2003 PBI Media, LLC. All rights reserved.]