Understanding How Your Cooperative Games Are Paid For

Once upon a time, buying a game was simple. You walked into a store and paid the shopkeeper. The game was handed to you on a cartridge, cassette, or disc. You put it in your PC or console and away it went.

The advent of commercial internet turned this on its head, allowing people to download games without physical copies and in many cases, being able to do so for free. So what are the different methods we now use to pay for video games, and how do developers make money from them?

Single Payment/DLC

A single payment model is the one closest to the method many people know, love, and prefer. You make a purchase, and the game is handed to you physically or you can download it from a website. You then have access to all its features and content.

Developers can enhance this further with the addition of downloadable content. Once people have paid for the base game, add-ons and special features are available through purchasable content. The content could include skins, extras stages or maps, and special items. It is great for developers as they can continue to get revenue from their games.

The caveat with this is it needs to be deployed carefully. Many games have come under intense criticism and failed in the commercial market due to an overreliance on downloadable content or pay-to-play methods. If people have purchased the base game, they need to feel that they can play and experience a full title without having to pay more. They should also not feel other people have a competitive advantage in co-op or multiplayer games.

Freemium

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A freemium game gives away the game for free. A great example of a freemium co-op game is Genshin Impact. It costs nothing for people to download, and is free for them to play.

Giving the game away is an easy way to make a franchise extremely popular and get it to as many people as possible. It is also a model used in the online igaming forum, though in a slightly adapted manner. In these online casinos, many of the slot games will be available to play for free. However, to access the full game and win real cash prizes, players must make a deposit using various methods, such as PayPal or credit card. Once they pay to play, this then gives them access to advanced features, such as bonus rounds where players can potentially win more money.

Other developers make money from advertising within the game itself. They can also offer added content at a cost, such as loot crates and extra items.

Subscription Services

A subscription service is often used for games that exist online and use a huge, open world for people to explore and live a second life in. These are often fantastic co-op games. World of Warcraft is one such example. In many cases, providers like Sony will have their own subscription services and provide games as part of the service.

People will tend to be billed in periods, so a month, three months, or a year. As they have a recurring payment system, which is often fairly low, they get millions of users. This acts like a consistent wage for developers. The people playing them also build large communities, so it is easy to find a social side to these games often making the subscription well worth the money.

There are other methods available, and as technology evolves many more will appear. For now, check out the kind of games you like to play and who you are playing co-op with. You will soon find the types of games that suit your payment method.