Kislyi delivers DICE speech calling for "second F2P revolution"

Among the impressive list of speakers from last week's DICE 2013 Summit was one man of particular interest to the Free-2-Play gaming industry, Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi. As one of the forerunners of the F2P revolution, Kislyi is more than qualified to speak to the current state of the F2P industry and what the future may hold for it.

His own company made the switch from tradition single-player video game models to the multiplayer online F2P model in 2008, with the introduction of World of Tanks. Since then Wargaming.net has grown to employ 1,400 people in 12 offices across the globe. If that's not enough of an indication of Kislyi's success with F2P, consider that World of Tanks now boasts an impressive 1.2 million peak concurrent users.

Throughout his 40-minute speech Kislyi uses both his own World of Tanks, and also Riot Games League of Legends, as examples of the success of F2P. While he alludes a secret formulae for F2P, he doesn't go out right and share it with the audience. However he cites basic human nature when he sums it up as "Free is good."

Even more interesting is Kislyi's claim that traditional console based pay-to-play models are a dying breed. Kislyi seems to believe that all developers will eventually embrace F2P models in some form or another, and the true essense of what he calls the "second F2P revolution" is actually more about how developers will distinguish themselves above their other F2P competitors. I believe his closing statement sums it up best.

"Will you join us or follow the pack?" 

What do you think? Is there still room in the world for traditional single player pay-to-play games or does the future of gaming hold multiplayer online F2P games as the supreme champion? Let us know what you think by posting a comment below.

Robert "Caergan" Gray