"Plant vs. Zombies 2" Free pattern traps need to be careful

September 3 News, tech blog AllThingsD today to comment on the current big hot Plants vs Zombies 2 free pattern trap. By buying in the app, the game not only earned a lot of popularity, but also got a ton of silver. The business model of boiled frog in warm water has become the main profit model of almost all games. The following are the main contents of the article:

PopCap's Plant vs. Zombie 2 is a sequel to the hottest tower defense game since 2009. The download of this game is just over 25 million, and the download in two weeks is easier than the total amount of downloads previously done. The main driving factor is the free model of plant vs. Zombie 2. Plants vs Zombies 1 are listed at the price of PC platform 20, iOS on a few dollars. However, the PopCap company adopted a free strategy when it came to the sequel. But don't be happy too soon, this time the company's killer is a black hole-like application to buy.

At present game reviewers and users of the plant vs Zombies 2 of the evaluation is mostly positive, but also some users think that the free business model ruined this great game. But Tony Lenar, the business director of Plants vs. Zombies, does not seem to worry too much. "When people hear ' free games ' or ' free increments, ' they naturally think it's something of a sort. But Plant vs. Zombie 2 does not fall into this category, once you play the game you will understand that we offer a very different free mode with optional payment options. ”

But many game critics are not buying it, and they think the free model undermines the balance of the game. Yes, some skilled players do not spend any money to pass the customs, but in addition to spending more time, the fun of the game has been destroyed. Now, the only way for some plants to attack zombies is to shop. The same store props can also allow players to get more advanced plants, making customs clearance faster.

Although the PopCap company did not provide specific sales figures for applications, it was rumored that PopCap's expectations had been met. And it's more lucrative than the previous income. This kind of warm boiled frog charging mode, even in the face of Skinflint Chinese players, can grab a lot of silver. Because the plant vs Zombies 2 is too difficult, which makes the game after the emergence of the Chinese players have been spit slot. But in fact, as long as more money, the difficulty of customs clearance is not too big. Once players are in the game, their ultimate solution is to pay. Otherwise, the player can only give up the game.

As game development companies have tasted the sweetness, more and more companies are starting to adopt this business model. Keep the game fresh through free game updates. Retrieve those who have lost interest in the game, add a lifetime of the game and encourage more applications to buy. Subsidize those free players with application sales revenue.

Therefore, the application purchase will also become the PopCap company other new game business strategy. For example, Magic Ball (Peggle) 2 and Plants vs Zombies: Garden combat. As PopCap's business director, Tony Lenar, says, "Now you can hardly find a game that doesn't need to buy anything." This is the reality of the industry. ”