A decision that paid off
Embark Studios has launched a series of videos giving a voice to the artists behind ARC Raidersin order to tell the story of the evolution of the game throughout its development. The opportunity for Virgil Watkins to reconsider the decision to change the economic model, leaving aside the free-to-play aspect. A choice which naturally has monetary consequences, but not only that, since many things in the game have been modified following thismaking the team’s life easier (words transcribed by GamesIndustry.biz):
“ In a free-to-play game, you have to somehow make things a little more addictive, take a little more time, require a little more persistence, in order to entice players to stay and invest in the game, and ideally, to spend money on it. For this type of title, it was difficult to respect players’ time in certain aspects like crafting or sessions. We almost said to ourselves: “Slow down a little”. It was a little frustrating, but as soon as this decision was made, we were able to adapt the playing time to what we felt was appropriate. »
He continues by indicating that despite this decision, it was still necessary to find a way to monetize the game over time, hence the presence of an online store. But the studio certainly learned a lot of lessons with The Finals, and seeing the success of ARC Raiders, it has applied a lot of those lessons.