South Park told how free-to-play actually works

The plot of the last episode of the TV show South Park, which appeared on the network just yesterday – November 5, revolves around a shareware distribution model. The series is called: Freemium Isn’t Free.

It reveals the “science of micropayments of mobile freemium games“.

According to the authors, users used to pay for games and then enjoy them. But “with the advent of mobile applications, developers have been able to make stupid and boring games in which, in case of money transfer, the player receives a reward.”

“The problem is that 99% of users do not pay in mobile games. And the task of developers is to get as much money as possible from the remaining 1%,” says one of the heroes of the series – the Minister of Mobile Games of Canada.

Against the background of a parallel-developing story about Stan, who spent $ 489 on a mobile game, freemium games, to put it mildly, are not put in the best light.

You can watch the series at this link.

This is not the first time the authors of South Park have addressed the topic of video games. Previously, there were already series dedicated to, for example, Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft.

By the way, Freemium Isn’t Free also reveals that a key component of freemium games is a game cycle of role-playing projects (explore, collect, spend, improve), each stage of which is highly monetized.