Scrolls, the latest game from Minecraft developer Mojang has been shifting a serious amount of units, but it has stalled, prompting the team to consider the possibility of the freemium model.
So far Scrolls has sold 110,000 units, with 3000-4000 playing daily, but if sales don’t continue to grow Mojang’s co-founder Jakob Porser has stated that making the game free for users is a distinct possibility.
“We do not close [the door] for making Scrolls a free game in the future if that’s what is needed to attract more players, he said.
It will not however, be depending on overpriced in-game transactions as its primary source of revenue.
“We never want to make a game that sells lot of expensive things just because there are people who are willing to buy them,” claimed Porser. “I do not judge developers making such games, but that’s not where we will be going.”
The team at Mojang was not expecting Minecraft numbers for a game like Scrolls, which is currently in paid beta, and the success of that game relieves any pressure a normal studio might make, but the card collecting niche is a competitive one and in a market where most of your major competitors are ‘free-to-play’ Mojang seem to be finding it a little difficult to compete on an even keel.
Mojang: Freemium a possibility for Scrolls if players don’t show [GI.Biz]
Comments
9 responses to “Minecraft Developer Might Take Its Latest Game Free-To-Play”
To be honest, they spent too long bringing this game to beta. When they started it there was a market for digital CCGs. But now there’s too many competitors and even more on the horizon with Hearthstone in beta and Hex in development, both from well-respected companies.
Agreed, I also thought the game appears to be lacking the content for it’s price – Minecraft was able to keep it’s price so high because you could do limitless play through both sandbox (creative) and RPG (survival) modes. Or for the same price you can have this crummy looking flash card game.
It’s also taken a long time for them to push this game out properly which really, from the Mojang studio earning as much as it has through MC shouldn’t be sparing expenses when it comes to making new games.
I think also people are unwilling to pay money to Mojang for a beta for a game genre that requires serious polish. A CCG, you need the game’s behaviour to ALWAYS work as expected, it has to be fair. And Mojang do not have a history of polish.
wow, and here i thought i was up to date with gaming news. i didn’t even know mojang had released another game.
Still waiting for 0x10c. That. Will. Be. AWESOME.
Pretty sure that’s been abandoned.
Noooooooooooooo!
Indefinitely shelved.
The genre may be crowded but look at Card Hunter. That’s a fantastic free-to-play game that stood out from the pack of crappy digital CCG games. Done right they can make it work.
I’d be okay with this if they were to give us those that bought the game store credit or something special. That being said, I’d be sad when they start selling Shard exclusive things….my wallet can barely keep up with LoL.