The Best Things in Life Are Free

Okay, not all of the best things in life are free. But what this humble writer is here to talk about today is concerning an interesting trend that many game developers have been pursuing over the past couple of years – releasing older titles for free on the Internet for all gamers, both young and old, to replay or experience for the first time. As of late, Daggerfall by Bethesda Softworks and MechWarrior 4 by FASA Interactive were both released, completely free, onto the web.

Giant mech warfare for free? Hell yes!

This isn’t exactly a new concept, of course. Many developers have released older titles onto the Internet for fans to enjoy. It truly is a blessing, especially if you’ve been trying to hunt down that one specific obscure title that is impossible to find on eBay or at retail outlets. Personally, I’m a big fan of this mentality from developers. If the game isn’t generating any substantial profit anymore, then why not release it for free? Really, what does a developer have to lose on releasing a game for free once it has quite literally run its shelf life?

To me, it seems like a great way to generate some free advertising. I remember before Tribes: Vengeance was released, Tribes 2 was released for free. It’s an effective method to get people pumped for a new iteration into a series, without having to spend any real money on marketing or advertisement. It’s a win-win situation for everyone; the developers get more people interested in their upcoming titles, and the fans are happy because, well, they get something for free! And free things always put angry computer nerds into a euphoric mood.

And then you have the anomalies. Not to beat a dead horse, but I find it amazing that StarCraft is still selling substantially enough in Blizzard’s eyes to charge twenty dollars for the StarCraft Battlechest. The game has been out for eleven years? Sure, the game is fantastic, and sure the Battlechest comes bundled with the expansion… But would it kill Blizzard to charge ten or even five dollars for an eleven-year-old game?

That’ll be $19.95, please.

I don’t see some titles ever being released for free. The previously mentioned StarCraft, along with the other popular Blizzard titles, which is a real shame, because if Blizzard were to release these titles for free, there would certainly be a huge influx of interest in upcoming StarCraft II and Diablo III. I also don’t see Valve ever releasing the original Half-Life for free, even though they’ve sold it at pretty-much-free prices through Steam.

I think it’s important to note that developers may be thinking twice about releasing games for free, now that services such as Good Old Games are sprouting up. I can’t help but wonder if the service is making developers think twice about releasing their older titles for free. Especially when there is potential to make a new profit with these older titles, and get interest in their old franchises rolling again.