Hilmar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games, talked to GamesIndustry.biz today about their shooter/MMO hybrid Dust 514, revealing a bit about the marketing philosophy they are taking with the game.
While the game will be “Free to Play” there will be a “cover charge” of $10-$20 to get in the door which will then be refunded as in game currency. Wether the refund will be as AUR or ISK will be a major factor to response to this, I am sure. I can see two reasonable reasons for going this route. The first being obviously to help recoup development costs, which is a no brainer. The second, and less in your face factor, could be to supply the player run economy with a bit of a primer to help kick start it if it isn’t tied directly into the EVE Online market.
Eventually the game could go fully F2P, Hilmar said, but in the beginning it will have a charge.
The article is very good, with some info as to why Dust is a PS3 exclusive, and I encourage you check it out.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
