You need to make players feel that they can “just pop in for a quick go”. Then you need to lock them in for much longer. As game designers have been doing with traditional games for years.

This is a critical consideration for any game being designed for a smartphone or tablet. If your free-to-play game is in the browser or on the console, it may be less crucial, but “short loops” remain key...

The first rule of free-to-play is make the game fun. It shouldn’t need to be stated, but it does.

This series is intended to provide a short sharp introduction to the key ways you need to adapt your game design to make successful, profitable free-to-play games. It will be helpful to AAA game designers, to creative...

In the course of over 2 months since its release as an IAP-supported free app, Ski Champion has netted Majaka a grand total of (drum drum drum) … 450 € ! Yup, not missing any K...

In my GDC talk, I explained how the fictional economies of Final Fantasy in the 1990s games got young people spending money on gaming when their finances were low, by reflecting the loss of stability of the...

Apple is not known as the most responsive company in the world. It is run in the image of its late autocratic founder. The latest class action lawsuit filed against Apple ought to prompt it to change its...