Bigpoint: Publishers Have Monetization All Wrong

Philip Reisberger, chief games officer at German online game developer Bigpoint, has hit out at a number of big-name publishers, arguing that they don't fully understand how to monetize their games properly. As part of an interview with games site Edge, Reisberger said, "I've never shipped a retail product in my entire life. We don't know how to do that, so we think differently. That's a big advantage in this new world." "There are millions, hundreds of millions of people willing to invest even though they aren't obliged to. The crucial part of the design is not having to invest, but wanting to. Most people in the Bigpoint universe don't ever pay," he said. "But if they want to pay, don't just offer hats - offer them something that will help them," he said, taking a dig at Valve's Team Fortress 2. He then turned his attention to EA's Battlefield 3 pre-order weapon offers. "In a nutshell, EA doesn't understand it," he said. EA has claimed that the pre-order weapons do not give an advantage in the upcoming game, but Reisberger questioned why this is the case. "It wouldn't ruin the game. If selling an advantage ruins the game, you haven't done the balancing right." "EA and Ubisoft, for example, they're both trying, but they're not really there yet," he continued. "It's a delicate balance, though, and that's why I love my game designers. All of them have understood how to do this. If you have a sophisticated approach to free-to-play games, in the end you can monetize everything." Bigpoint recently revealed that it has surpassed 200 million registered users in total, doubling its registered user base from 100 million users in less than 18 months.