Soon There Will Be "View-To-Play" Games

First there were free-to-play games, but are "view-to-play" games next?

That's the goal of a new Finnish studio called Futureplay Games, which is staffed by former Electronic Arts, Remedy, and Rovio veterans. The team defines "view-to-play" as: "entertainment with a natural integration of broadly accessible gameplay and ad-based monetization." That definition may not be very catchy, but Futureplay says "view-to-play" could represent the next era of mobile gaming.

Futureplay founder Jami Laes, the former executive vice president at Angry Birds developer Rovio, said "view-to-play" has the potential to revolutionize the mobile market. “It's faster, cheaper, and more fun to watch an ad than pay for an in-app purchase," Laes said in a statement.

A message on Futureplay's website expands on the concept in broad strokes.

"We believe in F2P and ads--both done right can be great, you will see," the company said. "We want to develop fast and have fun launching multiple games per year and not work multiple years per game."

The developer has not yet announced any games, or further information about how the ads will work. However, he said people can expect these details and more in the coming months.

Futureplay's other founders include former Remedy Entertainment executive producer Kai Auvinen, as well as other ex-Rovio employees Mika Rahko and Arttu Maki. The fifth Futureplay founder is Tuomas Huhtanen, who worked at Finnish software consultancy Reaktor for a decade.

Would you prefer to watch an ad instead of making an in-app purchase? Let us know in the comments below.

Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix tried something somewhat similar back in 2012 through its PC streaming Coreonline program. However, Square Enix killed this service less than two years later.