Free-to-Play Doesn't Have to be Evil, Former BioWare Dev Says

In March 2015 during the Game Developers Conference, the man who led Star Wars: The Old Republic's transition from a paid game to a free-to-play title will share his thoughts on free-to-play gaming in a presentation called "Free-to-Play Is Not (Necessarily) Evil."

As part of the presentation, Schubert will share lessons learned from The Old Republic's "wildly successful" conversion from a paid game to a free-to-play offering, according to a description. Among other things, his talk will cover topics including "maximizing spend from happy whales" and how success with free-to-play games ultimately comes down to "players falling in love with your game."

"The success of games like League of Legends and SWTOR show that free-to-play games are not just coming to AAA entertainment--the future is now," reads a line from the panel description. "F2P can lead to massive success, but if done carelessly, can alienate your consumer base."

"Free-to-play is the future, and this is a very good thing for our game players," it goes on. "Game makers should focus on building games that players can fall in love with. If they do so, players will spend and spend happily."

Schubert spent 8.5 years at BioWare Austin before leaving in October 2014. He was the lead designer of The Old Republic's transition to free-to-play, working as "director of microtransactions design." He's now looking for his next gig.

The Old Republic launched in December 2011, but failed to gather enough subscribers, and ultimately became a free-to-play title in November 2012. In addition to ongoing support for The Old Republic, BioWare Austin is working on Shadow Realms, a new story-driven RPG announced at Gamescom.

GDC 2015 takes place March 2-6 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.