5 psychological tricks in free-to-play games and how to avoid them
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 5:12 am
Free-to-play games generate billions of dollars in revenue for developers every year, so they're clearly not as "free" as they seem. Part of the reason for this is that F2P games use psychological tricks that make it more likely that players will reach for their credit cards.
F2P games have a different purpose than standard games. To better understand how such games work, it's worth remembering that they are structured differently.
Traditional games are bought once. The idea is to sell the player a phone number list complete experience that will bring the most pleasure. If the game is good, it will sell in large numbers, and the developer will make a profit. It doesn't matter to the developer (at least in terms of financial gain) whether you play it once, many times, or never play it at all.
For free-to-play games, this relationship is different. Because they generate revenue through recurring small purchases, the developer's incentive is to keep you playing for as long as possible. Whether you enjoy it or not is secondary. This doesn't mean that free-to-play game developers don't care about fun, but they don't care about the reason as long as you keep paying.
F2P games have a different purpose than standard games. To better understand how such games work, it's worth remembering that they are structured differently.
Traditional games are bought once. The idea is to sell the player a phone number list complete experience that will bring the most pleasure. If the game is good, it will sell in large numbers, and the developer will make a profit. It doesn't matter to the developer (at least in terms of financial gain) whether you play it once, many times, or never play it at all.
For free-to-play games, this relationship is different. Because they generate revenue through recurring small purchases, the developer's incentive is to keep you playing for as long as possible. Whether you enjoy it or not is secondary. This doesn't mean that free-to-play game developers don't care about fun, but they don't care about the reason as long as you keep paying.