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If you recall, back in March 2011 we wrote about a beautiful mech-shooter called Hawken. For an independent game put together by around 10 people it was not only gorgeous, but seemed to play with a balanced type of heavy-fluidity that many developers in the mech genre find exceptionally difficult to get right.
Now word is coming that Hawken is not only nearing completion, but will be published by Meteor Games in December as a free-to-play game. Monetization for the game will come from selling "better weapons, armor, and defenses" which unfortunately may mean that those more willing to spend cash may eventually be the ones doing better on the battlefield. Hopefully Adhesive Games, Hawken's developer, will be able to balance this out in the long run since I would hate to see people be monetarily disenfranchised by what seems to be an otherwise finely produced game.
Usually the best way to do this is to charge for more aesthetic enhancements -something that the Armored Core series is full of- but Adhesive Games doesn't seem to be going in this direction.
If you're interested in giving it a go, you can sign up on the Hawken website here.
[Source: Games Beat]
Comments
12 years, 9 months ago
Buying power is always a bad idea. Tribes: Ascend seems to have a bit of that, but at least the game is so skill based you can do great without ever spending a penny. Here's to hoping that Hawken is the same way! Although I'm personally still waiting for Planetside 2!
12 years, 9 months ago
It's going to be "pay to win" game. As much as they try to balance things out, those players that pay would expect to have an advantage and if they see "balance" they'll just stop paying.
12 years, 9 months ago
While I don't like the idea that those who spend money could end up more powerful than those who would rather play for free, I still think this is a pretty great announcement. I could see this being a big hit specifically within the community here, and others of course. If they do intend to go forward with the "better weapons and ammo cost money" model, then they will have probably (and unfortunately) shot themselves in the foot.
Creating a barrier of entry like that is sure to drive (post release) new players away. I honestly think the should go to the TF2 model here. Allow people who would rather be free to play a way to grind out the weapons and armor by simply playing the game while limiting their inventory space or something of the sort. It's either that or give the F2P players some sort of weapon to counteract the advantage given to those who spend money. Which of course could mean no one would ever spend money and keep using the "noob tube" weapon of this game.
Hawken looks impressive and like an absolute blast. I just hope they haven't backed themselves into a massive catch-22 here.
12 years, 9 months ago
Aw man, this is terrible news. Maybe the studio thinks it can get a bigger player-base this way. They probably weren't expecting the sales to be very good.
12 years, 9 months ago
Sounds like it's a PC only release then? That's a shame because I would have gladly paid $20 to play it if it were released on XBLA/PSN.
12 years, 9 months ago
I'll give this a shot, and if it goes horribly wrong, then I'll check out Mechwarrior Online, and if that goes horribly wrong, then I'll work on getting Mechwarrior 2 working again.
12 years, 9 months ago
It seems people don't realize that they will probably have a way to earn all of these things in game without buying them... either way though, i'll still be playing it.