2. Free-to-Play Games
If you thought is was just a fad... you're horribly mistaken. Game developers have found new and interesting methods of delivering content to players on a subscription basis but free-to-play has found an audience large enough to sustain its own existence. Rather than deliver premium content exclusively to subscribers, game developer's have found it profitable to simply provide free, finished titles to consumers while delivering new content like skins, equipment, etc. on a payment-by-payment basis. Valve's Team Fortress 2, Sony Online Entertainment's DC Universe: Online, and a slew of other titles are available for download right now entirely free! It has definitely found a market and it seems logical to assume that, moving forward, this approach will continue to carve its way into millions of homes worldwide. This approach seems like a direct form of competition for large, subscription-based Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG's) such as Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft (WOW) for, as the free-to-play online structure has gained speed, WOW has seen a dip in its number of subscribers according to
joystiq. Free-to-play titles seem to be making a name for themselves in the wake of industry giants such as Blizzard.