Free-to-play model headed for disaster, says Camelot Unchained dev

Free-to-play is "just another model" in the gaming industry and will face dire consequences in three to five years, Mythic co-founder and Camelot Unchained creator Mark Jacobs told VG247 during a recent interview.

According to Jacobs, free-to-play will "hold its special place" within the industry as other models have done, but will face a fall in a few years that "will be a bit of an apocalypse."

"You're going to see a lot of developers shutting down, and you're going to see a lot of publishers going, ‘Oh yeah maybe spending $20 million on a free-to-play game wasn't the best idea ever,'" Jacobs said. "That's part of the reason, but the other reason is equally as important, that if you go free-to-play, you really have to compete with every other free-to-play game out there."

Jacobs said that though the model works well in the short term, it won't "work out all that well for anybody" as a long-term plan.

Jacobs recently launched the Camelot Unchained Kickstarter with City State Entertainment. The project is currently about halfway to its goal with 18 days left to go. If funded, the MMO will be subscription-based.