More and more companies are jumping into the freemium market these days, and Namco Bandai is the latest AAA developer to take the plunge. They have announced a brand new Ridge Racer title for release sometime in 2013. It will be a free-to-play title for the PlayStation 3 and PC that’s primarily supported through Microtransactios.
The title will be called Ridge Racer: Driftopia. But we know very little aside from the name. The details surrounding how the game will use microtransactions are also still fuzzy. Though, you can probably expect car upgrades, tracks, paint jobs, and even whole new cars.
“The free-to-play and digital gaming space presents an incredible opportunity for Namco Bandai Games to offer its illustrious roster of titles to a new and ever expanding audience,” said Calson Choi, Namco Bandai’s vice president of marketing and digital sales. “We’re excited to have Ridge Racer Driftopia take Namco Bandai into this constantly growing sector.”
Unfortunately, it’s hard to see how Namco Bandai can go about this without turning the whole affair into a “pay for power” deal. Guess we will just have to wait and see.
Source: Game Informer