Sponsored By

Video: The ethics and psychology of the 'freemium' model

GDC 2013 played host to a live recording of the popular mobile developer podcast Walled Garden Weekly, with Touch Arcade's Eli Hodapp and Temple Run's Keith Shepherd debating the merits of freemium for mobile games.

Game Developer, Staff

April 9, 2013

2 Min Read
Game Developer logo in a gray background | Game Developer

Courtesy of the GDC Vault is a live recording of popular mobile developer podcast Walled Garden Weekly at GDC 2013, with guests Eli Hodapp of Touch Arcade and Keith Shepherd of Temple Run debating the merits of free-to-play (F2P) mobile games. Walled Garden hosts Arash Keshmirian and Kevin Pazirandeh facilitated the live podcast with several topics, such as exploring how F2P works regionally versus worldwide, whether F2P is ruining games, and whether F2P is the only right way to design mobile games. Session Name: Walled Garden Weekly: LIVE Speaker(s): Eli Hodapp, Arash Keshmirian, Kevin Pazirandeh, Keith Shepherd Company Name(s): TouchArcade, LIMBIC, Auxbrain, Imangi Studios Track / Format: Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit Overview:Arash Keshmirian and Kevin Pazirandeh, the duo from the highly-popular iOS developer podcast, Walled Garden Weekly, come to the GDC stage bringing with them two guests: Keith Shepherd of Temple Run, and Eli Hodapp, the editor in chief of the Internet's premiere iOS gaming site: TouchArcade. Together, they have reached hundreds of millions of mobile gamers. They will explore the ethical and strategic challenges facing all games on the freemium-premium spectrum by examining benchmark titles such as Clash of Clans, CSR Racing, and even their own games. Attendees are invited to take part in what is certain to be an entertaining and thought provoking conversation.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent GDC events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers. Those who purchased All Access passes to events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC China already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscriptions via a GDC Vault inquiry form. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company. More information on this option is available via an online demonstration, and interested parties can find out more here. In addition, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault admins. Be sure to keep an eye on GDC Vault for even more new content, as GDC organizers will also archive videos, audio, and slides from other events like GDC China and GDC 2013. To stay abreast of all the latest updates to GDC Vault, be sure to check out the news feed on the official GDC website, or subscribe to updates via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS. Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech.

Daily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inbox

You May Also Like