A post to the PlanetSide 2 Forums from earlier this week discusses how SOE will monetize PlanetSide 2, their upcoming free-to-play MMOFPS sequel (thanks Shacknews). The post, by Matt Higby, includes a frank discussion of the concerns that F2P often means "pay to win," and discusses the implications of offering paying customers advantages in such games and what benefits they have planned for members. Here is his outline of their philosophy:

Okay, so “access to stuff” is out as paid benefit. So too is “more powerful stuff”. So what do we do to keep the team employed in these jobs we love creating games that hopefully you guys love too? There are two things that we are considering selling in the game: Cosmetics and Convenience. That’s it. Seriously.

Cosmetics are pretty self-explanatory, I think everyone “gets it” with cosmetics and won’t be too upset at buying camo patterns or decals for real money.

What about Convenience, what does that mean exactly?


For us, convenience is purely the act of unlocking something faster, whether that means through buying a side-grade weapon directly with a StationCash microtransaction or earning certification points faster due to a boost or membership. That leads us to the real topic of the thread (which will probably end up being shorter than this “aside”, go figure).