Wired.com - In Gaming, Free-to-Play Can Pay. Thanks Darth Guybrush.
The business model has since ripped through the games industry like a particularly nasty pox. Today, more than eight leading MMOs (from EverQuest II to City of Heroes) have free-to-play elements either implemented today or planned for down the line. On the iPhone App Store, eight out of 10 “top grossing” games are currently free-to-play apps. Zynga’s CityVille courts 80 million architects a month; EA has 17 million users on free-to-play games.