Buy-to-play (B2P) is a revenue model for video games where a game can be played after a one-time purchase, as opposed to a

subscription model The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century. It i ...

where the player must pay a subscription at regular intervals to continue having access to the game. Buy-to-play, while a form of premium games, generally apply to games where there is continued ongoing content or support from the developer or publisher well beyond the period of purchase, such as through maintenance of online servers or through the production of ongoing content and expansions, as often the case in

massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players to interact in the same online game world. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent world, persistent open world, although t ...

s (MMO). This support can be monetized through additional

microtransactions Microtransaction (mtx) refers to a business model where users can purchase in-game virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransactions ...

or through an ongoing subscription fee. Microtransactions are becoming evermore entwined with the buy-to-play revenue model as most recent games allow for some sort of additional purchase. For example, buy-to-play title ''

Guild Wars 2 ''Guild Wars 2'' is a free-to-play, massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSoft. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the core game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild dedi ...

'' allows players to purchase additional in-game items with microtransactions, while ''

Destiny 2 ''Destiny 2'' is a free-to-play online first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie. It was originally released as a pay-to-play game in 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. It became free-to-play, utilizing the games as a se ...

'' lets users purchase season passes for additional content. Buy-to-play can be contrasted with

free-to-play "Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...

(F2P), where users are granted access to a fully functional game (usually with limitations), but must pay microtransactions to access additional content. Some studies have been completed on the success of the free-to-play revenue model and also gamers' perception of this method. The results of one study shows that players are often satisfied with purchases made in free-to-play games, however, they believe a lot of content is overpriced. The study also displayed that free-to-play game developers create restrictions in order to encourage more purchases.

Pay-to-play Pay-to-play, sometimes pay-for-play or P2P, is a phrase used for a variety of situations in which money is exchanged for services or the privilege to engage in certain activities. The common denominator of all forms of pay-to-play is that one mu ...

(P2P) is a model in which a subscription payment is required on an ongoing basis, in order to use a service. When comparing the three revenue models, the free-to-play and buy-to-play model is slowly rising in popularity as the pay-to-play model is decreasing in relative popularity. This trend can be roughly shown by the number of ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...

'' subscribers over the years. Since 2011, the number of subscribers has been decreasing with the exception of a few small spikes.

Game mechanics

Buy-to-play games require a one time fee to install and play. Some games, such as ArenaNet's ''

,'' use in-game advertising or "Cash Shops" to provide income for buy-to-play games, which usually offset the subscription fee of a pay-to-play game.

References

Business models Video game design Video game distribution {{Video game monetization