Since this Thursday, Hitman Sniper: The Shadows, the new game from Square Enix Montreal is available on Android and iOS. Eleven years following its founding, the Quebec studio is betting on freemium gaming for the first time. Having become essential, this economic model has been the heyday of the mobile game market for more than a decade.
It’s been six years since Square Enix Montreal released a game. The studio known for its series of “GO” games (the successes Lara Croft GO, Hitman GO and Deus EX GO) was in fact preparing the sequel to Hitman: Sniper as well. , than a change in business strategy. Indeed, hitherto specialized in paid games, Montrealers are now offering us the opportunity to play their latest creation for free.
But according to Jean-Francois Dugascreative director of the game, the quality will be there more than ever:
“Often, we tend to consider mobile games as games of lower visual quality […] There are of course constraints, but we try to get the maximum from the phones to offer very beautiful graphics. Hitman Sniper demonstrated it in 2015, and The Shadows continues to push the technology with rich environments, lots of detail, lighting worthy of console games. »
This free would be beneficial to the new proposed game mode (an online confrontation system) because it would increase the number of potential players.
“If we had stayed premium, it would have distorted the experience because we didn’t have enough players […] By becoming freemium, we are able to operate on an international scale. »
Jean-Francois Dugas also promises that the experience will be constantly enriched over the next few years:
“In a freemium game, it’s a quality standard to see updates. During the year there will be new agents, new maps, new points of view. »
In the space of ten years, the freemium model has established itself on the mobile video game market and has almost replaced premium games. Square Enix Montreal has jumped on the bandwagon, and we’ll see how far it takes them.