One of the more exciting innovations in videogames is a radical new "pay once and play" model, recently popularized by Apple, in which consumers hand over a single sum of money up front and then enjoy full access to a game in perpetuity. It will probably never catch on. But the latest developer hoping the model does take off is Nival, which announced today that it has removed the "premium account" system previously announced for Blitzkrieg 3.
"The pendulum is swinging once again when it comes to how consumers want to pay for their games. The market is shifting back towards a cleaner, simpler and more transparent model of one-time payments," Nival CEO Sergey Orlovsky said in a statement. "This trend inspired us to return to the classic distribution model of the series, thus honoring the series’ traditions."
Along with dropping premium accounts, Nival said there will be no microtransactions or in-game currency of any sort. Additional campaigns will be offered as conventional DLC, however.
Presenting the idea of "pay once and play" as an innovation is a joke, obviously, although there are times when it might not seem that way. But in this case, clarification on the pricing model was needed: In November, Orlovsky suggested Blitzkrieg 3 would feature some free-to-play elements, describing it very vaguely as having "paid single-player campaigns with free multiplayer, where you can purchase individual missions or an optional subscription via a premium account for all single-player missions."
Blitzkrieg 3 is currently undergoing closed alpha testing and is expected to launch later this year.
