It seems today that most  ’Free MMORPGs’ and ‘Free MMOs’
are developed in places like Korea, Japan and China. What I’d like to
know is why more western companies aren’t jumping on the ‘free to play’
bandwagon as it seems like a lot of these games are becoming hugely
successful. Just look at games like Maplestory and Atlantica Online.
They’re such big hits and generate millions of dollars a month in
revenues for their publishers. There is little doubt that the ‘free to
play, but pay for upgrades’ business model works, so why are Western
companies still making pay to play games?

I wish I had the answer to that, but I don’t. It seems like just
about every free MMO comes straight from East Asia. This isn’t
necessarily a bad thing, but I’m a bit tired of anime inspired generic
grind oriented MMORPGs. I don’t mean to bash all Asian MMORPGs, as some
are great, but they all feel a bit similar. Having companies like
Electronic Arts and Activision-Blizzard churning out some free to play
titles would certainly be interesting, as it would add some much needed
variety to the genre because let’s face it, there is a world of
difference between a Western RPG and an Eastern one. If you look at the
current pay to play titles like Warhammer Online and Eve Online as they
feel genuinely different than their Asian counterparts. Not necessarily
in a good or bad way, just different. The difference between the East
and West is most evident when comparing single player RPGs as the East
is well known for their epic plot driven anime inspired titles like the
‘Final Fantasy’ and ‘Tales’ games while the West is better known for
their stronger emphasis on gameplay with games like Neverwinter Nights
and Baldur’s Gate.

As
it stands I think Eastern gaming companies are doing great in the
MMORPG market as they’re making both pay to play games and free to play
ones. One Korean company, NCSoft, makes pay to play games like Guild
Wars, Lineage and Aion while at the same time has free to play titles
like Exteel and Dungeon Runners.
With the incredible growth of free to play titles in the last few
years, there is no doubt in my mind that Western gaming companies will
have to make some free to play titles unless they want to hand over
that entire market to foreign competitors, which is unlikely. EA is
actually on the right track, as they’re currently working on a free MMO
shooter titled ‘Battlefield Heroes’ that will basically be a cartoony
version of their popular ‘Battlefield’ franchise. ‘Battlefield Heroes’
is a good start, but I’d like to see more Western gaming companies
enter the free to play industry sooner than later as it’d be nice to
have some more variety.

Source:

http://mmohut.com/editorials/western-gaming-companies-should-make-more-free-mmorpgs