The world of free-to-play games is a bit of a contentious subject. Developers will waive the sale of games in a sort of social deal- some players will foot the bill for future content based on how good the game is at convincing them they’re worth that money. This dynamic gets awfully contentious when it comes to PvP- after all, why not just lock the best tools behind a paywall?

This spawns another discussion altogether: What is the role of the paying player in your title? Overwatch originally said they’d never charge for new heroes until the sequel came and locked them behind a battle pass. Similarly, gacha games like Genshin Impact are technically all possible to play optimally free of charge- if you’ve somehow got a monopoly on the world’s luck, that is.

Celebrating its first anniversary this month, I think it’s a good time to bring up YuGiOh Master Duel. It’s a mobile-friendly adaptation of one of the most iconic card games of all time, bringing walls of text and mixing them with some of the raddest designs you’ll see. While far from perfect I think its design is actually very telling of how it sees and handles the F2P-vs-Spending player relationship.

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