You need to make players feel that they can “just pop in for a quick go”. Then you need to lock them in for much longer. As game designers have been doing with traditional games for years.

In an interview over at the Guardian, four games journalists gave their impressions of Gamescom. The full article is definitely worth reading, but this summary from Dan Griliopolous leaped out at me “The paid MMO is dead....

This is a critical consideration for any game being designed for a smartphone or tablet. If your free-to-play game is in the browser or on the console, it may be less crucial, but “short loops” remain key...

In response to my post on Activision’s baffling pricing decision for Pitfall yesterday, Will Luton of Mobile Pie tweeted: "You know Pitfall! Has IAP, right? They could Peggle to free whenever. Going free is most powerful when...

Activision has released its first game from its new Leeds studio today: Pitfall. A remake of a 30 year old classic that bears more than a passing resemblance to Temple Run. Activision priced the game at £0.69...

The first rule of free-to-play is make the game fun. It shouldn’t need to be stated, but it does.

The big news of last week was that EA had sued Zynga for copyright infringement in The Ville, alleging it had substantially copied The Sims Social. I instinctively want EA to win. It seems likely it is a...