Fall Guys Should Have Always Been Free To Play

thegamer.com:

Fall Guys was once a dead game. When it launched as a PlayStation Plus freebie during the pandemic it briefly took over the world, with Mediatonic becoming an established name in the gaming echochamber as millions of us rushed to collect crowns as clumsy, adorably dressed little beans.

It was great, but a lack of meaningful updates and the reality of things fading from popularity after reaching their apex bit Fall Guys hard, so much so that it gained a reputation for fading from the zeitgeist so damn quickly. All of a sudden nobody was talking about it anymore.

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Now it’s gone free-to-play across all platforms, attracting a whole new audience of new and familiar players that commands our attention in a way the vanilla release simply didn’t. Being on multiple consoles also helps, with Fall Guys now available across PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC with a progression system that encourages regular casual play in exchange for worthwhile rewards and cosmetics. No longer do those who missed out on the PlayStation Plus window need to shell out for the paid version to join their friends and see what all the hype is about, now anyone can jump in without fear of being pushed away.

This was arguably part of Fall Guys’ initial downfall in the first place. PlayStation Plus is often a place for new titles to release, especially experimental multiplayer ones, because it all but guarantees a temporary audience of players who can try the game out and either walk away or stick with it. To many developers I imagine this gamble is worth the effort when combined with the guaranteed profit generated from Sony’s upfront payment. Releasing it as a free product also devalued it