The gaming industry is all about making money. Pretty much every business aims for profit except for charities and non-profit organizations. That said, some games are free to download, while others cost real money. The price tag also varies during festival seasons, where game studios try to attract a larger user base with juicy retail prices. So, with the release of Palia in open beta, you might be wondering whether the game is a truly free-to-play experience or if it has paywalls built in. If so, consider reading this guide until the end.
First of all, there are mostly three categories of business models that game developers follow to support their games. One is free-to-play; the second is paid or premium games; and the third is games that offer pay-to-win schemes. We will uncover the reason behind these terms and also learn about the true nature of Palia.
Is Palia Free to play?
Free to Play
F2P, or free-to-play, is a popular tag that gamers used to give to their games. Soon, most game stores, like Steam, began using it as a real tag to categorize games that are free for all. Now, you can see this tag in games like Genshin Impact and Apex Legends. But does Palia fall into this category? Fortunately yes. So far, Palia has no pay-to-download kind of system, which means it is indeed a free-to-play title. Previously, you needed a beta invitation to play as the game was in closed beta, but as the open beta went live, players can get their hands on this game without paying a single dime. Also, if you didn’t already know, Palia will be free to download upon global release, as confirmed by the developers.
Pay to win
This is yet another business model that many game developers implement. This will sound more like an insult than a tag, and that’s why you won’t see it in any online game stores. As for the meaning, it refers to those games that have an in-game store, which contains in-game elements that can’t be obtained without paying. So where does the word win come in? This refers to legendary items that are hidden behind paywalls. Diablo games fit right into this genre. Fortunately, Palia doesn’t offer such things. Palia indeed has an in-game store that sells outfits and skins that can’t be gained by any normal means. But that doesn’t affect anyone’s stats. Outfits are just for showing off, and they don’t provide additional buffs.
Paid or premium games
This has a simple meaning: games that require money to download. Since Palia doesn’t have a price tag, it doesn’t fall into this category. The biggest example of a premium game is GTA 5. You can buy a hard copy from an offline store or a digital copy from Epic Games. Both ways, GTA 5 falls under the paid-game category.
So, now you know which category Palia belongs to. In conclusion, Palia is a free-to-play game, but it does offer an in-game store where players can spend Palia Coins to buy cosmetic items using real-life currency. However, there is no P2W element implemented in it. That said, we hope this guide provided you with all the information you needed. If you find this guide interesting, follow Android Gram for more such content.
