Tag Archives: Todd Harris

Train2Game news: Tribes: Ascend passes 1 million downloads in less than a month

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Train2Game Blog readers may have read this post at the end of April, about free-to-play shooter Tribes: Ascend reaching 800,000 players in its first weeks of release.

Well, the growth didn’t stop there, with developer Hi-Rez revealing Tribes: Ascend has reached 1.2 million downloads since its release on 12th April.

“We’re thrilled that over 1 million gamers have discovered the fast-paced and skill-based gameplay of Tribes,” said Hi-Rez Studios COO Todd Harris. “It is truly the player support of the title that has driven the population growth and fuels our team to deliver updates.

“We see the community expanding primarily thru positive word of mouth. Since release we’ve already recognized seven players who have each individually referred over 500 new people to Tribes: Ascend.”   he continued.

“The game’s success allows us to give back to the community through free DLC updates, tournament events and expansion into new markets in coming months.”  Harris added.

As previously reported by The Train2Game Blog, the Hi-Rez COO believes free-to-play is the best business model for both studios and gamers.

There’s more on the rise of free-to-play here.

Are you playing Tribes: Ascend? What are your thoughts on the success of the game?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: “Free-to-play is the best model for gamers and studios” says Tribes: Ascend studio chief

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Free-to-play is the best business model both for development studios and gamers. That’s according to Hi-Rez COO Todd Harris, who has recently seen his studio release Tribes: Ascend.

As reported by The Train2Game Blog, the free-to-play shooter with an old school feel has reached over 800,000 users in the weeks since it launched.

“It’s really our belief that for an online multiplayer game, particularly, free-to-play is the best model for gamers and for studios,” Harris told Gamasutra.

” We really saw the potential in free-to-play, for gamers and for studios. With Tribes: Ascend, we really wanted to do a AAA, free-to-play game that’s the level of production, polish and gameplay that we were shooting for. Fortunately, reviews have been good.” he continued, adding that despite the free-to-play model, Hi-Rez has ensured Tribes: Ascend isn’t “pay-to-win”

“Our philosophy is to focus first on making a fun an engaging game, second, by making it free you create a large audience to play the game.” said Harris.

“And third, you implement the store so that it doesn’t give any gameplay advantage to a paying player, but it gives a time advantage or a prestige advantage — the latter in the form of cosmetic skins.” the Hi-Rez COO added.

Earlier this year, Brawl Busters developer Rock Hippo told The Train2Game Blog that the advantage of free-to-play is it allows them to reach a much larger audience.

There’s more about free-to-play and its impact on the games industry, here on The Train2Game Blog.

Do you agree with the statement that free-to-play is the best model for gamers and studios?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.