That unholy mess that once was MMO All Points Bulletin was put out of its misery last year after a very rough start, horrendous reviews, and finally the closure of the studio that made it. Now the game's been picked up by online games company Gamersfirst and released as a free-to-play title under the name APB Reloaded. Today we talk to Joseph Willmon, Associate Director of Game Operations at Gamersfirst, about the new APB, the use of micro-transactions in MMOs and the state of free-to-play in the industry.

Q: You've re-launched APB Reloaded as a free-to-play title, could you talk about what is made available for free and what is available to buy via micro transactions?

Joseph Willmon: Well, as it stands today, APB Reloaded is 100 percent Free2Play. Anyone who is over the age of 18 can download the game, run it and can play to max level without ever grabbing their wallet. The powerful character creation tools, the robust and detailed symbol creator, the music generator, all the missions, levels and zones are open to the free player. Where it diverges is in quality-of-life improvements, play style and vanity items. For example, free players can create symbols with up to 20 layers in the symbol editor for use on clothing, custom car skins, tattoos or in-game tags. A Premium player has access to 100 layers. Premium players also gain contact standing (think XP) and in-game cash faster (up to 90 per cent more in some cases).

On the micro transactions side, we offer things like clothing, special cars (unique to their faction), additional character slots, weapons and more. It's also key to note that the in-store weapons are slightly different than the in-game reward-weapons, promoting a playstyle over a simple damage or range increase. For example, the mission-based sniper rifle will not allow players to sprint, but it has devastating range and power. The Armas Marketplace (the name for our item shop) version may allow you sprint, but it would do less damage. So both are viable (one is more set for "sit and hit" while the other is set more for a sniper scrambling from nest to nest) and yet balanced in their own way.

Q: This is often thought of as a new business model for the West. But are micro transaction-based F2P games that dissimilar to trial versions of full games?

JW: Trial versions and the Free2Play model are very different. Trial versions rely on gamers to sample a small portion of the game, then ask players to purchase the "full version" once they have either run out or time (time gating) or hit a certain level (level gating). Free2Play games remove the cost barrier that charging as much as $50.00 per game creates, and open the game up to potential players that otherwise wouldn't even look at it. By letting players experience the game, they get to pay for what they want and like, and opposed to being dictated to by a developer/publisher on how much they can spend. Additionally, by letting premium players play alongside free players, free players can see first-hand the benefits, and if they are worth their investment. It works well for both sides, mostly because the players get what they want from the game, and we, as the developer and publisher, have to deliver a good gaming experience or else we lose them.

Q: Does the stigma around free to play games still exist like it had a few years ago?

JW: That really depends on where you are in the world. In Asia Free2Play is the dominant model, and selling retail-box games for $50 is taboo. In Europe, Free2Play games are rapidly becoming the preferred online gaming medium of choice. In the US, Free2Play is becoming more accepted by publishers and gamers alike. It's not a surprise to us, given that we practically brought the Free2Play market to the West. More and more US publishers are converting existing titles to Free2Play as they realize that the retail business model doesn't serve their game's needs. However, many are still using the antiquated trial period concept in order to retain market share that's starting to slip. On the player side, more and more gamers are discovering that these Free2Play titles are not the poorly designed an unpolished titles that once populated the Free2Play Market, but high-quality, involving titles. So yes, I'd say that the stigma is changing to our favour.