Free-to-play games have made a massive surge on the PC over the past year or so, and even Sony has gotten in on the action. Now Microsoft will be following suit this fall with the release of the Xbox 360’s first free-to-play game.
Happy Wars is a multiplayer combat game developed by Japanese studio ToyLogic. The Xbox LIVE Arcade title will be free to download for Gold members, and microtransactions will be featured in the form of “lavishly rendered items” to customize characters.
The free-to-play trend on the 360 isn’t stopping with Happy Wars though. Ascend: New Gods is another game following the same business model, and it is expected to come out some time in 2013.
The success or failure of Happy Wars will likely influence Microsoft’s decision to pursue free-to-play 360 games in the future. It will be interesting to see how the game fares this coming fall.
