‘Just make a very good game’: Sloclap dismisses the idea that online games need to be free-to-play

Sifu developer Sloclap has pivoted from martial arts games to sports games with Rematch, a 5v5 competitive football (soccer) game coming this summer. It turns out the skills transfer: Rematch is more Rocket League than FIFA, and it’s “something special,” writer Daniella Lucas said after visiting Sloclap for a hands-on preview.

It’ll also be $30, a decision some will probably balk at. Most of today’s biggest multiplayer games either started as free-to-play games or turned free-to-play at some point, and a common refrain when a competitive multiplayer game fails is that it should’ve been free-to-play—it was said about Concord.

Speaking to PC Gamer during that recent studio visit, Rematch creative director Pierre Tarno said that he doesn’t think online games have to be free-to-play, and that making a free-to-play game was never even on the table for Sloclap.

“I never considered free-to-play,” Tarno said. “One of the things I love about making games is that there is no secret formula or anything, but the best way—or maybe actually the only way—to make a commercial success is to just make a very good game.”

That was certainly the case for Helldivers 2, which launched at $30 and became the fastest-selling PlayStation game ever.

“One of our cultural pillars at Sloclap is respecting our players, respecting their intelligence, respecting their skills,” Tarno continued. “We like challenging gameplay and gamers are a very discerning audience. They are often very analytical, very precise in their assessment of mechanics and what works, what doesn’t, what’s balanced, what’s not balanced, etc.

“My point is, if you make a game that’s good enough, that’s unique enough—even if players say, ‘Oh, it’s an online game with a competitive edge, it should be free-to-play otherwise it’s dead on arrival’—I think that’s not true. I think that if it’s original and solid, plus very reasonably priced, players will get it.”

Rematch will be out on June 19 (here’s the Steam page) and if it’s as good as Absolver and Sifu, I sure hope players get it. Daniella’s optimistic—check out her hands-on preview for more.