I have been reading a lot of RMS's stuff recently and it all is very interesting what he did with the free software movement. I agree with the movement morally, but as a fledgling businessman I can not find an example of a free software business model that would work for the games industry. If anyone has any ideas on how a free software game business would be able to generate income, have a steady revenue stream, etc. then please share. I really can't think of anything, and as far as I know the main way that the OSFs make their money is through the selling of support. I don't think that that would work in the games industry, but please just brainstorm a little with me.

I have the same problem xDDDDDD


I have thought a copule of thinks:

* make sw free, but art, non-free
* make your game free, but downloable at a page with publi (or have publi inside your game)


I know they aren't the best ideas you've ever heard, but they're the only ones I have.

Off the top of my head:
* In game advertising.
* Micro transactions.

Both are these are quite popular in free to play games (and non-free games), the latter more so in Asia.

Current day example: Battle field Heroes from EA.

I don't think anyone mentioned subscription based content yet...

I only know of a few successful commercial F/OSS game options:

The first is a F/OSS game engine and a collection of commercial game content and scripts. Bundle content with the engine and sell that online, making the F/OSS engine and the source publicly available. Successful products have been mostly limited to text-based games.

The second is keep your game exclusively online. The game itself can be F/OSS or whatever other license you want. Since you aren't distributing it, you don't need to make your source available. There are many Internet-based games that don't release their source, don't need to, and yet are built on GPL and other F/OSS content.




One frequently used option for many platforms (especially handhelds and phones) is to charge for compiled binaries and still give away the source. Most people are unable to build the final game because they aren't software developers, and those who can are generally too lazy to do it.

Another option for handhelds or other devices is to port the game, releasing the original under the same F/OSS license, and charging for the platform-specific bits. There are some legal issues you must be careful with, but there are also some great examples to follow. This has been done successfully with a few prodcuts, such as Super Tux for PocketPC.

Some open source 3D engines maintain a list of commercial partners doing services for interested customers. The services range from support to content creation to writing engine extensions.

So a possible business model would be to either pick a successful engine and position yourself as partner or write an engine yourself and promote it to the point where you can generate revenue from remittance work, but the latter one seems unlikely to me.