Warframe has become the most downloaded PS4 App behind Netflix, making it the most popular free-to-play videogame on the console, quite a feat.
Here’s the Warframe Trailer from E3 2014:
Warframe was available day-and-date with PS4 system at launch, which certainly helped it, but has continued to be extremely popular. It has been downloaded over 2 million times so far (with 7 million total PS4’s sold worldwide). Since the game is free to download, why not?
It’s popularity will likely spur Sony to pursue even more free-to-play titles, which Sony has already made a push on, and Microsoft will be following suit later this year.
Here’s a video review of Warframe.
Even better news for the developers, Sony states that the monetary aspect of Warframe has done just as well as on PS4 as it has on PC, showing that free-to-play can be a viable business-model on console as well.
Warframe is a very fast-paced third-person shooter developed by Digital Extremes, who previously made the low-selling-but-awesome Dark Sector in 2008. Dark Sector was originally supposed to look more like Warframe, although the sci-fi aspects were cut. That lead into the development of Warframe based on the original Dark Sector concept, which eventually morphed into an online shooter using the free-to-play model.
Here’s a beginner’s guide to playing Warframe.
Warframe was released for PC on March 25, 2013 and at the PS4 launch on November 15, 2013.
It will be hitting the Xbox One later this year (you’ll need Xbox Live Gold to play it).
Here’s the Warframe image gallery.
Click on any of these image thumbnails to see the full-size photos:
I haven’t played Warframe yet but it looks freakin’ awesome. For a free-to-play game, this is one of the few action titles that I really want to play. It just looks like a heck of a lot of fun.
So although I think many people have downloaded it just because it was free, I’ll bet a very high number of them were surprised at how cool it was and continue to play it (despite it’s relatively low review scores). Thus, I think Warframe will continue to do well even as new FtP game come out. Especially given the relatively slim amount of exciting PS4 games currently available to play. I think it will be just as popular when it hits Xbox One.
Do you play Warframe? What do you think of it?