Years ago, I had seen a movie where the dealer in illegal weapons tells his protégé the importance of selling arms at a low price as they are nothing without the ammo, which is sold at very high price! It seems London-based games publisher Kwari knows this and have now come up with a unique first person shooter (FPS), called Kwari (doh!) for the PC.
What’s so special about Kwari? Well, the game will ultimately be free to download online. However instead of being subscription-based it will use an exceptional free-to-play/pay-to-play model whereby Kwari sells the gamer ammunition in place of flat rate charges or monthly subscriptions. In fact, Kwari reckons the game to take on social network gaming culture. Here is what Kwari is all about:
- Gamers playing Kwari for cash set up an account, are matched on the basis of skill, and enter a game at a pre agreed stake level ranging from one cent to one dollar a hit. During the four-round matches (3x 16-player maps, 1x 64-player last man standing map called ‘The Killing Floor’) every time a gamer hits another, money is decremented from the target’s stake and added to the shooter’s. In a way, the gamer’s money stake mirrors their in-game health, except it’s swapped from one player to another.
There are also bonanza prizes that require keys to unlock. These jackpots are fed by self-inflicted damage sustained by the gamers in all games being played globally. For example, if a gamer jumps from the top of an arena or takes damage from a hazard, their stake is decremented and this feeds into the jackpots, which are then released hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly, the latter are expected to pay out millions of dollars. Most importantly; all money paid in to the game by gamers is won out of the game by players.
Eddie Gill is the founder and creator of Kwari. He stated, “Money changes everything. I wanted to create something that had more of a buzz than a traditional FPS. The notion of playing for money is not a new one. However, these games tend to be an existing multiplayer game with a cash prize tagged on the end, much like clan tournaments, which means only a minority walk away with cash winnings, and typically a small amount at that.”
Al King, Global Marketing Director, Kwari said, “This is an foreseeable evolution for online gaming. Like most skill-based or competitive games, once played at a professional level or where money is involved, it’s unappealing to return to an amateur status.”
Kwari for the PC will be available for download in late 2007. However, you can visit the official website as next week there will be a sign-up for the Kwari beta test program. Click here to head there. It seems to be a nice concept and who knows it could be replicated for consoles too, especially for the Xbox 360 as Microsoft is always looking out for novel concepts for the Xbox Live.