Peter Molyneux, the lead game designer behind Fable series, believes that his upcoming strategy title Godus shouldn't be called "free-to-play" as for him it's disingenuous, according to an interview with Pocket Gamer:
There cannot be a term that is less true. What we need is a new term. And that term is more like 'invest-to- play'. What really are we doing? We are tempting people to invest some of their money into a game.[It's like] taking a huge hammer and smashing our customers with it. We're saying: 'Be patient or pay money.' That's not a delightful mechanic. That's not going to get people to invest their money.
Specifically, he has some strong words against Dungeon Keeper, which he created at Bullfrog until EA and Mythic took over the mobile remake:
The free-to-play mechanic was so dominant that it obscured all the fantastic work they did. It was like a horrible odor… I would probably not use the free-to-play model at all.
In terms of the model for Godus, which is meant to be an anti-Dungeon Keeper of sorts, Molyneux says he wants "to tempt people to think about being proud about investing.":
Before we even talk about monetization, we want players to feel like Godus is a hobby, not just a game… You've got to be subtle about it and slowly layer in those mechanics. The point we introduce monetization depends on the player, and the game maker has to get you into the right mindset.
