P2W vs. F2P in Video Games: What’s the Difference? (2024)

P2W and F2P are two of the most commonly used terms in gaming, but what do they mean, exactly? With the ongoing growth of freemium games and the ever-increasing popularity of microtransactions in games of all types, these terms have never been more relevant.

If you’ve ever wondered what they mean and how they differ, then it’s time to look a little deeper. Here’s what P2W and F2P mean, and how they differ.

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What Does P2W Mean?

When it comes to video games, P2W is a pretty simple acronym that comes from “pay-to-win”. Essentially, pay-to-win is a term used to describe games that require or heavily involve paying real money in order to give players access to some form of significant advantage over other players.

For example, a P2W game may allow players to heal after kills or inflate their damage numbers in exchange for payment. In practice, it’s often a little more complicated.

More often than not, P2W games give equal access to the same content for players who are willing to pay and those who are not. The advantage given to players who are willing to pay is often in the form of time.

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Many pay-to-win games implement waiting periods or long cooldowns on many parts of their gameplay loops. For example, building a structure in a town-management game may require multiple hours or real-world time before it will be complete.

All players experience these waiting periods, but for the players who are willing to pay, these waiting periods can be shortened or outright skipped in exchange for money. Whether this gives a player a distinct advantage over other players depends on the game itself, however.

It’s worth noting that just because a game includes ways to spend your money, such as microtransactions, this does not necessarily make a game P2W.

There are plenty of different examples of gaming microtransactions, but if the transaction doesn’t directly impact your chances of winning the game, then it does not make the game pay-to-win.

What Does F2P Mean?

F2P (or sometimes FtP) is another acronym coming from the phrase “free-to-play”. The phrase is somewhat self-explanatory, and denotes any game that does not cost any money in order to play the game.

This is distinct from many commercial products and games, which you have to purchase in order to play or use. It’s worth noting that F2P games are often considered distinct from freeware games in that freeware games are completely without any form of cost whatsoever.

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Free-to-play games, however, often have some form of cost included somewhere. For many popular free-to-play games such as Fortnite, League of Legends, and CS:GO, these costs come in the form of microtransactions in exchange for in-game cosmetics.

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Other F2P games, such as many mobile games, include no in-game microtransactions, but instead integrate advertisements directly into the game. It’s not uncommon for these games to offer the player the option to view more ads in exchange for in-game rewards.

What’s the Difference Between P2W and F2P?

When it comes to determining the difference between P2W and F2P, it’s important to understand that the two terms are not mutually exclusive. A free-to-play game could easily be pay-to-win or not, and the same is true for games that require a commercial purchase.

With that being said, there is a correlation between games being F2P and having P2W elements. This is because F2P games cost money to develop, and companies wish to profit from them. As a result, F2P game developers implement measures in order to make money off their product.

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For some free-to-play games, these measures take the form of cosmetic purchases that have no impact on the game itself, while other free-to-play games allow you to skip grinding elements in exchange for in-game purchases.

Whether grinding in video games is good or bad is a tricky debate, and can sometimes blur the line on whether a game is P2W or not. After all, if all characters in a fighting game are equally balanced, but you can pay in order to unlock a character instantly, is that paying for an advantage or not?

P2W and F2P Are Different

As you can see, pay-to-win and free-to-play are two different but closely related terms. While it may not be true that all F2P games are P2W, there is a distinct correlation between the two.

But what makes a game P2W exactly can be a little tricky to deduce, especially with the rise of microtransactions and other dubious measures in video games. It never hurts to better educate yourself on the subject.

P2W vs. F2P in Video Games: What’s the Difference? (2024)
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