Freemium

From WE Computers Museum
Freemium - Cooking Fever.png
Freemium
Developer Numerous
Publisher Numerous
Platforms Numerous
Released 1982-present
Added to
Museum
See Freemium video games category

Freemium, a portmanteau of free and premium, is a video game business model.

These games are free to play but have additional graphics, animations, sounds, items, or features that are purchased with real-world money.

History

It is a subset of shareware, a business model that began with the release of PC Talk by Andrew Fluegelman in 1982.

PC Talk encouraged users to send money to Fluegelman for the software, although doing so was optional.