Let’s think back to 2010, I know for some it’s a long time ago but a game was announced from studio Splash Damage that gave a new take on the FPS (first person shooter) genre with over the top characters, weapons and controls.
But what was Brink? Brink was a FPS that featured a dystopian future where most of the world was unlivable and the rich barricaded themselves onto a floating island called the Arc. Life was good until refugees started to show and after some time the number of refugees grew, their food and living space began to dwindle, which at this time the people on the outside of the Arc wanted in. Therefore, a resistance rose to take on the Arc’s security forces to help the people get into the Arc and survive.
Back when this game launched in 2011, it flew under the radar which for a game with such promise of expansive customization options, Brink suffered in sales. So years went by and the game fell into obscurity and Brink was all but dead. Early last week, Brink which had been at $.99 in the Steam store all of sudden became free to play. At Quakecon, Bethesda’s VP of Marketing and PR Pete Hines spoke in regards to the abrupt price drop and he stated “why not”. Which was very odd however he did go into detail on why and he had this to say:
“Todd Vaughn our VP of Development and I had talked about it and sort of kicked around this idea,” Hines told me. “Last year I think we had reduced it to like 99 cents [during a sale], and we were like ‘why don’t we just make it free? Like, why not?’”
“Just make it free and let people download it, and maybe they’ll buy the DLC and maybe they won’t, but let’s just try it.” Hines continued by saying “The game has been out for forever, how much money are we really making off a 99 cents [sale]?”
Now it appears ever since this was announced, Brink has seen hitting a peak of 2,600 concurrent players after the change was made. It seems like their idea was well received by players and Hines saying their decision to “just put it out free and see if people like it and people play it.” has seem to pay off.
For those who don’t remember Brink, here is their official E3 trailer from 2010.
As of right now, Brink is only available for PC and can be obtained in the Steam Store here. But as a fan of this game (and I did play it alot), I am hoping that if enough players grab it, that they port it over to PS4 and XboxOne.
