The biggest multiplayer shooters of the moment cost money. Arc Raiders is $40, has no free trial, and it's a top seller. Battlefield 6 launched for $70 and instantly became the most successful game in the series (later adding a free-to-play battle royale mode). Both are raking it in, both are reviewing well, and both are being played more than several of the sturdiest free-to-play shooters on Steam.

The numbers won't always look like that, but the wild successes of Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders prove an important point: people want to pay for great multiplayer shooters again. That's music to my ears, because it didn't always look like we'd get back to this point.

Not long ago, it wasn't unreasonable to believe the future of all multiplayer gaming was free-to-play. Under the umbrella of F

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