What does Free to play mean?

[Erebus Avalon]

Are games in the shop marked Free to Play actually free, or are free for a limited time only?

[Kesac]

Games in the free to play section are actually free, BUT they may have microtransactions to fund the game (i.e. hats in TF2). (Usually) They are not required however.

[Erebus Avalon]

Thank you, and microtransactions?

[Kesac]

Erebus の投稿を引用：

Thank you, and microtransactions?

Taking TF2 as an example...

In TF2, the game is free to play. However there items which drop randomly called "Crates", which require a key item to open (which you can buy for $2.49). Basically, microtransactions are there to enhance the experience, but they do not block you from playing the game.

[Erebus Avalon]

Thanks

[Kesac]

As an addendum, in certain games microtransactions may be near required to progress, and in others they're only cosmetic. For example, in TF2 most of the items are purely cosmetic (including items you get from crates), although there's a few services you can buy (like inventory expanders).

The former are generally unoffically called "P2W (Pay to win)" games.

[Erebus Avalon]

Thank you for the help.