Profit not crucial for success, says Key To Play

Soon to launch European gaming portal Key To Play believes focusing on community needs rather than profit is the correct recipe for future success.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz at the company's launch event in Barcelona, creative director Toni Garcia said he believed that online portals will be the future of gaming and that focusing on quality games would set his service apart.

"We are gamers, all of us. The point is: we don't want to make money. We want to make a big, quality portal. Money's not our priority at the moment," Garcia explained. "We want to make things that people, if they like our service, will pay for - because we need to live! At the end of the day this is a business, but it's not our priority. That's the difference."

"Maybe other portals are gamers but they don't care as much for their gamers because they only want them to pay. That's why we decided to go ahead with Key To Play, because in the future people will only play portals offering good service," he added.

Pristontale 2, a successful Korean MMO, will be the first game offered by Key To Play. The title will be free to download and free to play, monetised through micro transactions for in-game equipment and items. Garcia believes this is a better model than a traditional subscription-based MMO, as users have much more freedom to trial a product and then decide to pay if they like the game.

The second game from Key To Play will also be an MMO, this time from Japan, but persistent online words are not the sole focus - the next game could be an FPS or a casual title, explained Garcia.

"The main thing is to look for good games, it doesn't matter where they come from," he said. "If you do things well then at the end of the day the money will come."