HAPPY WARS - XBox's First Free-To-Play Arcade Game Coming This Fall

It was recently revealed that Happy Wars, a 'Multiplayer War Action Game' as defined by the developers Toylogic, will be the first free-to-play game on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox LIVE Gold members. Players can battle it out in 15 vs. 15 multiplayer matches and can use any of 3 types of characters - a warrior, mage, or cleric in a variety of fantasy battlefields. Each have their own specialisations, for example the warrior has unique melee abilities for close quarters combat and the mage has abilities suited for long-range. 

The game presents a sort of tower defence scenario where you can fight to occupy bases and castles. Launching in Fall, microtransactions can be used to spend money on some of the thousands of items and armor available to customize appearances. There is even a story mode. 

Moving forward we can expect to see many more free-to-play games come to console, as microtransitions are already proving a successful model for other platforms and is being touted as the future standard. Next year Signal Studio's Ascend: New Gods will also be free to play. Happy Wars looks like some chaotic fun, and as it will be free there is no reason not to check it out.

Questions will always be raised about post launch support, whether it will have a sustained online popularity, or if players can essentially 'pay to win', dominating those who haven't bought certain items.

Are you going to give it a shot? Do you think the Free-To-Play model will work on consoles?