This wonderful list from IGN reminded me that television and movies are different mediums, critiqued using different rules and expectations.

I see the same kind of split for interactive media:

Unlimited spend games and spend-capped games.

If a game sells anything that can be purchased an infinite number of times – like currency bundles and/or loot boxes – it’s an unlimited spend game. If a game doesn’t sell anything that matches that description, it’s a spend-capped game.

The older descriptors for gaming mediums – free-to-play and premium – are no longer effective, because many premium games have effectively become free-to-play games with a cover charge.

My names for the different mediums are also better because they can be understood immediately, by anybody, without qualification.

Does anybody outside of gaming understand what a “premium” or “live-service” game is?

“Unlimited spend” and “spend-capped” is much clearer.

There are excellent products in both categories, just like television and movies. And there is a lot of audience overlap.

But this IGN list doesn’t include Raiders of the Lost Ark, or The Godfather. Those aren’t television shows. Movies are a different medium than television.

In college, I was a film major. There were television majors, too… but these were entirely different studies, with different best practices, and different heroes to be inspired by.

In like form, my passion and life’s work now is studying the art and business of spend-capped games. Really, it has been since I first picked up an Atari 2600 controller.

https://www.ign.com/articles/best-tv-shows