"How can you say retail is so strong when the second-hand market is so huge?" queried Kim. Flock conceded the point, but added that the retail is driven by new sales. "Believe me," he said, "I hate the 60 dollar price point. I'd be happy to sell them for 35, 45 dollars. $60 is just going to keep us in the niche market."

"That's why I like the free to play market," Kim replied. "If you don't have a lot of time, you want to try something out for free instead of paying lots of money."

Kim admitted that there's a lot of push-back against current pricing models. "You're not seeing a lot of blockbusters - it's really hard to make the model work." By contrast, Kim points out Nexon's seen 16 million users a month for its games.

So what do the duelers think will be the first game to break the retail model open? Of course, Kim thinks it'll be Nexon's MapleStory. "We haven't marketed it like we should, but there's lots more to do," he said.

Kim went on to describe how when Nexon America began doing microtransactions and offering prepaid cards, the home base was upset. "They felt like we gave up the secret sauce [to North America]," he said. "Once people start playing games for free, I don't know why they're going to start paying for one."

So could a high-budget game, like World of Warcraft, be made as a microtransactions-driven game, then? Said Kim, "I don't think games necessarily have to be made at [high] cost... I'm guessing 5 years down the line, it's going to be a multi-billion dollar industry in the US, and I think at those numbers people will be pouring in more resources."

Flock noted that one of the problems with microtransactions is that it ruins the suspension of disbelief. But Kim feels that too many people are considering the issue from the perspective of core gamers. "Microtransactions are much more casual and about social players," he said. "The mass market is way bigger than the core market... I think the vast majority of humanity wants casual social games."

So can retail bounce back in Korea? "I think it's dead," Flock said succinctly. Kim said it could come back a little bit. "Japan is a console market, and Nintendo is making a big push into Korea with the DS," he noted.

What about a console that's built from the ground up to be free to play? "What value does that have over PC?" asked Flock. "The console market is the software-subsidized hardware market. It becomes difficult when you're talking about the kinds of games you want to talk about."

It wouldn't grow the more hardcore market, then? "I think you can grow that, sure but I think PC will be the platform," Flock said. Kim agreed: "There are a lot of PCs out there -- there aren't as many Wiis out there," he said.

Added Flock, "I tend not to be a fan of the consolidation model. For a developer, though, it's a good exit strategy. In the old days, people would say if you've got a hit, close the studio down and go to the bank, because you'll probably never have another one."

The conclusion? There may be potential in new models, but until publishers can figure out a model that gives game developers the same kind of deal that Steven Spielberg gets to do films, it will continue to be problematic.

[The preceding coverage originally ran at Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]