It cannot be overstated how alien a concept "free-to-play" was just a few hardware generations ago. Long before we'd settled on a label for them, the only notable free-to-play games were browser-based MMOs, early MOBAs based on mods, and Korean games that had few players in the West. Free-to-play was niche in these parts, but by the late '00s, major publishers began experiments in what free versions of their tentpole series would look like.
One such experiment was Battlefield Heroes. The PC-exclusive spinoff was the first time a high-profile franchise dabbled with the model, though it was controversial for reasons other than its price—its third-person camera and cartoony art were bigger hurdles for Battlefield fans at the time.
