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.
But Heroes was fun. Back in the April 2009 issue of PC Gamer, 17 years ago this month, then-editor Tom Francis wrote a Battlefield Heroes preview that included an interview with senior producer Ben Cousins. You can tell from Tom's opening paragraph just how strange it was to make a big deal out of a free-to-play game:
"This is the first time PC Gamer has ever put a free game on its cover. Thanks to the influence of piracy and the phenomenal succ...
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