Free-to-Play gaming seems to be all the rage nowadays, and that's really not a huge surprise. With games like Farmville raking in millions of dollars in profit - it was really only a matter of time before other companies took notice and made their attempt at a F2P game.

Valve is the latest to join in on the philosophy by announcing that Team Fortress 2 would become free-to-play forever, and now rumors are circulating that Microsoft is working on allowing third party developers to publish free-to-play games on the Xbox 360.

Develop reports that inside sources have confirmed to them that the fine folks at Microsoft are working hard behind the scenes in order to get free-to-play games onto their console. Microsoft allegedly feels that serious money can be made if players have to use Xbox currency (Microsoft Points) to purchase in-game items or upgrade fees for their free game.

This rumor seems pretty likely given the recent push for free-to-play models in the gaming industry, and it was really only a matter of time before games of this nature started to appear on home consoles.

For those who care to remember, Microsoft even attempted a free-to-play model in the past in the form of an Xbox Live Avatar kart racer. The original concept behind the game was eventually scrapped, however, and the title eventually became Kinect Joy Ride. If these rumors are true then Microsoft clearly hasn't forgotten about their prior attempt at the genre, and if they can strike some deals with third party publishers - then they'll certainly be getting a head start on the competition.

It will probably be quite a while before Microsoft announces any F2P plans for the Xbox 360, but it'll be interesting to see which games will make it over to the home console. It makes us wonder what Rare could possibly be up to, because a free-to-play sequel to Conker's Bad Fur Day sounds perfect right about now.

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Source: Develop