Windup Minds CEO Bernie Yee Discusses Mobile Costs and Lessons From Free-to-Play

Windup Minds co-founder and CEO Bernie Yee recently reflected on his time in the games industry, discussing mobile economics, user acquisition costs, and why he believes developers have learned the wrong lessons from free-to-play monetization. Yee has experienced several major platform shifts throughout his career, working on online role-playing games with EverQuest, mobile titles like Plants vs. Zombies 2, and virtual reality hardware and demos over seven years at Oculus and Meta. Since 2023, he has led Seattle-based studio Windup Minds, which recently launched two titles on Steam.

Reflecting on his time as a senior producer at PopCap, Yee discussed the development of Plants vs. Zombies 2, which arrived in 2013 and brought a premium franchise onto a free-to-play model. The mandate was to protect the franchise by keeping monetization gentle. The team planned to launch softly, relying on volume from the established audience and adding monetization gradually. Yee noted that such an approach would be much harder to execute today. He questioned whether smaller developers can compete with the user acquisition costs of massive mobile hits, explaining that the favorable market runway from that era no longer exists.

When Windup Minds evaluated mobile platforms for its virtual pet concept, the studio ultimately walked away due to prohibitive economics. Yee stated that while mobile is a great form factor for virtual pets because it mirrors experiences like Nintendogs, the user acquisition costs are far too high for them to secure an audience. The studio chose PC instead, viewing it as a cheaper platform to transition to from a development standpoint, although the transition still consumed significant cash reserves. Even though Steam has presented its own discovery challenges, Yee feels the possibilities space is broader there.

Yee also criticized how the broader games industry adopted free-to-play mechanics outside of mobile. He pointed to virtual reality as an example, where the success of Gorilla Tag sparked a wave of free-to-play imitators supported by algorithmic store promotion. According to Yee, this approach ignores a fundamental arithmetic reality. Free-to-play ecosystems require a massive install base to remain viable, making it impossible to sustain that model on smaller hardware bases with only millions of active devices. This dynamic often leaves studios competing for the exact same demographic slice rather than expanding the overall market.

Discovery remains a major frustration for developers trying to market their titles. Yee dismissed the common advice to rely on viral video platforms as a legitimate marketing strategy, comparing it to rolling dice and hoping for consecutive favorable outcomes. Chasing virality forces studios to skew their content toward memeable moments rather than the full spectrum of possible player experiences. For its own releases, Windup Minds took creative risks by launching two desktop-oriented titles simultaneously, aiming to foster player attachment. While some technical integration goals proved too ambitious for the team, Yee remains committed to taking creative swings rather than playing it safe.