“free-to-play works if you have really significant network effects... you want as many people using it as possible”

Free Tier Expands Network Effects — Gating Access Kills Both Sides Of The Market

Dating is a market with two-sided network effects — women who get lots of matches and men who want more. Gating both sides behind a paywall collapses the network. Tinder let in 85-90% for free so the people others want to match with are definitely there, then monetized the 10-15% who want a better experience. The same logic applies to any app where user density is part of the value.