Will test out new play for free business model where it makes money not from game sales, but from in-game advertising and character upgrades for things like special weapons, speed, etc..
Apparently frustrated by the extensive levels of piracy plaguing the desktop gaming biz, Electronic Arts has announced a new approach to the industry with its new free to play business model whereby a game is given away to consumers for free, and it generates revenue instead through advertising and micro-transactions.
Rather than sold at retail, the game aims to make money through advertising and small in-game transactions that allow players to spend a few dollars on new outfits, weapons and other virtual gear.
“Online gaming garners a massive audience,” said Gerhard Florin, EVP Publishing Americas-Europe at EA. “People want to play games in new ways, with easier access that is quick to the fun. With Battlefield Heroes, EA brings its first major franchise to North America and Europe with a new distribution model and pricing structure adapted to the evolving way that people play.”
EA’s most recent experiment with free online games began in 2006 in South Korea, the world’s most fervent gaming culture. It introduced a free version of its FIFA soccer game there, which generates more than $1 million in monthly in-game sales.
Players can pay not only for items like shoes and jerseys but also for boosts in their players’ speed, agility and accuracy.
With “Battlefield Heroes,” EA hopes to bring that basic system of “microtransactions” to Western players, along with increased advertising.
“We put a different twist on this Battlefield game going with the cartoon-style graphics and gameplay,” added Ben Cousins, Senior Producer at EA DICE. “There?s something here for all types of players — be it our core Battlefield fans or casual gamers. With the new online model, we will continually add new content to keep the game fresh and keep players engaged, while integrating player feedback in real time. As a game developer, it is such a cool new way to make games.”
“Battlefield Heroes” will be released for PCs in the summer. EA hopes it will lead to Western game publishers looking to diversify beyond appealing to hard-core players with games that can top $60.
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Maybe EA should follow the lead of the GuildWars franchise you most definitely need to buy the game but gameplay requires no monthly subscription to the servers like on WarCraft or others. Then maybe they could actually relieve their frustration on their games being pirated. To me ingame ads are not the way to go…who wants to see a pepsi ad or tampon ad in their game? Come on!!!!
That doesn’t make any sense dexcaliber. battlefield has ALWAYS done that. rarely do you have to pay a subscription for an FPS franchise. almost never in fact
I am excited for this minus the fact it looks like a gigantic ripoff of team fortress 2. but oh well. way to go EA
Sounds like what Maplestory does but with advertisement. MS which if you don’t is i’m pretty sure a global completely free mmo that im also pretty sure makes most of its money from the things they sell which with the thousands of people that play how a LOT of them buy (and often) it does seem like theyre well off. This is not new.
Only an idiot pays for virtual hats for virtual characters.