EA ‘still believes’ in free-to-play, despite shutting down four games

EA has backed the free-to-play business model, despite revealing plans to shut down four of its biggest freemium games.

The titles – Battlefield Heroes, Battlefield Play4Free, Need For Speed World and FIFA World – will go offline on July 14th.

EA Studios boss Patrick Sderlund told fans that the games were being shut down because ‘how we play games has changed dramatically’ since their launch.

But EA has insisted to MCV that this does not mean the firm is moving away from the sometimes-controversial business model.

These changes only affect those four titles; we still believe in the free-to-play model,” a spokesperson said. Star Wars: The Old Republic continues to be a dynamic live service with a growing player base, and more new content and updates are planned for this year. In Asia, FIFA Online 3 continues to grow as well.

We are very committed to these experiences, and also exploring new concepts and ways to bring our games to more players around the world.”