EA’s Moore clarifies free-to-play and online comments

Outspoken EA COO Peter Moore has moved to clarify statements he recently made about free-to-play and online games.

Moore, as reported by MCV yesterday, recently stated that: The ability for you to be able to interact with [major EA] franchises on a free-to-play basis is going to be part and parcel of every major franchise we do now.”

However, whether he mis-spoke or was mis-attributed, Moore has asserted a different stance.

Many of our most popular franchises for PCs and mobile – including Battlefield, Need for Speed, FIFA, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Plants vs. Zombies and now Madden NFL, to name a few – already offer free-to-play experiences,” he wrote on his blog.

However, NOT ALL of EA’s games will offer a free-to-play mode. We will continue to explore new free-to-play experiences for our franchises when we believe there is gamer interest and a cool new game we can build. But of course we will continue to deliver award-winning core gaming experiences on ALL of these franchises.”

Moore also addressed comments attributed to him that seemed to suggest that all EA releases going forwards will include online functionality.

Today, most games are ‘online’ in some way, shape or form. Many games connect in online multiplayer modes; others include online services which allow for periodic content updates, sharing stats or achievements or connecting with friends.

What that does NOT mean is that every game we ship will require an online connection. Many, if not most, of our games include single-player, offline modes that you can play entirely without an Internet connection, if you so choose.

We know that’s something many of our players want, and we will continue to deliver it.”