Free-to-play to be part of every major EA franchise

Publisher Electronic Arts is working on implementing some form of free-to-play into all of its major franchises moving forward, says Peter Moore.

Speaking to Engadget, the EA COO said the business model had become part and parcel of its leading IP, and pointed to its use in FIFA and Battlefield.

He explained it was very important to the company to widen its consumer base, and F2P allowed EA to do that regardless of how much money a potential player has, what device they’re using and how much time they have to spare.

“FIFA and Battlefield both have free-to-play options, depending on where you are in the world, depending on what platform, and it’s a different experience,” said Moore.

“But the ability for you to be able to interact with those franchises on a free-to-play basis is going to be part and parcel of every major franchise we do now. And that’s very important for Electronic Arts to be able to bring more consumers into our world. FIFA and Battlefield are the two that point out what we can do on a 24 hour basis, regardless of how much money you got in your wallet, how much time you have to spend, what device you’re playing on, where you are in the world.”

A number of EA’s major IPs have begun utilising free-to-play in some form during the last few years. FIFA 14 is set to be free on iOS and Android, Battlefield Heroes is free on mobiles, while the company also made its giant MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic F2P after struggling with a monthly subscription model. EA is also developing a new title in the Dragon Age series using the business model.

As well as utilising free-to-play to attract new consumers, Moore also said that online had become a key aspect of all of its games, and that it no longer developed offline titles.

He said that users wanted to connected so they could save their stats or play a full multiplayer experience, and that shipping an offline game “just doesn’t happen”.

“We’re seeing more and more of the online experience being part and parcel of what every game has,” said Moore.

“We don’t ship a game with EA that is offline, it just doesn’t happen. And gamers either want to be connected so that your stats and achievements or whatever you do certainly reflect who you are. Or you want the full multiplayer experience on top of that. So yes, we don’t deliver offline experiences anymore.”