Electronic Arts Defends "Freemium" Games

[Andy Chalk]

Electronic Arts Defends "Freemium" Games

Electronic Arts says the success of the iOS game Real Racing 3 means "the market has spoken" on free-to-play games.

"Freemium" is another name for free-to-play games that you can download and play without cost, but can purchase optional upgrades for as you go. Mainstream gamers may not be terribly familiar with the term, as evidenced by the shocked and appalled reaction to the inclusion of microtransactions in Dead Space 3 (which, to be fair, is pretty far from free), but for mobile gamers it's as natural as the green grass and the blue sky.

EA stirred up a fuss in February when it claimed that gamers are "enjoying and embracing [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122396-EA-Asserts-Customers-Enjoy-Microtransactions]" the microtransaction business model, but the success of the recently-released Real Racing 3 makes it a difficult position to deny. The game took heat immediately after release for excessively punishing non-payers but after some tweaks, it quickly became a hit; downloads during its first week of release exceeded the total combined downloads of the first two Real Racing games and Nick Earl, vice president of EA's mobile and social studios, said the decision to go free-to-play was "vindicated early" by its financial performance.

"The vocal minority lashed out at freemium," Earl told CNet. "We respect them and understand, but the market has spoken. That's just where things are going."

Earl's focus is obviously on mobile games, but it's not too much of a stretch to see how the principle can (and will) apply to mainstream, full-priced games as well. Like it or not, people spend money on these things, and that's what it's all about. Freemium content can also help extend the lifespan of a game by offering a stream of low-priced new content. "Our expectation is that this is a service that can live for years," Earl added, pointing the way to the future by referring to Real Racing 3 as a "service" and noting that developer FireMonkeys is hard at work on generating content for the game and has no plans for Real Racing 4.

Source: CNet [http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57574609-94/eas-real-racing-3-a-hit-despite-freemium-gripes/]


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[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Now it's official! Never mind that everybody who isn't associated with EA had known this for quite some time.

Good lord these guys are so pathetic. They are focused entirely on short-term profiteering. They have absolutely no sense for what the future will bring.

Just because people are getting into f2p games at the moment doesn't mean that they will always do so. You need to ask yourself how many of those games can one person devote their time to. They are mostly multiplayer oriented games. People tend to choose one or two of those and stick with them. At least until something better comes along. And they will choose the best game. The game that gives them the most amount of fun for the least amount of money. Which is something EA doesn't understand or care enough to even try. Example: SWTOR f2p model.
If every company suddenly starts making f2p games, I can already predict that it isn't going to end well. F2P isn't the future. Those games can only succeed if there's not that many of them.

 

[FalloutJack]

Boy, they never learn, do they? I mean, how backwards can your brain be?

INB4 The next great EA shooting gallery.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Two immediately naysayers in the thread, what a shocker. In a world where League of Legends is the most played game in the world and EA praises that business model, the immediate response is "OMG EA U SO DUM" like really guys? Really? This is where we are now?

I swear I can't come to this forum without risking high blood pressure.

 

[R.Nevermore]

This shit has been well known since team fortress 2 became free to play and became a money printing machine for valve... And it had examples even before that. This is not new. Dota 2 is another example.

Tbh I think we need more high profile non-iOS games like this... But for the love of god not too many.

 

[Callate]

"There are people who disagree with us, but we're going to keep going with the model that's advantageous to us and ignore any criticism."

Yeah. Never heard that before.

Never heard that from Electronic Arts before.

You might ask what the market had to say about microtransactions to Zynga... But that will never happen. The narrative has been set; onward, into the meat grinder.

 

[itsthesheppy]

It's a brave new world, ladies and gentlemen. It'll get worse before it gets better.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Two immediately naysayers in the thread, what a shocker. In a world where League of Legends is the most played game in the world and EA praises that business model, the immediate response is "OMG EA U SO DUM" like really guys? Really? This is where we are now?

I swear I can't come to this forum without risking high blood pressure.

Freemium IS the future, but there's a huge gulf of difference between trip A console releases and the phone game that is the subject. Different beasts entirely.

Riot games system is cosmetic and supports a wide variety of purchasing habits. EA does not.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

So let me get this straight - people complain about microtransations in full-priced games, and EA defends the freemium business model?


The people who hate MTs are usually fine when it's a F2P game as long as you can't buy power or something gamebreaking like that. When it's not only being put into AAA $60 games but is also affecting gameplay balance, that's when people get really pissed off. Add to that the issues with the general issues with day-1 DLC in particular as well as the specific tendency of certain companies *coughYOUcough* to focus more on selling DLC than they are to actually get the game in working order (SimCity anyone?), and of course people are going to hate it. It's not about it's existence (bar day-1 DLC), it's about how you use it.

Captcha: "she's a witch" ...I don't get it. Has the psychic powers of Captcha failed?

 

[lancar]

EA explaining the obvious.
Yes, Freemium is the hip thing right now. Yes, you should probably try to get into that while you can. No, you can't expect gamers to understand your decision.

Why? Because you're EA, and have burned many bridges, lied to your customers and abused our trust for many years now. I'm sorry you don't realize where all the hate is coming from, but that's your problem.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

Wouldn't it be nice if EA was reduced to nothing else than a mobile platform developer >_>

I don't usually buy mobile games anyway. The last time I bought one was because I was bored and waiting for a concert to start. I've not played it much since.

 

[grigjd3]

I have no problem with games being made free to play. What I have issue with is the feeling of being ripped off. If I feel a game was worth the money I spent on it, then fine. If not, if I put down $60 for a game that then tries to nickel and dime me to death, then I won't like it. These are not difficult concepts.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Why am I reminded of a late comer to the gold rush shouting at the top of his voice, "There's gold in those hills", whenever EA talk about Free to Play models? Yes F2P is a lucrative route to go down when done right, see TF2, DOTA2 and LOL. But EA don't have a record of doing things right as of late. Plus it would be pretty foolish of EA to stick all their eggs into the F2P basket because like all seemingly good money printing business models the well eventually runs dry.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Eh. I play a few F2P games already on and off. (DotA2, Hawken, previously LoL)
For the risk required on the user's part (nothin'), it's a fair tradeoff.
And if it goes Pay2Win or pulls some other nonsense, you can just leave and never look back.

Now, when games require more risk (money) and still pull the microtransaction/DLC/Our-way-or-bust bullshit, that's the time to think more critically.

 

[DTWolfwood]

Simple solution, do not BUY games that includes microtransactions.

 

[Gaias]

My problem isn't with small scale transactions within a game, but this talk of making them a service for 'years' to come without the talk of making new IPs in the process. If it's more profitable to keep the game going years and people are happy buy content for the same game, what reason would they have to make new ones?

 

[mfeff]

Cursory examination of this pretty much tells the tail.

http://www.slideshare.net/GMOCloud/japanese-gaming-market-2012

On that topic... the FTP game "market" is full of discussion on what this reduces down to...

Older article that touches on the theme...

http://killscreendaily.com/articles/essays/will-work-fun/

As far as the merit of a lot of these products, it seems pretty dubious. Skinner box that milks the occupant slowly over time.

 

[Smeatza]

The problem with freemium is I'm only aware of one game that does it right, League of Legends.
It's the only free game I'm aware of where the only things you cannot purchase using the earn-from-playing currency are cosmetic and anything you can purchase that would give you an advantage in game can only be purchased using the earn-from-playing currency.
Nothing of real value is cut off to you and there's no pay to win options.

The freemium format has been around for years in MMOs though. And I don't think I've ever seen it implemented in a way that isn't game-breaking for non paying users, by all the unknown publishers that put out those games.
So when a company like EA, who I already distrust, says they are embracing the freemium model. I don't expect big things.