EA: Premium Demos, Sequels, DLC

MCV have report from Michael Pachter on Electronic Arts and for once he is not using his crystal ball to predict things and has some solid facts backed up by quotes from EA staff. Unfortunately it’s not good news for us, so I shall wait whilst you grab a nice stuff drink and sit down…. ready? OK here we go..

• EA’s group general manager Nick Earl has said that all, repeat all, future titles must have an online mode and must include DLC to further expand the revenue from a game.
• Plans are afoot for “premium demos” which are described as “a very long game demo” (no kidding), however your purchase of the demo does not count towards the price of the final game; you would effectively be paying twice for some content.
• President of the EA Games Label, Frank Gibeau said: “The company is not willing to commit capital to new ideas until they prove commercially viable.” Translation: More sequels, a lot less Mirrors Edge, Dante’s and Dead Space.

Looking at this from a business point of view it all makes commercial sense, there are some very good ideas there to maximise profits.

Looking at this form a gaming point of view, if they really think I’m going to pay for a game twice then they can think again. Online modes for every game just so you can release DLC and squeeze more cash out of a product? Well that explains the slightly pointless Dante’s Inferno multiplayer mode then.