EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau has suggested that the Battlefield ‘Premium’ subscription service will migrate to other key EA franchises.
“We actually think our Premium service exceeds what [Call Of Duty’s] Elite does – from a value standpoint, from a content standpoint, and longer term we think that we can bring more properties into that offering and that’ll be great for the business,” he said.
Frank also revealed that Battlefield 3 had taken a sizeable bite out of Call Of Duty’s market share and reiterated the company’s plan to gradually build up market dominance.
“We sold about 15 million [units] on that game, which was the number two game in the marketplace last year by a country mile. We grew share and we’ve been eating into their position.”
“We’ve always said that if you’re going to take on the 800-pound gorilla, it’s going to take you multiple years and it’s going to take you multiple attempts and that’s what we’re doing,” he said.
Source: GamesIndustry.Biz
jikomanzoku
You just know that they are gonna throttle the life out of the UFC franchise with this.
BalramRules
You forgetting about FIFA? Us Footballers are gonna suffer by the end of it, nuo! :O
Alex C
Pay more to complete your game of Burnout! Yeah, next gen. :/
Tuffcub
Er yay this gen?
cc_star
Way it’s going to be
Quag
This is what happens when idiots hand over their money to companys like EA. Give yourself a pat on the back as all your future EA games will have this premium crap.
damoxuk
Micro-transcation Daad Space 3, cough up and you get more scares.
Mass Effect – Subscription – Experience the real ending – you want it you gotta pay for it bitches.
Dragon Age 3 – MP Subscription online ranking system with Dwarf on Elf Sex Contests..
EA go fuck yourselves seriously :)
MadBoJangles
Arguably the best comment I’ve read all week dude! :D
fs
Agreed. Haha funny and true.
yogdog
Personally, if it’s like Battlefield premium I won’t mind too much: it’s fairly good value and adds longevity to the MP, paying for all the future expansion packs/DLC at once and getting a small discount for doing so as well as a few other extras.
The problem is that the business model is open to abuse: it could end up bare bones multiplayer at launch and everything is actually added later on through Premium. And we all know what EA can be like…
gazzagb
BF Premium, just like COD Elite offers brilliant value to fans of the respective games. I just know EA will take this business model and apply it to everything. I think that’s what investors are worried about – will the business practice be sustainable? Clearly, most gamers hate the thought of spending more money, and perhaps that’s why EA’s lost 50% of it’s value.
bmg_123
I think gamers hate the thought of paying near-to-the value of the original game for a bunch of map packs, whereas one could just go out and buy another complete game for less. Sure, you get map packs and other stuff, but for a multi-million selling game, the map packs are already overtly overpriced.
damoxuk
Map Packs/Costumes/weapon unlocks are the shit aspect of “premium” or DLC content imo.
I much prefer single player content/expansion packs etc
If premium products gave stuff say for example Skyrim had a season pass whereas all Expansions/DLC are there for a fixed price then that’s not to bad but map packs are just cheap.
Sad Panda
And just like that, the cost of gaming goes up again.
I will concede that COD Elite was good value for money, when you consider the person I bought it for plays very little else and buys all the map packs anyway.
However we all know that this will lead to even more content being held back for DLC. As the world continues in a state of economic instability, greedy companies like EA will kill off the golden goose. I fear a future where the choice is pay to win micro transactions or pay through the nose subscription service for more generic bullshit.
Now, more than ever, we need to back the indie devs as its about the only hope the real gamer has left.
Kennykazey
Daylight robbery!
LycanGav
People mentioning Dead Space and Mass Effect, it’s obvious that the main push for this sort of stuff will come to FIFA. Fans of the series have already shown they are willing to sink a ridiculous amount of cash into the game through microtransactions, now they can further monetise the series. How about regional versions with only a few leagues playable, while premium subscribers get them all unlocked, or non-premiums can buy access to individual leagues for a few quid? EA have certainly polled on this very notion in the past two years.
xdarkmagician
They’re going to release premium services based on BF3 service? So we’ll need to preorder the game for free DLC, wait 2 months for a matchmaking patch, wait 2 more months for a game balancing patch, wait 2 more months for a game balancing patch to fix the last game balancing patch. Rent a server to continue to play original game modes, Buy premium service where the first free DLC is included in the price just to get new DLC only 50% of the people want, and wait another year to recoup our premium investment all the while being told the next DLC will be the one “everybody” wants.
I wish EA would just offer timely DLC at reasonable prices. Premium services could improve a game, but not when they’re offered by companies like EA that are just trying to get you to pay for DLC up front. With EA’s track recorded does anybody think they’ll care about the quality of those final DLC packs when they already have your money.