New Battlefield game is digitally distributed and free-to-play, making money via in-game ads and item transactions
EA has announced a new Battlefield game from its DICE studio - and with it, has introduced the publisher to a brand new business model.
The game will be available for free over the web, not sold via retail, and is supported financially through in-game advertising and item sales.
Called Battlefield Heroes, the game is designed to capitalise on the booking online market - which EA has struggled to stake a major claim in - plus the exploding demographic for gaming, by offering a more accessible game experience. The game also boasts a more cartoony look (pictured).
“The existing Battlefield games are fairly deep; you have to be pretty good or you’ll die pretty quick,” the New York Times quotes Gerhard Florin as saying. “Now we’ve toned down the difficulty, shortened each game session to 10 or 15 minutes and made the visual style more cartoony.”
EA is still developing traditional Battlefield games to be sold at retail, however, with Battlefield: Bad Company, the next version set for home consoles.
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The New York Times says EA hopes the game "can help point the way for Western game publishers looking to diversify beyond appealing to hard-core players with games that can cost $60 or more". The firm had already dabbled in the business model via a Korean version of its FIFA franchise.
The move is also the latest step in CEO John Riccitiello's plans to revamp the company, and keep it in tune with current gaming trends and business models.
Florin added: “I’ve always envied the movie industry when they put a film out in the cinema, then they go to retail with a different business model and then to pay television and then free TV. They have the same content reaching different audiences with different models, and we could never figure out a way to do that. Now with higher broadband penetration, we can use the technology to reach a broader audience.”
If Battlefield Heroes is a success EA will follow suit and create similar experiences for its other brands, although Florin did not name which of the firm's popular titles are in the frame to get the online treatment.
[Image: New York Times.]
Wow, didn't take em long to copy the Team Fortress 'look' did it? The level of blatant plagiarisation in the games industry is quite amazing :(
"the level of blatant plagiarisation" what are you talking about its all owned by EA and i'm sure they can copy their own stuff. It also makes things cheap if they are giving it away as online advertising doesnt create as much money as also selling a game through retail. I think its a great idea, lets just hope it works out and we see more games like this.
errr...what are you talking about jsw - can't you see any similarities between that cartoon soldier and TF2? Are you blind, or just a bit slow? OK it's cool it's a free game but MGB is right, the blatant plagiarism is amazing. Just because EA own the distribution rights it's a different developer and they're still copying the style - at least just from the look of that picture. Not that I really give a **** since it's free.
Plagerism is everywhere. Look at films, television and books. If there was no copying allowed then there would be MUCH less choice. Harry Potter, for example, a big spider in a dark, dank den. OK, not in a cave at the top of a mountain range, but anyone smell Shelob copy? Though I'm sure the concept o***iant spider was not original, even by the amazing Tolkein. However, by copying many other examples, the Harry Potter series is huge and while I am personally not a fan, the work Rowling does for single mums with her charity is grat and would not be possible without the Potter books.
It doesn't stop there, however; Family Guy, South Park and SImpsons always borrowing and mocking each other. "Plagerism" is everywhere.
Having said that, my personal understanding of plagerism is that you use someone else's work and pass it off as your own. Now, if I was to copy and paste a thesis for university coursework, that WOULD be bad, but so long as DICE don't start to claim this graphical style is their own, then who cares if it looks like TF2? Technically, you could say the toon style copies of TF2 copies older cartoons for the style and Wind Waker for the cel/toon/flat shadin, which copies JSR etc.
So long as it's fun, I'll be a happy geek. :)
Grr. The asterisks should read "o***iant" not the AMERICAN word for ****sexual.
