EA CEO John Riccitiello has tipped his hat to publishing rival Activision for successfully introducing a subscription offering for the Call of Duty franchise - and hinted at the possibility of something similar in the pipeline for Battlefield.
"Frankly, I gave a compliment to one of our competitors," he added. "It's got a subscription on the back end of an FPS title. I think that's a best-in-class performance.
"And we study all of these, and by way of example, when we put [FIFA] Ultimate Team out there, we had a competing idea with Madden, none of which I'm sure - none of whom I believe on the call would even know the name of it because it quickly faded and it was replaced with Ultimate Team because we're learning from best practice."
He continued: "So the reason this is such a fast-growing revenue stream for us is we're identifying and implementing best practice across the range of our products, and you'll see lots more to come including an announcement near term that Peter just alluded to."
The upcoming announcement Riccitiello was referring to? Just moments earlier, EA vice president of investor relations Peter Ausnit had said: "We've got plans for all of our major franchises to turn them into more of... games for service that have a constant flow of downloadable content. You're going to hear some announcements from us on Battlefield actually as early as next week in an event we've got in New York."
Thanks, IndustryGamers
Comments
17 comments so far...
RustySpoon80 on 3 Feb '12 said:
Cod Elite is a right pile of dog droppings. The only benefit it has, is that overall the maps work out cheaper.
The majority of the actual functions on the system don't work - or are available free.
The improve section is a joke.
I tried to access the recently updated version on my PS3 and tried to watch some of the programs, apparently I need to use a PC.
The only way I'll be use Elite next year is if Tesco do a 20% off promotion on the Hardend Edition again.
KK-Headcharge78 on 3 Feb '12 said:
Well duh! Course EA will be doing something similar, it's EA after all whose only difference to Activision is that they have more franchises to exploit such tactics over.
kmcroc on 3 Feb '12 said:
Sweet ,bring it on.
skyblueman on 3 Feb '12 said:
Wait... didn't they slag CoD off for having pay for DLC and Subscription Services. Don't do it EA! Please don't!
gmcb007 on 3 Feb '12 said:
Ahh yes, nothing like applauding a scheme that rips off the whole PS3 userbase. Would EA like to do the same? I mean there's nothing like ripping off people. Something they and acti do best.
fyro11 on 3 Feb '12 said:
There are enough tools to carry on exploiting, apparently.
The Bossman on 3 Feb '12 said:
I won't be renewing my Elite sub, and I highly doubt I'll get a sub in Nov this year because I don't like Treyarchs games, if they choose to implement a similar feature. I presume I'll just buy the DLC that appeals rather than diving headfirst into whatever content they give out to subscribers. I'm not complaining about the MW3 Elite, I haven't had a chance to play any new maps yet, but when they start coming regularly I'll be happy again.
Titan on 3 Feb '12 said:
Not interested in these subscriptions Elite does'nt have enough content to intrest me and along with broadband fees cost of the game and xbox live gold sub this is not worth it. If anything is damaging the games industry it is all this over charging for very little content
Laughlyn on 3 Feb '12 said:
All i wanna know from EA is when we're gonna get some new maps for BF3. when bad company was out we got (admittedly reworked) new maps fairly often, as yet we've only had Back to Karkand and thats beginning to run a bit thin now. c'mon DICE/EA, get act together.
As for Elite. i got teh offe rfrom tesco where you bought the game and got a £35 voucher for bout £15 so i used that for elite as i normally get the maps anyways. in all honesty tho i've only played MW3 for 6hours (BF3 107) i just jump on with a few mates who stupidly traded bf3 in for mw3. If EA bring something similar out i wanna see regular content and also tehy could continue with the assignments method of getting new weapons each month, introduce new guns every couple months with new assignments and then maps in the inbetween months, i love bf3 but the same old maps are just getting too precitable now, i've unlocked all the co-op and Karkand guns only have last unlock on recon to get now too and it just needs a bit of summat to freshen it up again
sibear on 3 Feb '12 said:
Oh that's a great idea seeing as almost everyone who uses Elite and Battlelog says that Battlelog is far superior not least of all because it is free.
@Laughlyn They're announcing new DLC in New York sometime in the next few days.
sonic_uk on 3 Feb '12 said:
THIS...this is why this is the worst gen. Corporations getting increasingly greedy, and milking customers dry for all its worth. Of course people will say "vote with your wallet" and that's a fair point, but for every person that refuses to take part in such a blatant cash grab, there will be ten suckers who'd happily hand over the cash so it changes nothing at the end of the day. All I can say is I'm glad I don't play online, but even so with the advent of the "online pass" and "online activation" inevitably making their way into single player games and the infamous dlc milking, and drm (which actively promotes piracy) eventually I'll be forced to give up this once great hobby of mine, at least where modern gaming is concerned (probably next gen or at the end of) and stick to the retro machines and games I have and maybe collect a few more. Sigh...I miss the good old 8/16 bit days...
Old Skool Gamer on 4 Feb '12 said:
Money, Money, Money that is all it is nowadays, substandard games with extra addons for premium prices, f**k off.
KK-Headcharge78 on 4 Feb '12 said:
Better find a new hobby then chaps before you die of moaning....
Paul_27 on 4 Feb '12 said:
no please as at least activision dont have the online pass which you do
UseMyDonkeyLegs on 5 Feb '12 said:
Dice "Makes ad's that goes against paid prescription service's like Call of duty elite"
Dice " Announces paid prescription service like Call of duty Elite"
I was only really against the the Elite idea because Im against call of duty as a whole.. MOre money for a terrible franchise?
If Battlefield 3 had a paid prescription, It's a whole other story.. I'd probably jump on it as soon as i can..
gypsygib on 5 Feb '12 said:
I think EA will have some form of paid service. I think the majority of people probably buy consoles for shooters and sports games and EA dominates sports and is probably number 2 in shooters so I can see some from of EA Season Pass that you pay for which allows you play any EA game online for a year being introduced.
Most people I know essentially buy their favourite FPS game and sports game and then log hundreds of of hours into MP all year then buy next years iteration.
They tend to come to me to borrow the good SP-centric games because I purchase around 10-12 games a year.
julioaragon on 6 Feb '12 said:
its a major ripp off 50 bucks to get elite and only two maps ..im never gonna pay for that crap,thats the only good thing that black ops was better at,ill probably sell modernwarefare 3 in a few months..what a waste..