14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has talked about his company’s foray into free-to-play games and mentioned that, while it may not seem like it, plenty of players are gladly spending money on such experiences.
EA has been a big backer of free-to-play games that rely on microtransactions to extract a profit from players. With experiences like Need for Speed World, Battlefield Play4Free, or the upcoming Ultima Forever, the company is definitely going towards the future, its Chief Operating Officer (COO), Peter Moore, mentioned last month.
According to John Riccitiello, this is quite a profitable venture, as plenty of players are eager to spend money on “free” games.
"There's a lot of power in free-to-play," he told CNBC. "And by the way, for what it's worth, free-to-play is anything but free. We have lots of games that are 'free-to-play', where paying users are giving us ten, twenty, thirty dollars a month.”
"What happens is the first game play is free, but then when you get into the game you have to pay for things," he added.
In order to prove the power of this strategy, Riccitiello has highlighted the recent free trial that’s now being offered for its newly launched Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG, which still relies on a monthly subscription.
"We indicated in our last earnings call that there was some softness in Star Wars," Riccitiello said.
"Our conclusion was we had a great product, but the subscription model in a world of free-to-play is challenging. Which is why we announced in July that the first fifteen levels of SWTOR are free-to-play. What's really great about the Star Wars content is that when we expose it to people they really want it."
As of yet, it’s unclear how successful the Star Wars: The Old Republic trial has been but, given EA’s fondness of free-to-play, you can bet that, sooner or later, the game will get rid of its subscription mechanic.