Electronic Arts, as the publisher, and DICE, as the developer, have announced a number of changes to the pricing structure for Battlefield Heroes, the free-to-play shooter they released earlier in the year after an extended beta period, which actually reduces the price on most of the items in the game that can be purchased while simultaneously making it harder for those who are not interested in using real world money to enjoy the game as they did until now.
Battlefield Heroes uses two types of currency, Valor Points, which are earned by the player as they do well in combat and as they log in play time, and BattleFunds, which are bought using real world money. The two used to be pretty well balanced and a lot of people played the game and did quite well, gaining access to some pretty good weapons, by just participating in the experience, without paying anything.
The most recent update has made it harder to use Valor Points to get equipment. Players on the Ars Technica forum have said that their estimations show “the amount of rounds you need to play each day to keep ONE weapon about 60, which is about 5 hours playtime, every day.” Basically, more and more players will be forced to pay real world money in order to continue to enjoy Battlefield Heroes.
The move from
DICE and Electronic Arts comes after Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello said that the digital element of the company's business, including so-called free-to-play offerings, would play a more important role in generating revenue as the retail business continues to lose in importance.
For the moment, the direct result for Battlefield Heroes, if the recent changes are not reversed, might be a loss in players, which will make the game less attractive and might even drive off some of the paying ones, who rely on the bigger free-to-play crowd to get a good game experience.
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